Group Project

Chapter 3. The arrangement

"Hi Ben, Nancy." Dan greeted them when he arrived home from his Saturday morning stint at work as a maintenance engineer. "Where's your mother?"

"She went to collect the photos but I expect they weren't ready again. She's been gone a long while though." Ben went on to let him know what happened earlier.

Happy Snaps had them ready. "Please check these are your pictures madam," the girl behind the counter requested, "We had a little problem with the machine earlier."

Hilda opened the packet and saw her family pictures on top and then the ones of Ben underneath. "Yes, these are mine," she confirmed. Immediately a policeman stood at her side and took the packet from her.

"Please come with me madam." Hilda immediately protested but was first shown into an office and then taken to the local police station. In an interview room a junior detective started to question her.

"You admit you took these photos? Photos that show a young boy who has been badly abused."

"He's my son…" Hilda stopped realising the possible implications. Paedophilia; incest; abuse, neglect. Charges she wouldn't be able to refute easily without telling the whole story. She fell silent and the detective gave her little time to collect her thoughts before starting to ask more and more questions. Hilda didn't answer. The detective thought it was a sign of guilt.

"I wish to see Chief Constable Beckinsall please," Hilda said with some authority.

"I think you mean Chief Superintendent Beckinsall. He hasn't risen higher than that yet. He's off duty."

"Then contact him."

"Not necessary madam. I can handle this."

"I will not answer any of your questions until I have spoken with your Superintendent." It took nearly an hour of arguing before the senior officer on duty finally phoned Jack Beckinsall and handed her the phone. Hilda explained quietly why she was in the police station and mentioned it involved Sarah. A short time later she was in his private office telling him the whole story. "I have his shirt which is still wet with her and the boys urine and you can see the pictures. Even if you confiscate them, Ben's injuries are still showing badly so I can take more. You can no doubt use your authority to interview Miss Jameson and the boys and your daughter but I'm sure, you will like me, want to keep this from becoming too public but something has to be done to stop this cruel business going any further."

"I agree with you Mrs. Jones and I know only too well that my daughter is becoming a conceited and nasty bitch but I didn't think she was capable of anything like this. It's got to stop though. I shall certainly talk to her and get back to you."

"What are you just going to tell her to stop being a naughty girl?" Hilda could foresee a cop out where the girl would get off more or less scot-free.

"No, Mrs. Jones, I will look into it thoroughly and if I find your story is true, then I will deal with her. I haven't had time to think how, but I will. As an act of good faith, I will return one set of pictures to you but for the moment I am keeping one set and the negatives. They are evidence. I will contact you later in the day when I get confirmation of your story. I'll get a car to run you home."

When Hilda arrived, Dan had just returned from Happy Snaps where he'd been informed of the police action. "Seems your mother's action has sparked a police enquiry Ben. Just what you didn't want. I'd better go down there and find out what is happened." It was at this moment Hilda walked through the door.

Jack Beckinsall kept his word. He phoned and then met Janet Jameson at her flat and got her story, which pretty much confirmed Hilda's and gave him a little more information as to why the feud had started. He knew the boys played rugby for the Scorpions and would have a game that afternoon. "Sergeant, send a car to the Scorpions ground and bring in Jim Catling and Peter Lightfoot," he ordered, "Don't drag them off the pitch but bring them in discretely at half time or as soon as they come off the field." Luckily he already knew the boys names.

Under interrogation and presented with evidence the two boys confessed to their part in Ben's abduction and punishment. "We didn't know what she was going to do with him," Jim pleaded, "We thought she was just going to play with him a bit and in the dark we couldn't see too well how hard she was hitting him."

"I suggest you both keep clear of Sarah for the time being, as yet I don't know what charges Mrs. Jones will bring against you or my daughter or if I can persuade her to drop them. They could be very serious charges. It may help if you keep well into the background."

Sarah wasn't in when he arrived home so he was able to talk to Kathleen, his wife without interruption. She was horrified especially when she saw the photos and she remembered the stories and pictures in the local paper of Ben's accident. "What can we do about it Jack?" she asked, "If the Jones' prefer charges if would get in the papers and they'd have a field day playing up the beating of a disabled boy by a police superintendent's daughter and Sarah could go to jail or worse. She doesn't take any notice of me these days and now she has that allowance from her grandmother's legacy, she doesn't even have to ask for money. I know what I'd like to do to her but that's probably illegal these days. She ought to have her bottom welted like that poor boy."

"I agree entirely dear, but you're right, if we give her a hiding she could have us up in court. The whole business would come out then as well. We can ground her, but neither of us are here all the time to enforce it."

"So the little runt did complain to your lot, still I expect you can cover it all up." Sarah's reaction was more or less what her father expected when he confronted her.

"No, he didn't file a complaint. It was the photo shop when they saw the pictures of what you did. Take a good look at them Sarah." She barely glanced at them. "I said take a good look. They could be blown up to ten by eight's and used as evidence in court against you. They could appear on the front of the papers, perhaps even the nationals. All because you disliked the boy because of an accident thirteen or so years ago. He suffered then because no one watched him carefully enough, now he's suffering because of your bad temper. No, I may not be able to cover this up. I may not want to. Your mother and I are totally disgusted with you and have yet to decide on what course to take. Fortunately the Jones' don't want the publicity either but they do want justice done. I am going to see them again later to see what they intend to do and they will want to know what action I am going to take."

"It's all the headmaster's fault. If he hadn't kept us behind, I would have been in a different group. Jammy Jameson deliberately put me with him and that fat slob." Sarah looked truculently at her father. "I'm sure you can persuade them not to take any action, and there's not much you can do to me either. If you try to hit me like I did to Hop-along then I'll take myself to social services and you can try getting out of that." Sarah stormed out of the room slamming the door.

Jack sat until the germ of an idea began to grow and take root in his mind. Picking up the phone he arranged a meeting with an ex 'client' at a shady club.

"Good afternoon Rolly."

"Good afternoon Mr. Beckinsall. What can I do for you? You said you wanted to call in a favour," the club manager answered.

"Rolly I know this club just about keeps on the right side of the obscene laws and while it does, I tend to ignore it. I also know that behind the scenes you hold private meetings at various locations where those that can afford it, see things that go very much further." Rolly started to protest but Jack held his hand for silence. "Hear me out Rolly. It's me that wants the favour. I know that at least at some of the meetings, girls are given a whipping or caning. I know too that some do it voluntarily but you have to pay a high price for the privilege, others are girls their pimps think aren't doing enough or are cheating on them."

"Mr. Beckinsall if you are accusing me of these things, then I demand a proper interview with my lawyer present," Rolly interjected.

"Hear me out please. I don't want you to confirm or deny anything. Look at these photos." Jack passed him the photos of Ben knowing that, as so often is the case, many hardened criminals have a soft spot for children and in prison paedophiles have a very rough time of it.

"That's Dan Jones' boy," Rolly exclaimed.

"You know him?"

"Not really know him but Dan did several machining jobs for me some years ago soon after the boy finally came out of hospital. He was still a very young boy the one time I met him. Whoever thrashed the young kid like that ought to be strung up by his balls until they fall off. I can tell you that no one I know of in this club did it. That's for sure."

"I know that Rolly. I know who did it."

"You want me to set the boys to sort him?"

"It wasn't a him. I was a girl; my daughter." For a few minutes there was complete silence. "I see," Rolly went on, "You cannot take her to court because it will affect your position and you cannot punish her yourself without her screaming and accusing you of abuse. I think we might find a way round that."

"I've come to apologise to you Mr. and Mrs. Jones and especially to Ben, for my daughter's disgusting and terrible behaviour. I wanted her to come but as you might guess, she refused." Jack looked at them and at Nancy who sat with Ben on her lap. "Rest assured that she will be punished in the most appropriate way." He could almost read their minds. 'She's going to get away with it. He's going to cop out.' "I repeat, she will be punished but not for a little while. Please believe me on this point and for a little while it must look as if she has got away with it. It must look as if I have used my influence to shelve the case. I have no doubt she will be as spiteful as she can to you Ben and perhaps to you too Nancy. Don't let her goad you into taking further action yourselves. It will all be attended to in due course but not immediately and not in a way that can be linked to any of us."

"What did you mean when you said she would be punished in the most appropriate way?" Nancy asked.

"You will know when it has been done. Sorry, I can't tell you any more for now. I know it is a lot to ask, but please accept my word that she will not get away with the cruel things she did."

Nearly two weeks passed and as predicted, Sarah was her usual sarcastic and spiteful self although she did refrain from any physical abuse and from trying to humiliate Ben and Nancy in front of Miss Jameson. Nancy and Ben, with help from both their fathers made steady progress with the bridge construction and with cementing their personal relationships. Bob Mayhew suggested modifications to their designs and Dan helped with practical ideas for the actual construction. Neither did any actual work in making it and both were surprised at the enthusiasm they put into it. At Dan's suggestion they made three bridges so they could test parts of the design as they went along.

The previous weekend, Hilda had allowed Nancy to sleep over and turned a blind eye when she ended up with Ben in the guestroom bed. "They really are an odd couple," Hilda remarked to her husband, "And yet they seem so suited to each other. She seems so protective of him."

"Yet its Ben that's in charge when they're in the workshop," commented Dan. "She's quite nimble with her fingers despite her size but it's Ben that mostly gives the instructions and shows her what to do. He's had that much more experience of using the tools and things."