Naked Corpse

"Rumours?"

"I don't know much. It was about the time of her divorce. She was supposed to be involved with several other women in a group that practised bondage and other femdom activities. Apparently that was what led to Mr Ellis moving out and seeking a legal separation. Other village people might know more, maybe my partner Helen Thomas might, or perhaps Mr Ellis' then solicitor. I just overheard some talk in the factory canteen."

"OK. We'll look into it. It seems unlikely. As you say it was some time ago."

"Do you know how Mrs Ellis died?"

"If I did, and I don't, I wouldn't tell you, Mr Markham. All I can say is what you saw for yourself. There were no obvious signs of an injury that could have caused her death. We haven't had the pathologist's report yet."

The interview ended shortly afterwards. I climbed back in the truck and drove carefully past the ditch, directed by a policeman. I parked it in the lay-by and walked to my house. As I opened the front door I wondered whether the police had spoken to Mr Jones, the retired truck driver. They wouldn't have got much from him. He is very deaf and wears hearing aids. He takes them out when he goes to bed. He wouldn't have heard any vehicle passing his house. His front door bell and adapted telephone flash special lights in his house because he wouldn't hear them. He can understand someone standing in front of him because he can lip-read to help his hearing.

I was slightly worried that whoever killed the two women might have come to my house. It was only a slight concern because I had very effective electronic security systems. My house is in a remote rural location so I take my security seriously. Anyone entering the house, or attempting to, would have activated a silent alarm and triggered a remote response from the security company that looks after the factory. There would have been an inconspicuous small flashing light in an upstairs window if the alarm had been triggered. That light was out.

+++

When I arrived at the factory at noon on Friday June, my secretary, handed me a message from Helen. Helen wanted me to come to her house from Friday evening to Monday morning. She wasn't happy for me to be close to where I was finding naked bodies.

I had a considerable number of meetings scheduled that afternoon so I asked June to return Helen's call. I would accept the invitation with pleasure. I didn't have to do anything else. I had some clothes and toilet articles at Helen's house.

At ten to six I was surprised when June showed Helen into my office. June had arranged for Helen and her car to be allowed on site. Normally only employees and their vehicles are permitted because some of our equipment is for defence units.

"James? I thought it would be better if you left in my car," Helen said.

"Why?"

"If the murderer is leaving bodies where only you would see them, he must have a grudge against you. Your car and the truck are well known. No one will notice my small hatchback, particularly if you can't be seen as we leave."

"Can't be seen? In your car?"

"I've put the back seats down and have several collapsible crates under a blanket. If I fold up the crates and you are under the blanket you can leave with workers of the current shift. My car will be unnoticed among the hundreds of others."

"The security guard ought to check a concealed load," I objected.

"June's told him. He won't stop us. He knows my car make, model and registration. But you've got to come now if we are going with the rush."

Helen persuaded me to leave, concealed under the blanket, and we left. It only took a few minutes until she was parked in her garage beside her house in the centre of the village. She shut the garage door before letting me out from under the blanket. We went through a door into a back lobby and into her kitchen. No one could have seen me.

Helen's house had been the village greengrocer's shop. Where her garage now is there had been a cool store. The shop had been a single storey projection with a covered display area. Both had been removed and the space was now Helen's front garden.

The other former shops in the village centre had also been converted. Unless you knew the history of the village, or had a good eye for architectural detail, you wouldn't have been able to tell which houses had been shops.

Helen put the kettle on to make us a pot of tea.

"Why the cloak and dagger secrecy?" I asked. "Or rather the blanket-covered ride?"

"Inspector Rogers came to see me yesterday. He asked me a lot about you, and us. I told him what I could. But he was concerned about you. He had the idea that Mrs Ellis' body was left where it was because only you could find it. He hinted that Mrs Ellis' death could have been natural... The ball gag might have been added after death. He didn't know how she died but he thinks the placement of her body just there was deliberately aimed at you, James."

"That could be true, but..."

"Wait! Inspector Rogers rang me this morning to tell me you had found a second body last night. His concern had changed to a serious worry. He didn't want you to go back to your remote house this evening. The police will be at the ditch all night but he was still worried."

"So am I. Spotting one body could have been just an unfortunate incident for me. Two bodies in the same place where only I would see them? That seems deliberate."

"Which is why I wanted you here with me, James. The security on my house is nearly as good as yours but I'm in the centre of the village. Anything happening here would be recorded on several cameras and probably noticed by locals as well. Inspector Rogers said that there were no vehicles recorded on the CCTV at the Water Works except you passing in your car and the truck. The electricity substation has CCTV but the cameras are pointed into the site. They don't show the road outside."

"Unfortunately my CCTV doesn't cover the road. The cameras record anything or anyone entering the part of the drive close to my house, and around the house. My drive is too long, curving and tree-lined."

"Exactly. Your house can't be seen from the road, and you can't see the road from your house. A herd of elephants could go down the road and you and your cameras wouldn't know."

"I might HEAR a herd of elephants," I protested.

"But Mr Jones wouldn't."

"No, Helen. His hearing is very limited."

"Inspector Rogers wanted my knowledge of the rumours about Mrs Ellis' sexual activities. I told him the little I knew..."

"Which was?"

"Later, James. I'll tell you later. Preferably in bed. What I did do is give him the names of some people who would know more than I do. Mrs Ellis wasn't our age group. There are people in the village more aware of her past than you or I are, and some people in the town would know even more."

+++

We moved on to other topics as Helen prepared our evening meal. Afterwards we were sitting side by side on her settee finishing the wine we had been drinking with the meal.

Suddenly Helen reached over to kiss me on the cheek.

"James? Finish that glass. I want you in bed early."

She kissed me again. I finished the wine in a single gulp.

We weren't in bed that quickly. I had to shave and shower in the family bathroom while Helen used the ensuite.

As usual we were naked in bed. Our lovemaking had become routine over the last few months. I would take some time to arouse Helen with my hands and lips before she teased and rode me to a climax once she was satisfied with her own. We enjoyed making love but it had become a ritual with the same script every night we were together.

I reached out with my hands to caress Helen's breasts. I was surprised when she pushed them away gently.

"Not yet, James," Helen said. "I want to tell you about Mrs Ellis first. I'll put my head on your shoulder while I do."

Helen snuggled against me. She pulled my arm behind her head.

"Rebecca Ellis was known to be a demanding sexual partner before she married Mr Ellis. Some of the local lads were slightly frightened of her. She used her sexual attraction to bully her partners. When having sex she was noisy and wanted to be in control every time. Her conquests were startled to be told exactly what to do and when. If they didn't? She could and would react violently using fists, nails, teeth or any handy object.

Mr Ellis was a quiet and gentle man. He had been something of a mother's boy up to his mid twenties. He didn't mind being dominated by Rebecca and would do whatever she asked, when she asked, and exactly as she wanted. The marriage seemed a reasonable match. She had someone she could dominate; he enjoyed being controlled by her. He loved her and would do anything for her.

But... It seems that after a couple of years Rebecca found her husband's passive acceptance boring. She wanted a challenge, a man she could overpower and control against his will. That her husband could never be. She wanted to be the boss, yes. But she should be the boss because she had conquered someone who was strong, but not as strong as she was.

She tried to change her husband so that he would rebel to give her the opportunity to reinforce her control. He couldn't. It wasn't in his nature.

She tried something else. Both of them joined evening classes in the town. For the first year they were normal subjects. He was learning woodworking. She was learning a foreign language, French or Spanish. It didn't matter what they were studying.

But there was a women's group at the college. Its aim was to raise women's consciousness, to get the minds working and above cooking and children. Rebecca joined it in the second year while her husband continued woodworking.

Soon Rebecca was effectively running that women's group. They called themselves feminists and there was a strong undercurrent that women were not just equal to men but superior in every way. Rebecca started an unofficial subgroup that became sexual predators. She had been told by her doctor that she could never have children. She took that as a sign that she could have sex with any and every man she came across. Her subgroup wanted sex but on their terms.

What they did caused the rumours. One or more of them would book, under an alias, a room in the hotel on the town's bypass even though they lived locally. They would frequent the bar until they found a lone male. One or two of them would flirt with that man and suggest that more was available, perhaps even a willing pair of women to have 'fun'.

Once in their room, or his, they didn't care, they would have naked sex. Afterwards they would suggest something spicier such as mild consensual bondage. If the man agreed, and he usually did, the women would produce scarves or usually pantyhose to use as bonds. They would suggest a safe word that he could use.

They had practised until they had perfected their technique. The man would be restrained apparently with soft gentle bonds that seemed easy to escape. They weren't. Any attempt to get the scarves or pantyhose undone would tighten the restraint. The two or more women would tease the man with their breasts and clefts until one would gag him with pantyhose. Again it wouldn't appear to be an effective gag but it did mean he couldn't bite.

The two women would play him like a fish on an angler's line. Gradually they would tighten the bonds or add more. One woman might blindfold him with an item of their clothing or a hand while the other took photos without using flash, preferably with some article in the shot showing his identity such as a credit card. If he started to protest they would stroke, caress and reassure him...

Until..."

"Until?" I asked.

"Until they decided they had played long enough. His soft ineffective pantyhose gag would be suddenly covered by a hard ball gag that silenced him to helpless grunting. The soft bonds would be replaced with anonymous pantyhose and more pantyhose was added to restrain him on the bed. His blindfold, if he was still blindfolded, was removed and obvious photos were taken of his predicament. He was told they wouldn't be used unless he went to the police or complained to the hotel. Then they would be distributed widely to his contacts.

The women finished by riding his prick again and again until he was exhausted, flaccid and sore. They would then leave him naked and helplessly tied to the bed for the chambermaid to find.

The chambermaid would usually not enter the room until after the man should have checked out, possibly eleven o'clock in the morning. That might mean he had missed appointments, probably wet the bed, and there might be repercussions.

However a couple of the chambermaids were part of Rebecca's group. They would enter the man's room about eight o'clock in the morning saying they had heard a noise, and release the man. He could have breakfast in the hotel and apparently restart his day without delay."

"The hotel didn't notice?"

"Not at first, James. There had been no complaints but almost none of the male victims rebooked. The rumours started but because most of the men were visitors, not locals, it took some time before the hotel management began to realise what was happening. None of the men had been robbed or actually blackmailed. They were too embarrassed to report what had happened to them.

The first the hotel knew was that another chambermaid, not one of Rebecca's friends, reported that she had had to release a second man on consecutive weekends. She hadn't mentioned the first one. She thought it was possibly the result of a row between husband and wife. That booking had been for both. She didn't know that the wife had decided at the last minute not to accompany her husband. But the second man had been a single booking. Two men tied to their beds in identical ways was too much of a coincidence.

Even though she had said been asked by both men not to report their ordeals she thought her managers should know. The managers reviewed their bookings for the two weekends. Rebecca and her friends appeared too often and why? They lived locally but were staying at the hotel most weekends. The next few times one of them tried to book, the booking was declined because 'the hotel was full' -- but it wasn't. The group knew that wasn't true because of the chambermaids who were involved. Rebecca and friends took the hint and moved to other hotels."

"Any idea how many men were attacked? One of them could be the killer - if Mrs Ellis was killed."

"I don't know. But tomorrow morning I have invited several of my younger friends for morning coffee. We're going to pool any information we have about Mrs Ellis and her group of femdom predators. They know you're here. They've agreed to talk to help you."

"To help me? Why should they, Helen?"

"They like you. Not only that, you are a major employer locally and support the village, not just with money but in any way you can. If it wasn't for me, you might have several local women chasing you."

+++

I hadn't really believed Helen's remarks about women chasing me. Next morning when the women arrived they proved Helen right and me wrong. Every one of them insisted on kissing and hugging me. Helen watched with a wry smile on her face. All four of them were younger than our children, by perhaps a decade.

We went into Helen's sitting room for the tea and biscuits. After she had poured the tea and handed the cups around Helen sat on the arm of my chair and put her arm across my shoulders. I think she was worried, after all the hugs and kisses, that the four women might be potential rivals. That was ridiculous. They are far too young for me and I'm very happy with Helen.

"I'll introduce you," Helen said. "They all know who you are, James. This is Angela Bates; Jane Couchman; Rose Simmonds and Valerie West. They were all at school a year or two behind Rebecca, Mrs Ellis, who was then known as Becky Roberts."

"Mr Markham..." Rose started to say.

"Call me James, please," I interrupted.

"OK, James. Becky was a bully at secondary school and one of an unpleasant crowd that was always in trouble. All four of us suffered from Becky so in no way would we think of ourselves as her friends. It was worse for the boys in our years. Becky seemed to hate boys, particularly those who were studious or serious. Her clique went in for verbal low level harassment, not serious but irritating."

"Except for a couple of insecure boys," Angela added. "Those few really suffered."

"Until our years decided we had had enough," Valerie said. "We confronted some of that clique and threatened to report them to the Head Teacher. Like most bullies they backed off when seriously challenged. Life at school was much more pleasant when they left at age eighteen or so."

"It was after that group had left that they became worse, much worse." Rose continued. "Most of them went to the further education college taking vocational studies. They were all over eighteen. The men in Becky's group drifted away and found girlfriends who weren't so assertive."

"Not all of them," Angela objected. "Harry's girlfriend Hazel, now his wife, tramples all over him."

"Harry was the exception. He loves Hazel." Rose said. "He'd do anything for her and she orders him around but she loves him too. Harry's a lazy b... when left to his own devices. Hazel makes sure he gets things done. Her control of Harry is nothing like Becky's continual humiliation of the men in her life."

"Tim Butcher was Becky's first serious boyfriend..." Rose said.

"Tim? He played for the village Rugby team, didn't he?" I asked.

"He did, James," Rose said. "He was a big man, the village butcher's son. It was a joke at school that Tim and his father had the right surname. Tim was about five years older than Becky and had qualified as a butcher. Although at first he was helping in his dad's butcher shop both of them knew the business couldn't keep going much longer. Tim took for a job on the butchery counter at the town's supermarket. Although he was a qualified butcher the supermarket sent him to a couple of courses at the college. That's how he met Becky."

"Tim's younger sister Andrea had been in my year at school," Valerie said. "She and I were training as nurses at the local hospital. Andrea used to talk to me about Tim and Becky. She was very worried that Becky was using and even abusing Tim."

"She was," Rose and Angela said together.

"Let me tell it," Valerie objected. "Andrea was my friend. Tim liked his girlfriends to play at being dommes. None of them were but they cooperated for a while. Becky was the real thing and Tim fell hard for her. Becky used Tim to practise on. She wouldn't let him make love to her normally because she said he was too strong. If she said 'no' or 'stop' she wouldn't be able to prevent him carrying on -- unless she restrained him first. Tim had his own part of the family house with a separate entrance. He and Becky spent time together away from their parents. She kept her laddered stockings and pantyhose to use on Tim. She'd tie him to the bed, at first only his hands to the bed head. He was besotted with her and the way she controlled him. Gradually, over the first few months of their relationship, she increased the bondage.

He didn't object because the more helpless he was, the more he enjoyed it. It aroused Becky too. If he was really inescapably restrained she was more excited. She would ride him to ecstasy, stopping as he was close to coming, and starting again.

After about six months Becky became crueller. She hogtied him before forcing a ball gag into his mouth. She stopped accepting safe words or signals. Tim had to accept whatever she did for as long as she wanted. She was in complete control of him. She would tease him with her tits and cleft for hours. She even bought a cock cage for Tim to wear. At the time none of us thought such things existed. Tim seemed to enjoy everything Becky did and wanted more. Andrea was getting worried that Becky was too much for her besotted brother.