Chapter 23: Just Deserts

This revision involves some substantive changes for clarity.

In the aftermath of my being attacked and violated Bill became increasingly necessary to my sense of security. When I had called him from the taxi he had immediately given me the address of his town house. He pointed out, sensibly, that it would now be unsafe for me to return to my own apartment. He had also asked me in that call if I had noted the street address of the place where I had been held captive. I assured him that I had.

When I arrived at his place I fell into his arms. I needed so badly to feel safe again. The tigress in me had collapsed by this time and I just wanted someone stronger than me to hold me and tell me that everything would be all right. His powerful arms held me tight for what seemed like a very long time. At last he escorted me to his sofa and offered me a drink I much needed. He called the police for me and they took a brief statement by phone.

"Miss Glenn", Sergeant Withers began, "Now that you have taken the oath just now and agreed to give your statement under penalty of perjury, I would like to go over the key points.

"After the street assault by the boys", the officer continued, "you say the last thing you remember was that you had subdued the boys and were walking away?"

"Yes", I replied, "but then I woke up tied to a bench in what appeared to be a laboratory of some kind. I found that I could not move and that I was naked."

"And who was the first person you saw there?" the officer asked.

"It was Mel Zigler, the General Manager at the last place I worked."

"Are you quite sure that it wasn't just someone who looked like Mel Zigler?"

"It was Mel Zigler!" I replied. "I knew Mr. Zigler well over a period of more than a year when I was illegally enslaved at Masterson Automotive. I knew him more intimately than I ever wished to know him. I would know that face and that voice anywhere! I even recognized his cologne."

"Who else did you see in that room?"

"The two boys who had assaulted me on the street. One was a tall slender redhead, who I later heard addressed as 'Erin'. The other, a boy I later heard called 'Kim" was a shorter and stockier boy."

"And what happened next?"

I gave him a complete statement of how Zigler had electrically tortured my sex, how he had tried to re-activate my implant, how he had then suddenly left me in the custody of the two boys to attend to some urgent business. I reported that the boys had taken their own clothes off because they planned to rape me. I explained how I was able to take advantage of a moment when they were flipping me over on the table to gain the upper hand, even though handcuffed.

"In your earlier comments, before I swore you in, you said the boys wound up injured and handcuffed. Go over that part again."

"I used my kickboxing skills", I explained, "to subdue the boys until one was unconscious and the other barely conscious. Then I found the key to unlock my own handcuffs and put cuffs on both the boys. After that I went upstairs, found my clothes and purse, made my escape out of the building, and hailed a cab."

There was a very long pause and I wondered if the officer was finding my story too fantastic to be believable. Finally he spoke.

"You are one tough lady. And you caught some lucky breaks. My hat's off to you. Do you know where this place was where you were held?" the officer wanted to know.

"Yes. As I fled out into the street and hailed a cab, I made a point of writing down the street address."

I gave the officer the exact address in lower Manhattan.

"Very well, Miss Glenn. I think we have enough to get a search warrant for that place, an arrest warrant for Zigler, and we will get further particulars from him that will help us find and arrest the boys."

"Thank you, Sergeant Withers", I replied.

"I must advise you that if you intend to pursue a rape complaint against the boys, you will need to go immediately to a nearby hospital and have a rape kit done to preserve evidence."

"I think there will be charges enough without the rape charge", I replied. "And I am exhausted."

"I can believe that Miss Glenn. In the morning, when you are more rested, we would like you to come down to the station. We will require a fuller statement. And we will have a typed copy of the testimony you just gave me which we will need you to sign."

With that the police interview ended.

Bill offered to sleep on the couch that night while I enjoyed the comforts of his bedroom. I learned, at a later time in our relationship, just how much he had wanted to fuck me that night.

In the morning we both got up early and Bill took me to a 24-hour emergency medical clinic near his apartment. I didn't feel there was anything wrong with me other than a few bruises and scratches that would heal on their own. But Bill was insistent that I get checked out.

At the clinic they wanted my most recent blood tests from my last physical.

"Miss Glenn", the clerk inquired, "are your medical records stored with one of the major medical storage services?"

"Yes", I replied, naming the service.

"Then if you will just step into one of those computer cubicles over on the left wall, you can insert your medical access card into a terminal, key in your password and download the blood work to our system, along with any other medical records you think might help us today."

As it turned out I had only minor bruises and cuts but it was good to have that belief confirmed. As I was leaving the clinic the clerk handed me a slip of paper with a case number written on it.

"Miss Glenn, if you wish you may go back into one of those cubicles and key in this case number, and the results of your visit today will be uploaded to your master medical record."

"That sounds like a good idea", I replied.

After that we went to the police station. Two detectives interviewed me at some length. We were advised the scene had been dusted for prints and samples of DNA evidence had been taken. The police had been able to match the prints of the two boys against a database they had of juvenile offenders. They had picked up the boys and had me identify them in a lineup. They would be held in a pre-trial detention facility at least until they could be arraigned. A warrant had been issued for Zigler's arrest, but he had not been found at his home and his present whereabouts were unknown. The police said they would let us know as soon as the prosecutor decided how to proceed with this case.

A few days later we learned the public prosecutor had decided not to pursue this assault on me. He had said the evidence was just too circumstantial and it would be a case of "he said, she said". So the boys were turned loose and the warrant for Zigler was dropped. I was not completely surprised at this turn of events since Zigler had boasted to me of his friendship with this prosecutor.

We still had to wait out the rest of the month for the prosecutor's decision on the charges I had requested against Masterson employees for my earlier enslavement. Finally we were informed he would not pursue that case either. The prosecutor's friendship with Zigler was surely a conflict of interest that the prosecutor should have disclosed by law and the ethical standards for lawyers. Fortunately the option of a private criminal prosecution was still open to me.

My attorney filed the necessary papers with the Court to begin my quest for justice. A week later there was an ex parte hearing to establish our standing to prosecute on both cases and whether there was probable cause for the court to issue arrest warrants. For the wrongful enslavement case my attorney had to show that I was the principal party who had been damaged by the alleged criminal conduct. Then there had to be a prima facie showing of fraud committed by the defendants. This was established first by Bill Steelforth's testimony under oath as to what he had discovered about the forged documents and the dummy corporation. For the kidnapping case we were fortunate that the police had done their work and we supplemented that by bringing sworn depositions from all three of the slaves from the convenience store as to what they had witnessed of the street assault. We were soon green lighted to proceed with our twin prosecutions.

A charge of "willfully taking the freedom of an innocent citizen" was filed against Jenkins and Duncan, the two men I hated most in this world. There was also a lesser charge of "depraved indifference" against both men. On the more serious of these charges I would be entitled to lifetime enslavement of these two men if we proved my case, or even possibly death penalties. We were entitled, under private prosecutor status, to have arrest warrants issued and to have the county sheriff arrest Jenkins and Duncan and bring them to Court. At this point we did not yet know of Zigler's full involvement in my enslavement though we suspected it.

Charges for the more recent kidnapping, however, were filed against Zigler and the boys and they too were arrested and brought to court for their arraignments.

These arrests came as a complete surprise to all of the defendants since, by using the 'ex parte' hearing, we had not been required to give them any notice before that time that we were bringing private criminal prosecutions. This feature of the law was to avoid the danger that people facing criminal prosecution might flee the jurisdiction. The defendants had all thought they were home free when the public prosecutor declined to prosecute. The defendants all pled innocent and were released on their own recognizance.

Bill advised me that there had to be a fourth person responsible for the miserable way that I had been treated as a slave at Masterson Automotive when I was legally only an indentured servant. That would be the person from the slave advocate agency responsible for monitoring conditions of servitude at Masterson Automotive. By subpoena of Masterson records we learned that this person was a Cheryl Clifford, federally licensed as a slave advocate. Obviously she had not done her job. In fact I had never seen her or heard of her during my time at Masterson. This was, at the very least, gross neglect of duty.

We needed more evidence if we were to file charges of wrongful enslavement against Zigler. The most likely source of such evidence would be testimony by Duncan and Jenkins. I was present with my attorney when they were brought in for questioning in his office pursuant to a subpoena. A Mr. Stafford represented them both.

"Mr. Duncan", my attorney began, "we wish to know if the actions you took to enslave Ms. Glenn were taken on your own initiative, or were you following orders from one of your superiors."

"We do not admit", Stafford replied, "that either of my clients took actions designed to enslave Ms. Glenn. In order to implicate someone higher up they would have to first admit that they did something illegal themselves. My clients both stand on their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves."

It was true, of course, that they could not be forced to testify against themselves under the Fifth Amendment to the Capitallian Constitution, which largely paralleled

the Fifth Amendment under laws of the old USA. To get them to waive their privilege we had to engage in a bit of bargaining.

"You have informed your clients, no doubt, that "willfully and unjustly taking the freedom of a citizen" is a capital offense?"

"They have been so informed", Stafford replied.

"Suppose then, just hypothetically, we were to take the death penalty off the table? Would that motivate your clients to cooperate in this investigation and to make certain other concessions?"

"If we agree not to seek the death penalty, we would want your clients to agree that, in the event they are convicted, that they would waive any objection to swift preliminary punishment while their appeals are pending."

"What is this 'preliminary' punishment?" Jenkins wanted to know.

"It is not that big a deal. It is just to make an example of you by administering an embarrassing bare assed spanking in front of a crowd in Central Park", his lawyer responded.

"I don't like the sound of that!" Jenkins responded.

"For God's sake, man! Even with the death penalty off the table you are looking at possibly being enslaved for up to 20 years. The preliminary punishment is the least of your worries. If a little embarrassment gets the death penalty off the table and still lets you appeal the conviction, then I would strongly recommend you take the deal!" Stafford rebuked.

Upon questioning the two Masterson employees revealed under deposition before a court reporter that Mel Zigler had also been involved, and had full knowledge of the forged documents used against me. In fact he had ordered Duncan to work with Jenkins to create the forged documents and also to begin the legal enslavement action in order to placate Tom Jenkins and retain his loyalty to the company. A deposition was obtained from Duncan against Cheryl Clifford as part of the same plea bargain. We added the necessary charges of "willfully taking the freedom of an innocent citizen" as well as "depraved indifference" against Zigler and against Miss Clifford.

We entered into separate negotiations with Cheryl Clifford's attorney. We wanted her testimony against Zigler as well. She was clearly very frightened and readily agreed to testify and to waive any objection to preliminary punishment if only we would take the death penalty off the table.

Finally the day for trial came. I was excited. I had learned that if these four defendants were convicted of even the lesser offense, that enslavement to me would be their most likely punishment. While I told myself that I had no particular desire to own them personally on a long-term basis, I knew that I might have some fun at their expense and then have them sold at public auction and realize the proceeds of the sale. I also knew that I would have my vindication since these three men and the woman would find loss of their freedom extremely distressing as well as humiliating. The case had received quite a bit of publicity, so the courtroom was full of spectators, much to the chagrin of the defendants.

Judge Morelock was again presiding. Mr. Green laid out my wrongful enslavement case, chiefly that the men had forged documents purporting to show my debts in excess of $10,000. They had also set up a dummy corporation, owned by the three of them jointly, to which these debts were supposedly owed. A handwriting expert testified that the forged documents were in the handwriting of Jenkins. The dummy corporation appeared to have no other purpose than to generate phony debts against me. Masterson records were produced to show that Miss Clifford had hardly ever visited the facility and never conducted any inspections or interviewed any slaves. Duncan testified under oath that Zigler had heavily bribed her to 'look the other way' concerning any abuses she might hear of.