Part 3
"How did you know??" Clarice asked as she stormed around the suite waving a
sheaf of paper in her hand. "Not only is there no signature, but there is no
indentation of the paper where a pen or pencil might have pressed."
Red had accompanied his upset wife this time and had taken a seat across the
coffee table from Penelope. In the time since Clarice had left, her luggage had
been delivered and Penelope was dressed in as sexless an outfit as Red could
remember seeing at GWU.
A turtle neck shirt, an oversized, bulky sweater, baggy jeans and walking boots
covered as much skin as possible. The sweater even hung over her hands. Only her
fine facial features and long blond hair gave any hint that she was a woman and
not an otherwise effeminate adolescent male.
A weary smile answered Clarice. "You forget, I know my husband. He is a very
talented chemist and I know that several of his projects have been for security
or intelligence organizations. I suspect he developed something very volatile
for a purpose like that. Applies it with a piece of tape so that it looks like a
signature. A couple of days later, everything has evaporated and it is like
there was nothing ever there. You might find traces of something if you went to
a very good forensic chemist, but then again, Marshal is very good at what he
does."
"But the document is witnessed." Red put in, wondering if she was as bright as
she seemed.
"True enough, but you're the witness, Red. A de facto if not de jure member of
the organization under assault. Besides, can you really testify that you saw
Marshal sign that document? Of course not. If you had seen him taking pen to
paper, there would be a record of that by the imprint of his pen on the paper."
"But WHY?" Clarice all but wailed.
"Because now there is no record that he ever agreed to me participating in your
little school of sexual perversion and vice."
Clarice bristled and would have turned on Penelope for that slight, but Red cut
her off. "And why would he want that?"
For the first time, it was Penelope's turn to be surprised. "Because he intends
to blackmail me instead. I was going to divorce him. The prenuptial agreement
doesn't give him very much since the company stock was mine. I could have him
out of the president's office within ten minutes of the ink being dry on the
divorce decree and he knows it. He said it was my fault, that I wasn't a good
enough wife and than if I knew how to do that, we would have been happy."
"So he talked you into coming here?" Red asked gently.
"You got it. If I came here and passed," and her look became sour, "we'd try
again. If I knew all this good wife bullshit and I still couldn't stand him,
then he promised not to contest the divorce and to resign his position with the
company without having to be thrown out."
"But aren't you playing into his hands by rebelling like this?" Clarice asked,
for the first time taking a seat with her husband.
"It was never his intention to keep his word. He has a spy here in your little
school. Someone he has paid to keep track of me and take photos of me in various
. . ummm. .situations. Last weekend, he showed them to me. I either stay married
to him and leave him alone, or he passes out the evidence of my perverse nature
to the board of directors. I own controlling interest, but not a straight
majority. In an open fight, it would be very close because some of my board
members make Jerry Falwell come off sounding like a disciple of Teddy Kennedy.
He could very well win complete control of my company. I would still get the
income, but would no longer have any say in how my family's company operates."
"He had PICTURES of YOU???" Clarice all but shouted. "Doing. . doing. . ."
"Really good ones, or bad ones, depending on your point of view," Penelope cut
in firmly. "A really nice one of me walking around with my thumb up my sex - a
couple of others of me washing another girl in a rather intimate manner in the
shower - a few of me in various other sexual, essentially pornographic
situations."
"But that would mean a staff member. . ." Clarice spluttered.
Penelope only stared at the other woman.
"You're sure?" Clarice asked, her voice breaking, "That the pictures were real?"
"They were of me and the other women in my group. If they were fakes, there were
very good. So good as to make no real difference."
Clarice began sobbing quietly in her hands, devastated by the apparent betrayal
by someone she considered a friend. . .almost a family member. Red held her and
then turned hard eyes on Penelope. "All right. I am going to need your help,
Penelope. In return, I will do everything in my power to help you."
"I beg your pardon? Me? Help you? Why would I ever do that?"
"Someone has betrayed my wife *and* you." Red said in a killing voice. "I need
to know who that someone is so that I can deal with that traitor. I want you to
remember, as best you can, what situations were photographed. What classes, what
activities, what rooms and most importantly if you can, which staff members. I
want that traitor's ass."
Taken aback, Penelope looked from Red to the sobbing Clarice and then back to
Red. "All right, I will help you, although what you can do to help me is beyond
me just now."
"Anything at all, except taking the school public because what that would
destroy what we do here. Instead of wives wanting to learn how to communicate
with their husbands, we'd be forever fending off folks who simply want a kinky
experience. We'd have to either close down or become a clone of Anne Rice's
"Eden" resort."
"There are no limits, Red." Clarice interjected, her voice calm again. "This
school exists to help women like Penelope, not to hurt them. We can protect our
other students by destroying our student records, but if we have to go public to
beat this bastard, we will. *NOBODY* uses my school this way. *NOBODY*!!"
"Well, I am going to check out Penelope's story with some contacts I have first,
luv." Red looked from his wife to Penelope. "No offence, m'dear, but if I am
going to destroy my wife's life's work over this, then I have to be *damned*
sure I am on the side of the right and just."
"You are kidding, right?" Penelope asked, disbelief evident in her voice. "This
is just another one of your nasty little tricks to keep me quiet."
Red stood and helped his wife to her feet. "Believe what you will, Penelope. You
will anyway. I will be back once I have confirmed your story. I would appreciate
it if you'd get started on those pictures for me." He started toward the door
and then stopped. "Oh, what do we do when your husband arrives?"
"Do you *really* think he will?" Penelope drawled sardonically.
Red thought about it. "He might, even if you are telling the truth, but I agree
with you. More than likely he won't. Assuming he doesn't have the balls to play
it straight, he will probably call and tell us that he wants to give you some
time to deal with what you've done or some such psycho- drivel." Red gave a
slight nod. "Might be a useful circumstantial data point. Oh well. See you
later, Penelope."
~----------------~ For whatever reason, Penelope's husband called at the last
minute to beg off, citing demands of *his* company.
Red and Clarice sat down with the senior instructors and told them the full
story as they knew it.
"Wow. She really has us by the short hairs," Tina breathed after Clarice
finished.
"Like you have any of those below your neck, sweetie," the magnificent African
princess, Wanda, teased.
"Oh, you," Tina growled before becoming serious. "Still, that just about puts
paid to anything we can do with her if I understand what Red just said. If
laying hands on her at all, short of self defense, is going to be a criminal
offense, then we may as well hang it up and ship her out."
"We can't do that, Tina." Clarice said in a soft, wooden voice. "She is our
student, our submissive if you will, and we are honor bound to see to her safety
while she is in our keeping. Her safety has been cruelly and profoundly
endangered by her time spent here and I will do everything in my power to see
that is corrected."
"But pictures, Clarice?" Lucy asked. "How can we do anything about that? Lord
above, but Tina and I were the ones working with that class during hell week,
and I have no idea at all how any pictures could have been taken. Lord, but they
were all naked the whole week."
A very tired, pained look crossed Clarice's face. The woman seemed suddenly to
show every one of her years. "Staff wasn't nude, Lucy." she said quietly.
A moment of stunned silence answered her statement which immediately shattered
into a cacophony of furious shouts. When it finally calmed down, a crying Tina
stood. "Clarice, does that mean you suspect one of us of this. . . this. . .
rape of our school."
For a moment, Clarice did not know what to say because that seemed to be the
only answer but a few minutes before. Finally, she shook her head. "No, Tina. I
don't know what the answer is, but I refuse to believe that any of us could do
anything so heinous."
"Then how did it happen?" Nancy asked aggressively. "Those pictures got taken
somehow, unless she is lying about that."
"That is a possibility, Nancy," Red replied, "But I am inclined to believe her.
She isn't faking her anger, and from what you all have told me, she did not show
any sign of such anger at any time after the first couple of days even when you
were actively trying to mess with her head."
"So what do we do now?" Lucy asked.
"For the most part, we wait and see if Penelope's husband makes a move. In the
meantime, I will continue my research into the company and other aspects of
Penelope's life," Red replied.
"AND," Clarice said firmly, "We have to talk with the other students -
particularly with Penelope's classmates."
"To find out what they know?" Tina asked. "Why talk to the other classes when
only Penelope's class has had anything to do with her while she's been here?"
"That's not what we're going to talk about, Tina. We have had what appears to be
a potentially catastrophic break in our security. One of our students has been
threatened and that could just as easily extend to our other students. They have
the right to know what is happening here."
"What can they do?" Nancy asked.
"They can leave and disassociate themselves with us. If that is their informed
choice, then we will let them leave with the promise that they can return later,
after this blows over." Clarice answered with a calm she was far from feeling.
"That is, *if* there is a school to return to after this is finished."
"Let them LEAVE???" Tina squeaked.
"Remember what I said about safety. They have every right to that, and if we
cannot assure them of being completely safe here, then we must obtain their
informed consent to continue with them in the program." "But. . .but. . but they
aren't finished yet," Tina protested.
"Be that as it may, dear. We really have no choice."
"But suppose they all want to leave?"
Clarice could only shrug. "In truth, dear, it might be better in the short term
if we could suspend operations and concentrate on this problem. However, safety
is not the only commitment we have made to these young women, and if they elect
to stay, we will finish with them."
"What about new classes, Clarice?" Wanda asked.
"We'll see, Wanda, but I think we may be wise to postpone any new starts for the
time being. Think about how you all feel, please, and let me know. We will, of
course, give full disclosure to our new students before . . .ummmm. . . locking
them in to the program," she finished trying to make a joke about the ceremony
by which husbands handcuffed their wives the day they began their studies at
GWU. The joke flopped miserably.
"Clarice and I will meet with each class tonight after the evening meal," Red
added. "We should have a better idea of where we are tomorrow morning, at least
insofar as continued school operations are concerned. Until then, carry on as
usual. Whatever Penelope's husband is planning, it is aimed at her directly and
only indirectly at us."
With that, the meeting broke up, but the students all noted that most of the fun
and mirth had been taken out of the staff and wondered what had happened to make
them all so depressed.
~-----------------~
"So that's what we know," Clarice finished her fourth such talk, this time with
the members of Penelope's own group.
"What happens next?" Shalonda asked for her stunned classmates.
"That is up to you. . .each of you, individually. We've made a commitment to
every one of you, and to your husbands for those of you who are married. You
have to decide what option you want. Leave now and come back later, or leave now
and say the hell with all this or stick it out. Whatever you choose, my staff
and I will abide by your decision and do whatever we can to support you."
"Do we all have to make the same decision?" One of the women asked.
"No," Clarice said fervently. "You must each decide what is right for you.
Okay?" The nods were less than enthusiastic, but that was only to be expected.
"Very well, then. In your rooms, you will find your clothing. There will be
phones so that you can call your husbands and talk over what we've told you
tonight. After all we've tried to teach you about the importance of
communication in a marriage, the importance of talking this out with them before
you make a decision should be a given."
"What if we want to get out of that damn dormitory?" another woman asked
angrily.
*Well, I guess I know what *your* decision will be,* Clarice thought recognizing
the woman who had been the bane of the staff in this particular class. Clarice
did not believe that *any* woman was innately frigid, but this female had spent
her entire time at GWU giving Clarice cause to question that conviction. She
suppressed a sigh. "You have the freedom of the grounds. If you choose to leave
the house, you will be watched from a distance for your own safety."
The troublemaker snorted derisively, but Clarice refused to rise to the bait. *I
almost hope you do decide to leave, bitch.* "The grounds are unfamiliar to you
and it is dark out," was what she said instead. "Look. There is no point in
trying to keep you from escaping because I have already *promised* you that all
you have to do is tell us you wish to leave. Just say the word and you will be
homeward bound within the hour." She permitted herself the small pleasure of
staring the other woman down for a few long moments before turning her attention
to the other women. "Any other questions?" She looked around and then nodded.
"All right. There will be staff members available to you around the clock. If
you have any questions or have reached a decision or just want to talk to
someone who really knows what is going on here at Good Wife University, just
dial zero from any of the phones and you'll be in touch with one of us."
