When I stepped into the small conference room, the first thing I saw was the three women, Janice, Lydia and Rene, standing over Beth, who sat crying with her blouse half-unbuttoned. They had all turned towards the door when I'd knocked.
"Beth, fix your clothes and come with me," I said brusquely. "As for you three bitches, I'm gonna make your lives miserable! You should never have thought to fuck Beth over a second time. Or is this more than that? Anyway you look at it, it is gonna be the LAST!"
"Bas, they say they are going to press charges that I was trying to fraudulently enslave them!" Beth cried. "We both know I didn't, but I have no way to prove it! I'm screwed! I can't risk them taking me to court. It's a lot easier if I just submit to them. I've done it before. I can do it again."
"Not gonna happen," I said loudly. "That is bullshit. Don't let these bitches snow you."
"Mr. Landry, I don't care for your insults and name-calling. We are not the bitches here. She is. And we fully intend to file a complaint against the bitch. She did the same thing your girlfriend Lenore did to enslave Liz, Martha and Julie. She publicly accused us of trying to have her assaulted and posting nude pictures of her over the internet. It was pre-planned, and she even had the police standing by, proving she intended legal action."
"She knows she's guilty and would lose in a court of law. When we told her our intentions to file charges against her, she begged us to reconsider and volunteered to submit to us right here. She was willing to strip for us just to try to get us to rethink and back away from our case. She is that pathetic."
Before I could say anything else, Lou and Helen walked into the room behind me, followed closely by Ariel Simpson and Sheila Brock, the three women's lawyers. "Well, it appears Beth is living up to her reputation as a submissive bitch," one of the lawyers said, sardonically. "She'll do anything to get out of trouble."
Janice abruptly said, "Mr. Landry here obviously does not want to give Beth the opportunity to make a heart-felt apology for her actions. So what happens next is on him. Ariel, I think we should proceed and file those charges against Beth here like we discussed, don't you?"
Ariel and Sheila quickly agreed. Ariel pulled a sheaf of paperwork out of her briefcase and handed it to Helen. "Here is our complaint against Bethany Edwards on behalf of my clients. She made a series of false public statements. We might still drop those charges if Ms Edwards would concede and offer my clients some major concessions and a public apology. But until or unless she does, we want to proceed," Ariel announced.
Helen shook her head. "I really don't think this is a good idea, Ariel. It could backfire on you," Helen offered calmly. Ariel was adamant that was what they wanted to do. Helen shrugged and looked back and forth between Lou, Beth and me. She turned to call her secretary. "I have a complaint these women want to file. Log it in, please, and we will begin the process."
"We're gonna own your ass for making false accusations and ruinning our reputations," Lydia declared. "You have cost us a significant amount of money as well. You think about it and if you make us a really good offer, we might back off. We would rather avoid a trial. Perhaps if you offer something like Lenore Angelle got Liz and the other two to accept. Something like becoming a voluntary submissive for the next year for the Krewe under our supervision might appease us. Of course, we might do some of the things Lenore did to Liz, like shave your head but you deserve it."
I had a thought about this sudden, aggressive stance. I didn't want to reveal we'd been recording the earlier conversation quite yet. "Y'all sit here for a few minutes," I ordered. "I'll be right back." I left the room and knocked on the door to the private room where Tom was conferring with his clients, Roger, Brook and Serena. When they answered the door, I said, "I have a quick question for Brook and Serena. It won't impact their case a bit. Well, let's put it this way, it certainly won't make things worse."
Tom asked me what I wanted to know. "Brook, when you and Serena turned in those fake pictures of Beth, you were asked to sign release papers so they could be posted on the contest website, correct?" They nodded, saying agreeing to the photos being displayed was a condition of them winning and they had to sign before they collected any prize money. "Okay, I have a couple of questions. First, just where did you go to collect the money? By that I mean, did Janice, Rene, or Lydia have you meet them somewhere like the diner where we met?"
They shook their heads and said it was at their lawyers' office. "The lawyers presented us the papers and notarized them after we signed," Brook stated.
I asked them if anything about Beth was mentioned. Tom nodded and said, "We were just discussing that about their meeting. You heard that woman, Janice I believe, say she was going to testify Brook and Serena said they wanted to bury Beth. My clients deny that ever happened." I asked what what was said. Tom gave the nod for his clients to answer.
"The attorneys said that before we could get paid, we'd have to sign releases giving our permission to post those photos on the website like the rules specified. I asked them if Beth had to sign. One of them, the shorter one, Ariel something, said she didn't care if Beth signed or not and that Beth would not pose a problem. She also said if Beth said one word about it, she'd personally bend Beth over and blister her butt until she forgot any objection to those photos being seen by everyone."
I asked them to write a statement to that effect. Tom asked if it would help his clients. "I promise you I'll see what I can do. And I can guarantee, they won't get any time added to their sentences like those women claimed. They just told Beth they would make her give up her slaves. I'm not sure if they meant Barb and Ellie, or if they were talking about these two. They are trying their best to work Beth into a corner. But will you compose and sign a statement to what you just said? You know if they manage to get Beth to turn you over to them, your asses are gonna suffer. The three are as upset at you two as at Beth. They say the three of you cheated them."
Brook and Serena agreed they would both write statements. Both admitted they were more scared of the three than Beth.
I went back to the conference room. I was grinning despite my anger at what the three contest organizers had attempted. "Okay, I want to begin by asking this. Beth, why were you opening your shirt when I walked in the door?" Beth blushed profusely and admitted the women told her they were going to press charges against her, claiming she had made moves to fraudulently enslave them even though she had not. They had pointed out that Lenore had pushed Liz, Martha and Julie into a corner to agree to some harsh conditions, and when they backed out of the deal, enslaved them. They claimed she was attempting a similar ploy and claimed they had enough of a case to make things difficult for her, if not outright win. Sheepishly she admitted, "They'd agreed to give me a little time to think and talk to Lou if I let them punish my nipples. I knew they'd hurt me, but I got flustered and suddenly couldn't think clearly."
"That's very interesting, you three must have thought you had a good argument. Lou once told me the first to tell the story could twist the facts and control the narrative and that's exactly what you did. Fact: Beth was present when Liz and the others attacked Lenore and they are close friends. You made it sound like Beth planned to make fake photos to not only embarrass the organizers here, but to enslave them when they posted those photos. But there are a couple of problems with the timeline here. First, Beth only made the comment about revenge porn Friday evening. Yet, a few days before that, Ariel, you told Brook and Serena they were the only ones who needed to sign photo release agreements. When they asked about Beth, you said if Beth argued, you would nail her ass or some such thing. Those women are writing statements to that effect now. It sounds like you anticipated Beth arguing about posting the photos days before she actually did. Or maybe you were convinced she was too cowed to open her mouth."
"I think this is a case where you anticipated Beth would protest releasing those compromising photos and set her up to make it appear she was trying to frame your clients. Now, days after that meeting with Brook and Serena, here you are, claiming she intended to fraudulently enslave your clients from the start."
Ariel immediately protested and asked how I came to that conclusion. "Oh, I listened to what Janice and these other two told Beth and thought about the timeline." Janice glared and then suddenly looked puzzled. I answered her unasked question. "Beth has a listening device in her pocket, and I could hear every word. This is a one-party state, but I shouldn't need to tell that to a couple of lawyers," I said. "It's funny how you can think and observe things when you aren't in the line of fire and cornered by three of your accusers."
"Janice or one of the three suggested Detective Kathy Bishop's presence showed Beth's intent to start an investigation. That wasn't the case at all. Kathy happened to be attending the party of her own volition. She was warned just before the opening remarks to be ready in case of a problem." I paused to watch the three and their lawyers. They stared at me without moving. "As soon as Kathy asked about the photos posted on the contest site, they were immediately deleted. That cooperation was quite convenient and resulted in Kathy closing her official inquiry. But I wonder now if any of those photos were distributed before that. Maybe we ought to check."
The five women stared at me. Ariel shrugged and nodded at her clients in reassurance. "Not a problem. There is nothing to see," she said.
I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and hit an icon. When Sue Cordero answered, I told her I had her on speaker and said, "Sue, I want you to do a search for me. Call Kat and Lori to help as this will take a little time. We still have the Krewe of Aphrodite's membership roster in our data base from when we did that work for them. I want you to see if, and to whom, Janice, Lydia or Rene might have sent any emails after Brook and Serena turned in their winning photographs. I know you can't read the content, but screen for attachments of large files, like the size of photographs. Go back and check for even deleted emails from their accounts. Begin by looking for emails to Ariel Simpson or Sheila Brock. Also look specifically if Lydia Cromwell sent any large files to her husband, Boudreax." I looked at Lydia, who suddenly appeared shocked. I'm willing to bet these three," I waved my hand even though Sue could not see me, "were not so discreet and shared some files as soon as they got those pictures."
