Chapter 5: Judge Danny Passes Sentence

Danny washed his chest with the cloth and picked up his limp cock and washed the tip. Paul gave a happy shiver and a delighted cry at that. Then realising where his hand was, he looked embarrassed and took it away.

‘It’s ok,’ Danny said as he handed him the towel, ‘That felt nice.’ Paul dried himself off then as he dropped the towel onto the floor, Danny put both arms out. Paul sat up into them. They hugged and Paul felt so good in his arms. After a short while, he drew his head back intending to look Danny in the face and say thank you.

When his face was in front of Dannys and only inches apart, he lost all control and kissed Danny on his lips. Horrified at what he had done he broke off to find Danny smiling at him. ‘That was nice,’ he said, ‘Don’t stop.’ He pulled him back to him and returned the kiss.

As they came up for air, Paul had tears in his eyes. ‘The last kiss I had like that was with Sally the day before she died.’ he said. Danny pulled him close and held him tight. They each had their heads on the other’s shoulders. ‘It’s right that you should miss Sally,’ Danny told him, ‘But you are overlooking something. You are also missing company.’

‘Anyway, lets sort out the main problem first. We’ll come back to that. What I want you to do now is get dressed, then make us both a coffee. We’ll sit at the kitchen table, then I’ll tell you exactly what you should do and why you should do it.’

Paul looked serious again. He got up and started getting dressed. Danny took the paper and towel through to the kitchen. When Paul came through, he had washed the dishcloth and put the kettle on.

Once they were sitting facing each other at the kitchen table with their coffees, Danny said, ‘In a moment we’ll deal with your main problem. Tomorrow or when it suits you, we’ll have another session to deal with the rape and your loneliness.’

‘How did you know about the rape?’ Paul asked. ‘Experience counselling, where you were sensitive and an educated guess.’ Danny told him. Paul couldn’t believe he was sitting here discussing him being raped as a teenager with the teenager from next door. Even more amazing, that he felt at ease about it.

‘Now, back to the main problem.’ Danny said. ‘You have told me everything that happened openly and honestly. That enables me to look at all the facts and tell you exactly what I think you should do. Whether you take my advice or not, is of course entirely up to you.’

‘My advice to you is twofold. First of all, you should do absolutely nothing.’ As Paul looked surprised, he continued, ‘Secondly, you should do your best to forget it ever happened.’

‘But... ‘ Paul started to say. ‘Wait,’ Danny interrupted, ‘Let me tell you my reasons first.’

‘It’s well known locally that a vicious burglar was on the loose. You heard an intruder and were naturally frightened. You defended yourself and your property in a manner intended to stop and capture the burglar. You did not at any time intend to kill him.’

‘Had you called the police and admitted what you had done, you might not even have been charged. Certainly, even if you were I doubt that you would have been charged with anything other than manslaughter. I would have expected that any magistrate worth his salt would either dismiss the case against you, give you a small sentence and suspend it, or give you community service.’

‘But it would have involved a lot of publicity. I think most people would say you deserved a medal. But there could be friends of Wayne Bailys who wanted to retaliate.’

‘So, disposing of the body in the way you did was sensible and whilst strictly speaking is against the law, now the garage has been built over your slab, the likelihood of the body ever being discovered is zero.’

‘So, on the face of it as far as you are concerned, it is all over and done with.’

‘Let us now have a look at how other people are affected by what you have done.’

‘First of all, the general public. Many will never know it, but you have saved them from being burgled, beaten up, possibly killed. There will be no more elderly ladies who have their last years ruined by this man. The local area can sleep peacefully in their beds because of you.’

‘Next let’s look at Waynes family. He used to take his wife’s cash leaving her struggling and he was not averse to knocking her about. The week before he tried to break in here, he had given her a black eye. She thinks he’s run off and as he is missing, she is now getting more benefits. That is money she can keep without Wayne taking it from her. She is very happy that he has gone and is now having a much better life.’

‘She actually said that if he showed up again, she wouldn’t have him back.’

‘Thirdly, the Police. They are not actively looking for Wayne because his wife hasn’t reported him missing. There is a warrant out for his arrest because they recovered £800,000 worth of stolen goods from his lock up, because of you sending them his keys. They are delighted to recover the stolen goods and whilst he’s listed as wanted, they are not specifically looking for him. The only thing the police are unhappy about is not knowing what’s happened to him.’

‘So, all in all, you have saved yourself from harm. Given Waynes wife a better life. Stopped who knows how many future burglaries and attacks. Improved the police statistics for the year. Removed a thorn from their side. Even saved the public purse the cost of, in my opinion an unnecessary trial.’

‘Now give me a good reason why you shouldn’t let sleeping dogs lie.’

Paul thought through everything Danny had told him. He couldn’t come up with any alternative that made any sense. ‘You’re right,’ he said sounding surprised as he spoke.

‘Having shared it with me you’re no longer bottling it all up.’ Danny told him. ‘Because you have accepted my suggestion of doing nothing, you should hopefully find that you are sleeping ok from now on. Your memory of what you have done will probably never disappear entirely, but it will fade away over time.’

‘Now, that’s enough for today. How about we set Thursday evening for our next session, say seven o’clock? You will be able to tell me how you’ve slept and if you’ve had any bad dreams or if you’ve remembered anything else. Then we’ll deal with the remaining two problems.’

‘Seven on Thursday is fine,’ Paul answered, then said, ‘Two?’ ‘Your rape and you being lonely.’ Danny said. ‘Once we’ve sorted them out, you can start your new life, just like I’m sure Sally would have wanted.’

Paul couldn’t think what to say, he felt so relieved. As they stood up, Paul pulled Danny into his arms. ‘Thank you so much.’ he said with feeling. Then he put his lips to Dannys and kissed. He followed that with a rib crushing hug. ‘I’ll always be in your debt.’ he said. ‘No, you won’t,’ Danny told him, ‘You’re my friend. That’s what friends are for.’

THURSDAY

Thursday evening Danny went next door. He tried the side gate and found it open ready for him. Knocking on the back door, it opened almost immediately.

As soon as he was inside and Paul had closed the door, he took hold of Danny and hugged him. ‘I’ve had the best night’s sleep I’ve had for ages,’ he said. ‘I feel a new man.’

‘Would you like a coffee first?’ he asked. When Danny said, ‘Yes.’ he made them one each and they sat at the table. As soon as they were settled Paul poured out his feelings. ‘Not only have I slept well,’ he said, ‘I’ve felt wonderful during the day.’

‘That’s great,’ Danny said, ‘Have you had any bad dreams?’ ‘No, none,’ Paul told him, ‘But I have thought about some of the things you said which are puzzling me.’

Danny smiled, ‘We’ll look at those in a moment,’ he said, ‘Has anything else bothered or worried you in connection with Wayne or our session on Monday.’

‘Nothing about Wayne,’ Paul said, ‘But some of the things I’ve been thinking about have concerned me.’ ‘Would that be your feelings for me?’ Danny asked. ‘You are a mind reader, aren’t you.’ Paul said with a grin. ‘Yes.’

‘You have been worried because you have been dreaming of being close to me.’ Danny said. ‘Yes,’ Paul admitted. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Danny said, ‘You’re not odd. Because we got so close on Monday to get you relaxed it gave you a lot of pleasure. Your thoughts are not so much a desire to have pleasure with me as a desire to have close contact with someone special.’