Chapter 8 : Explaining To Valerie

FRIDAY

Friday evening Mike went to the hospital to visit Valerie. ‘They’ve discharged me,’ she told him, ‘I can leave now.’ ‘That’s great,’ Mike told her. ‘We’ll go to yours so you can pick up some necessities, then you come home with me. On Saturday morning I’ve arranged for a locksmith to call and change the locks on the door to your flat. Lewis will mind the shop whilst I take you to see him. We’ll go back to the shop for lunch then Lewis will explain things to you. On Sunday you and I will go back to yours and bag all Michaels stuff. You can move back when you’re ready, there’s no rush.’

Friday morning Michael had appeared before the magistrate charged with aiding and abetting multiple rapes, living off immoral earnings and sexual assault. The police told the court what he had done and that they had not as yet identified the men he had sold sex to. He was remanded in custody to appear at the Crown Court in six weeks’ time.

SATURDAY

Lewis arrived at the shop early to find Mike already there. Mike told him about the change of locks and leaving him in charge of the shop. ‘No problem,’ Lewis said, ‘Can you pick up the clock whilst you’re there.’ ‘Where did that come from?’ Mike asked. ‘I bought it,’ Lewis told him, ‘You remember I got the thousand pounds for saving the boat, I used some of that.’ ‘It certainly did the job,’ Mike said, ‘What do they cost?’ ‘You can get all sorts for all sorts of prices,’ Lewis said, ‘This one was in the basic range for £80.’

Lewis had brought a morning paper in. It gave a brief report of the raid on Valerie’s flat with a big picture of Michael. Details of Valerie and her address had been withheld, just saying the victim had been taken to hospital unconscious.

At eleven Mike was just thinking about going to pick up Valerie when the policeman whom he had met at Valerie’s flat arrived. He took him through into the back room. ‘I just thought you should know that in response to the picture of Michael in the paper we’ve already had a call from a lady fifty miles away saying he is her boyfriend. She has also been having blackouts. We’ve been in touch with the supermarket. Apparently, he did work for them. However, he was fired three months ago for what they described as conduct unbecoming with one of the female staff. I know Valerie is staying with you,’ he said, ‘So I thought I’d tell you as it will probably come better from you.’ Mike showed him out thanking him for letting them know.

Going back to Lewis he whispered, ‘He’s remanded in custody to the Crown Court, tell you more later.’

Mike picked Valerie up at his then drove her to her flat. The locksmith was there ready, the locks where standard sizes so were soon changed. By the time Mike had collected the special clock and replaced Valerie’s original the locksmith had finished. Valerie collected a few other bits, then she paid the Locksmith and they returned to the shop.

They had only been just over an hour, but Lewis had been so busy he hadn’t been able to check any of the returned videos which were stacked like a mountain on the counter. Valerie volunteered to do a turn on the counter, so Lewis was able to start on checking.

Unusually most of them had been rewound this week so as lunch time approached, he had almost cleared them. Valerie took their food order then went to the chippy whilst Lewis returned to serve at the counter.

Valerie returned and the shop was closed. Going through to the back room they had their food then Mike made them all a coffee. They chatted generally until they had finished their coffees then Mike sat on the end of the settee. Valerie lay with her head on his lap and Lewis sat on the side of the settee.

‘What do you know so far?’ Lewis asked her. ‘I woke up in hospital,’ she told him. ‘When I asked, they said that I had been raped. The police came and said Michael had been arrested. They took a statement although I wasn’t able to tell them much. They wouldn’t tell me anything. When Mike picked me up on Friday, he told me everything was alright now, but to wait until now so you could tell me the full story.’

Lewis held her hand and began. ‘When I examined you and questioned you,’ he said, ‘It soon became clear that the bites you had were from different mouths. That coupled with your tender spots in your bum and in your vagina suggested you had had rough sex with several people.’

‘If that was so, then clearly Michael was involved. I could have told you and you could have thrown him out, but equally I could have been wrong, so I set up your clock camera. Here I’m sorry to admit, I wasn’t completely honest with you. It was not as I told you a camera which took occasional photos on Thursday. It was in fact a video camera which transmitted live via the internet to my computer in this room.’

‘Being concerned for your safety, on Wednesday night we went live and watched you and Michael come in and go to bed. You seemed to be ok and as you had previously been fine on his first night home, we switched off and left you to it.’

‘On Thursday, what was your last memory?’ ‘Having a coffee, then putting my cup down,’ she told them, ‘I deliberately looked at the clock, it was a quarter to eight.’

‘At seven o’clock Mike and I came here and went live Lewis told her. At eight o’clock just fifteen minutes after your last memory, Michael came into the bedroom and pulled the covers right off the bed. A few minutes later he returned carrying your obviously unconscious body. He stripped you off and arranged you on your back with your legs apart.’

‘Not long after, he returned with a stranger in tow. They looked at you then the stranger handed him an envelope which we now know contained £500 cash. Michel left the room then he stripped off and had sex with you.’

‘Now at that point we didn’t know for certain there was money in the envelope or if the man was a friend of Michael’s so my decision was that we would show you the video and let you decide what you wanted to do.’

‘However shortly after the man left another one was shown in. He also gave Michael an envelope. He stripped off, turned you over then had sex up your bum. It was now clear that Michael was selling you for sex. Also, that it could go on all night. Clearly, we had to do something to stop it.’