Chapter 4: You’re Fired

‘After two days, I had managed to discover the names of the previous four secretaries. I’d also learned that all of them had only stayed between two and six months. I gave Emily my list of names. She gave me a contact number for Samantha.’

‘Two days later, Emily gave me the contact details for the previous three secretaries. I had been thinking through what to say or do. In the end I wrote out what I had decided to say, and some questions. Then I rang Linda who was at the top of my list.’

‘Hi, I’m Phillip.’ I told her, ‘You used to work for someone who is raping a friend of mine. I’m trying to put a stop to it. She doesn’t want to involve the police, so I’m trying to do it quietly. I don’t want to involve you either, but if you could give me some information that would help.’

‘You don’t of course have to answer anything I ask you and you can hang up anytime you want. But I think you would probably like him stopped too. Here are my questions. ‘How many times did it happen?’ ‘Twice.’ came the answer.’ ‘Then you left?’ ‘Yes.’

‘Did you have any problem getting another job without a reference?’ ‘A little, but not too much.’ ‘Did he wear a condom?’ ‘No, but he gave me a morning after pill each time.’ ‘Where did he get them from?’ ‘The lefthand drawer of his desk.’

‘Was the reason you didn’t go to the police, A, because of threats he made. or B, because you were too embarrassed to tell anyone?’ ‘Both of them, but B mainly.’ ‘Thank you so much for your help,’ I told her, ‘I’ll let you know what happens. I hope you are ok now.’

‘Next, I rang Alma and put the same questions, getting the same answers. Georgina was almost the same. For her it had only been once, and she had not returned to work the next day. Samantha had suffered it three times before leaving.’

‘The following day I told Emily that I had a plan, but I wouldn’t do anything without her approval. So, after work we returned to the bench in the park. She took my arm as we walked which was nice. Once we were seated, I told her what I had discovered and what I wanted to do.’

‘She was nervous about it, but she had had confirmation that morning that her mortgage had been approved. ‘They are not likely to contact my employer again,’ she said. ‘And I’m sure if the worst happened, I’d be able to find a job of some sort to make the payments.’

‘But what about you?’ she asked, ‘If it did go wrong, and he keeps his job he’s not going to be happy with you.’ ‘Don’t worry,’ I told her, ‘I wasn’t planning on staying there forever anyway.’ ‘Ok,’ she said, ‘Go ahead.’ She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. ‘Thank you.’ she said.

‘I walked her home, and she asked me to come in and meet her mum. Her mum looked very frail, but she was lovely and made me very welcome. She seemed pleased to see me. As I was leaving, she told me, ‘I won’t be here for much longer, I’m so glad to know that Emily has such a nice friend.’

‘I gave her a very careful hug, and a kiss on her cheek. ‘Don’t worry,’ I told her with a smile, ‘I’ll keep an eye on her.’ When Emily saw me out, she hugged me and kissed me on my cheek. ‘Mum was made up to meet you,’ she told me, ‘Thank you for being so nice with her.’

‘That night I ran through my plan once more. Then the next day I waited until my mid-morning break and rang the head office. The firm had several factories around the country, but head office was only in the next city.’

‘Eventually, after some difficulty, my persistence got me through to the managing directors secretary. I told her who I was and what was happening. ‘The victims don’t want to go to the police,’ I told her, ‘So it could be handled with no publicity.’ I explained how I’d got involved and suggested my plan.’

‘She laughed and said, ‘It sounds good to me. I’ll have a word with the boss and ring you back.’ An hour later I got a call, this time from the head of the firm himself. ‘Thank you for bringing this to my attention,’ he said.’

‘On my secretary’s recommendation, I will come down to the factory tomorrow. I’ll arrive around eleven. I will expect you to come into Mr Kendricks office and present your evidence. Are you willing to do that?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ I assured him.’

‘The following day at eleven, I was sitting near the lift on the ground floor. I hadn’t been there long when an assured looking gentleman came in and headed for the lift. He saw me waiting and came over. ‘Phillip?’ he asked putting his hand out.’

‘We shook hands. He introduced himself as Patrick, and told me that he would call me in, and then he would leave it to me. ‘I can’t take any action just on your say so,’ he told me. ‘What I can do will depend on your evidence and his reactions. But if it’s true, and I’ve no reason to think it isn’t, I want him out.’

‘I’ll tell him I’m here because I want to meet you, so he won’t suspect a thing until you accuse him.’ We went up in the lift, and he headed over to Mr Kendricks office, knocked and walked in. I went and sat by Emily. Ten minutes later Emily’s phone went.’

‘There should be a young man near the lift called Phillip, can you send him into me.’ Mr Kendricks voice said, sounding completely at ease. ‘Yes, sir.’ Emily replied nodding to me as she hung up. ‘Good luck.’ she mouthed.’

‘I went over to the door, knocked and walked in. ‘Come in and sit-down Phillip,’ Patrick instructed me. Mr Kendrick was sitting behind his desk wondering what was happening. His boss was sitting in a chair away from the side of the desk, so he had a good view of both of us.’

‘My chair was opposite Mr Kendrick, but several feet back from the desk. ‘Go ahead.’ Patrick told me. ‘I have come here today,’ I said, ‘To accuse Mr Kendrick of raping at least five of his secretaries, most of them several times, over the past twenty months.’

‘Mr Kendrick looked shocked, then started to deny it. ‘Quiet,’ Patrick told him, ‘Let’s hear him out first.’ ‘Each of them has left for another job, rather than report you to the police.’ I told him, ‘But now they know you are a serial rapist, they want you stopped and are prepared to take action together.’

‘Twenty months ago, your secretary was Linda. You raped her twice, so she left. She has now made a statement. I passed both of them a copy. It gave her name and address then said that she had been raped the first time, two months after she started the job.’

‘Then again, a month later, it continued. ‘I was called into his office and he grabbed me and pulled some of my clothes off,’ she said. ‘He dropped his trousers and raped me. He didn’t use a condom, but he gave me a morning after pill each time.’

‘He told me that if I reported him, it would be my word against his. He said he’d see that I didn’t get another job anywhere. I went home after the last time it happened and didn’t come back. It was signed and dated.’

‘You replaced her with Alma,’ I continued, ‘You did exactly the same to her. She also left after the second time it happened.’ I passed them each a copy of Alma’s statement. The wording was slightly different, but it said pretty much the same thing.’

‘Your next victim was Georgina. You only raped her once. She didn’t return the next day.’ Her statement was similar too. ‘Samantha came next,’ I said, ‘You raped her three times. She believed your claim that you’d be able to stop her getting another job.’

‘As she had some heavy financial commitments at the time, she didn’t leave until after you had raped her a third time.’ I passed them each another statement. ‘Your present secretary, Emily, you have raped four times.’

‘She also took your threat about not being able to get another job seriously. As her mum is terminally ill, she struggled on. But now that she knows she has the support of all your other victims, she too is prepared to go to court.’

‘I passed Emily’s statement over. ‘Well?’ Patrick said to Mr Kendrick. ‘It’s all lies,’ he said, ‘None of them liked me and they were all useless as secretaries. They’re just ganging up on me. I have never had sex with any of them.’