Playing her way 2 - Chapter 13

© D.L.

Zoe was led flat on her back on the floor, her legs spread wide apart. Her dress had been pulled up above her waist and the tights on her legs had been torn away from her body. She wasn't wearing any knickers, but a scrap of torn material thrown against a wall may have once been a thong. Bruises were rapidly forming on the inside of her thighs. She was perfectly still, and her lips were turning blue.

Emily slammed the door shut, in case the boys came back. A tall thin drawer unit stood next to the door, with an almighty shove, it toppled to block the entrance. Emily pulled her phone from the breast pocket of her jacket and dialled as she put her cheek in front of Zoe's nose and mouth to check for breathing and attempted to find her pulse in her neck.

"What is your emergency?" the operator stated clearly.

"14-year-old girl, raped and suffocated, not breathing, no pulse, 28 Westwood Road, Westbury" Emily quickly stated before placing the phone on the floor. "No visible blockages, I'm going to start mouth to mouth."

"Paramedics are on route and will be with you shortly," Emily could only just hear the voice of the operator as she took a deep breath and forced air into the girl's mouth. She could taste vodka on the other girl's lips.

After five breaths, Emily stopped and started to position herself ready to start chest compressions, when Zoe started to choke and convulse. Rolling the girl over away from the phone and herself, Emily positioned Zoe so that she could vomit freely.

After the wretching had stopped, Emily pulled them both away from the pile of sick and tried to put Zoe into the recovery position.

"Hello, are you still there," the operator called.

Emily grabbed the phone, "I'm still here. I've got Zoe breathing, but she is still unconscious."

"What is your name?"

"I'm Emily," Emily responded, not even thinking to use her male name.

The sound of a fight and the smashing of furniture replaced the thumping of the music downstairs. Emily repositioned herself so that her feet were against the toppled drawers, and her shoulder was near the dresser. If anybody tried to force their way in, she could hopefully keep the door shut.

"There is a party happening downstairs, and it has gotten out of control," Emily stated, "I found Zoe unconscious on her bedroom floor. I went looking for her as we overheard one of the other guests talking about roofies."

The door rattled and an unknown voice shouted, "Hey who's in there. You better not be snorting my shit."

"I've barricaded us in, but I don't know how long I can keep people out," Emily whispered into the phone.

The sound of sirens cut above the ruckus downstairs. The person on the other side of the door decided his drugs wasn't as important as getting out of the house.

"Police, Emily, please open the door," a new voice shouted through the door.

"Name and number!" Emily shouted.

"6354 Wentworth," came the reply.

"Did you catch that, is it safe?" Emily asked the operator.

"Yes I did, and that is the correct name and number, you can open the door."

Emily stopped pushing the drawers into the door and scrambled to her feet, as the policeman put his weight against the door, Emily grabbed a throw from the bed and chucked it over her friend to preserve her modesty before grabbing the toppled furniture and helping to unblock the door.

Once the door was opened a short way, a Policeman squeezed his head through the gap and looked inside. Before he could speak shouting was heard from the landing.

"What is going on here, where is my daughter and why are you breaking into her room?"

"Calm down sir," a second police officer was outside the door and intercepted the aggressive individual, "What is your name please?"

"Malcolm Sheilds, this is my house!"

"Perhaps he can explain why alcohol is being served to minors, mostly without their knowledge, and the bouncers employed to supervise things while he was nowhere to be found are either drunk, high, or both, and arranging for underage prostitution to happen in the main bedroom," Emily shouted.

"Paramedics, coming through," A male in a green uniform called from behind the homeowner.

"In here," Constable Wentworth stated as he finally got the door open wide enough for access.

Mr Sheilds tried to force his way in behind the ambulanceman but was blocked by the policeman.

"You!" Malcolm shouted on spotting both Emily and Zoe in the room, "You pervert, what have you done to my daughter. I want him arrested immediately!"

"Calm down sir, this young lady phoned for the ambulance and performed emergency aid until we could arrive."

"That's no girl, his name is Jason and he has been stalking my daughter for months. He must have knocked her out trying to assault her and then panicked."

"What? I've been 200 miles away at boarding school since September. This is the first time I've seen her in months."

"Her lipstick is all over his face," Malcolm shouted. Spotting a young girl being helped out of the bathroom by her friends, "Hey you, have you seen someone in Pink jeans and blue jacket, do you know who they are?"

"You mean Jason? He was almost snogging Tim earlier. He hasn't been gay bashed has he?" the girl replied.

"I'm fine Cathy," Emily stated peering round the door frame having recognised the voice. "Zoe wasn't as lucky, I found her passed out. Are you OK? You don't look well?"

"Someone spiked my drink, not sure why I came up here, it seemed a good idea at the time, but when I saw what was going on I felt sick and ran into the bathroom."

"I told you he's lying," Malcolm exclaimed. "He's a pervert preying on young girls."

"I think we had better continue this down at the station," Constable Wentworth stated. "Let's go outside and give the paramedics room."

Constable Wentworth escorted Emily down the stairs while his colleague detained the father, who seemed more interested in pursuing Emily than staying to look after his daughter.

"That's her," the bouncer exclaimed pointing to Emily as she reached the bottom of the stairs, "that's the slut that distracted me while her boyfriend knocked me out."

"That's a boy you drunk prat," someone else who knew Jason from school called out.

Emily ignored the attention and continued outside where the policeman steered her towards on of the dozen police cars parked amongst the mass of vehicles now occupying the road, a third ambulance was pulling up behind one of the two custody van's on scene.

Anna came across as Emily climbed into the back of the car.

"What's happened," Anna asked, "I tried to phone you but couldn't get through."

"Please step away from the vehicle," Constable Wentworth stated, getting between Emily and the approaching girl.

"Out of the way please," a paramedic shouted as he wheeled a stretcher towards the house.

"A young lady has been left unconscious after an assault. Do you know this individual?"

"Yes, I do, is my friend under arrest?" Anna replied, being careful not to state a name or gender not knowing what identity was currently in use.

"Not at the moment. However, he is helping us with our enquiries."

"Jason's father, Arnold Bridges, is on the way here," Anna stated, choosing to use the male name due to the pronoun usage of the policeman, "he should be present for any questioning."

"Please direct him to me when he arrives," the Constable stated. "He will need to accompany us down to the police station."

"Oh my god, Zoe," Susan shouted, causing Anna to turn and watch the unconscious girl being taken to the ambulance. David held her back from getting in the way.

"Did Jason assault whoever attacked Zoe," Anna asked, "or is he being regarded as a suspect?"

"The latter," Emily called out, "I found her after she had been raped."

"Don't say anything else until your father gets here," Anna replied, before turning to the police officer. "Excuse me, I didn't mean to impede your investigations, I will wait with our friends until our parents arrive."

Anna returned to where the other teens were waiting. Tim was keeping guard over Cheryl and Donna, who were starting to feel ill, and shiver from being outside sat on a low garden wall. One of the policemen had provided them with an emergency foil blanket, and the two girls were huddled underneath, waiting for their parents to arrive.

David was hugging Susan, who was starting to suffer from shock, seeing her friend carted away in an ambulance.

Anna pulled out her phone and a small notebook. She flicked through the numbers in her contact list. Stopping at the number for a prestigious London solicitors firm which offered a 24-hour emergency advice line and represented numerous famous footballers, she hit dial and was almost immediately connected to an operator.

"Hello, my account number is 4592634," Anna read from the notebook.

"How can we be of assistance miss Kwon," the lady on the other end asked.

"I need legal representation for both myself and Miss Emily Bridges. Emily has been taken in for questioning regarding a suspected sexual assault. She is a male to female transexual, you did the paperwork for her transition and name change. I am concerned her status may cause issues. I also need representation as I am her primary alibi for any possible charges and will need to be questioned. I may have photographic and audio evidence of relevance, but it was collected without permission, and may result in charges against me of invasion of privacy."

"Which police station are you currently at?"

"We are still at the scene of the crime, I don't know which police station we will be taken too. I'm in Westbury."

"I will make arrangements for representation to meet you at the nearest police station, please exercise your right to remain silent until you have had opportunity to speak to our associate."

~o~O~o~

"I don't know," Emily stated, "I only saw them for a couple of seconds."

She had just finished going over the events of her finding Zoe for the third time. Despite probing by the DCI, the best description of the two assailants leaving Zoe's bedroom was still vague.

"I think my client needs a break," Mr Edwards interrupted before more questions could be asked. "We have gone over events thoroughly. You now have two suspects seen leaving the scene, one with dark hair and scratches on his left cheek, most likely from the victim. The other with bleached blonde hair.

"Very well," The detective replied. He could see further progress was not going to be forthcoming.

Mr Edwards looked to his own notes, "Given the fight going on at the bottom of the stairs between the bouncer and the other boy, Gary, I believe there will be a number of witnesses to whoever might have come down the only set of stairs in the building. I know at least one video was taken of the fight."

This caught the detective by surprise, he wasn't aware of any video evidence on record. None of the officers on scene had reported collecting any video evidence. Several camera phones had been collected for still images. No messages could have been given to the lawyer during the interview.

"I wasn't aware of a video," DCI Osborne stated, "Who took video of the scene?"

"I have a second client waiting to be interviewed. I also represent Miss Anna Kwon, who Miss Bridges has made reference to several times. While Miss Bridges went upstairs, Miss Kwon remained on the ground floor to search for Zoe. She was therefore in proximity to the fight, and may have video evidence of the other suspects leaving."

"She activated her broach," Emily exclaimed, realising what her friend had done. "Oh my god! my watch and phone!"

Emily pulled the sleeve up on her left arm. Her phone was currently in the police evidence room, along with the other contents of her pockets, but they hadn't removed her watch. She pressed one of the buttons on the side of the device, causing it to light up and show the time with a bright blue L.E.D. What caught her attention, and caused her to take a sharp intake of breath was the symbol above the time. A flashing bell symbol was blinking.

"What exactly is going on here?" DCI Osborne asked.

"Miss Kwon comes from a very wealthy family, and is considered to be a high risk for being kidnapped for ransom," Mr Edwards explained. "As such, she never leaves home without wearing multiple tracking and recording devices. They record constantly, but the footage is only retained for five minutes unless she activates permanent storage, in which case any footage in memory is retained, and they keep recording for at least two hours, longer if they can connect to the 4G network to upload the footage to the cloud."

"Like a cyclists helmet-cam, or a car dash-cam?" The officer asked.

"Same principle," Mr Edwards answered, "Do your officers wear body cameras? I don't usually cover this far west, but was the closest on call."

"Not yet, but I believe we will be starting a trial in a few months," the officer replied.

"She was carrying her phone in her hand," Emily recalled, "That means both the front and back facing cameras would be active."

"Correct," Mr Edwards stated. "Combined with the hidden camera in her broach, she has footage of anything happening in front of her, and as long as she angled the phone correctly, everything to her left and right as well. At an absolute minimum, she would have captured the exact time when they parted company. You can compare this to the time of the emergency call. From Miss Bridges' account, I estimate that it should take a couple of minutes for Miss Bridges to reach Miss Shields and place the call. The time difference can corroborate her statement. There would not be enough time for my client to climb the stairs, commit the crime, and then call for assistance."

"My phone has the same system built in," Emily stated, "As does my watch. I completely forgot to activate it. However, if I am in Bluetooth range when Anna activates her's, mine activates as well. The indicator on my watch shows the recording is active."

"Where was your phone while you climbed the stairs," Mr Edwards asked, "Is it possible you recorded footage? You should at least have audio, even if you don't have any video."

"I had it in my breast pocket, Anna is constantly reminding me to have it the right way up with the main camera facing away from me."

Mr Edwards nodded before continuing, "I would like it stated for the record, that my client has not had an opportunity to retrieve or view any footage. Given the previous statements, any footage obtained of possible sex acts by underage individuals in the master bedroom, or indecent images of the victim, were obtained accidentally, and there was no intent by either of my clients to obtain images that could be interpreted as child pornography."

"Duly noted," DCI Osborne replied. "I understand your concern that your clients may have inadvertently committed a criminal act. However, given the circumstances, I won't be seeking to arrest them on this issue. I will need to Interview Ms Kwon, and review any footage collected."

"Miss Kwon is waiting outside with Mrs Bridges," Mr Edwards stated. "I was able to talk to her briefly before coming in here. She told me about the body-cams, but I wasn't aware of the significance until Miss Bridges gave her statement."

Turning to the Constable still stood to one side observing the interview, the DCI instructed, "Please escort Miss Bridges and her father to a holding area. Call one of the techs so that we can download any footage. Make sure that they don't talk with Miss Kwon on the way out, then Bring Miss Kwon here so that she can be interviewed."

The Constable showed the pair out of the room, leaving the detective and lawyer alone while they waited for the others to be shown in.

~o~O~o~

"Is my representation of Miss Kwon going to cause problems?" Mr Edwards asked the detective. "I don't usually represent two clients on the same case, so I am conscience that I may have a conflict of interest. Also, I don't want to impede your investigation of accidentally leading my client with information gained in the previous interview."

The detective thought for a few moments before replying, "I don't have a problem with you being present. Miss Kwon is simply a witness and not under investigation for any crimes, so I am not sure why she feels she needs legal representation. Unless she has something she has to hide?"

"She is concerned that she didn't obtain permission to film on private property, and may have invaded the privacy of other individuals present," Mr Edwards answered.

"As far as I'm concerned, that would be civil matter for the landowner to pursue," the detective replied, "she was invited onto the property, and the owner didn't call us to remove any individuals, therefore I have no interest in what miss Kwon has done, other than to collect any evidence she may have on the matter."

~o~O~o~

"Miss Kwon, please take a seat," The detective instructed. "Mrs Bridges, Mr Edwards informs me that you are acting legal guardian, and as such will be observing the interview. You may take a seat over to the side, but I ask you not to interfere with the questioning."

"Thank you," Marylin answered, "Mr Edwards has briefed me on the process. I have faxes from both Anna's parents if You need to verify my guardianship required."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary," DCI Osborne replied.

The detective recorded those present and began the formal interview.

"Miss Kwon, how did you come to be at the party this evening?"

"I am currently a house guest of the Bridges. I Understand that Miss Sheilds is a former classmate to my friend, Emily Bridges, who was invited to attend under her former pre-transition identity of Jason. Zoe had heard I was staying with Emily, and was invited out of courtesy."

"How well do you know the victim?"

"I met her for the first time this evening. She greeted us when we arrived and we spoke briefly several times during the evening. Zoe was busy acting as the hostess so didn't have the chance to hold a long conversation with either myself or the others in our group."

"Who else was in this group?"

"I attended with Emily, so was by her side for the majority of the evening. We both go to the same boarding school. We met Susan Bishop, Emily's cousin, on arrival, and also another two of Emily's friends, David and Tim. I don't know their surnames. I have spoken to Susan on numerous occasions over the last few months, as I am often present when Emily video conferences with her family. I met Tim and David for the first time. We stayed together as a group for most of the evening."

"You state that you were with Miss Bridges for the majority of the evening," the detective repeated the statement back. "At what points were you separated?"

"About two hours after arriving, I separated from the group in order to use the downstairs toilet. I was in the queue for approximately six minutes, before gaining access to the cloakroom. I maintained visual contact until I entered the room. I made use of the facilities as quickly as possible. While I did need to use the toilet, I could have waited another hour, but I wanted to check for any evidence of drug use. Several of the party-goers were showing signs of being high and Emily had pointed out an individual she suspected of dealing in drugs.

"My group was staying clear of the drinks as Tim was suspicious that they had been spiked. I examined the bottles from a distance. The only drinks were in two-litre bottles. No tins or individual bottles were being offered.

"I observed the guys acting as barman selectively switch which bottles they were pouring from depending on who was obtaining the drinks. If they were confident the drinks were to be consumed by female party goers, then they poured from brown capped bottles. If they were unsure, or serving males, they served from black capped bottles, unless they specifically asked for brown capped bottles.

"I wasn't able to track all the consumption. However, I believe those individuals drinking from the brown capped bottles were becoming inebriated. About a third of those seemed to know what was going on, but the was a significant number unaware what was happening.

"There was also a number of people showing signs of being high on drugs on top of the alcohol consumption.

"I've been trained to recognise the signs and potential differences. I have family connections to a premier league football club and have on several occasions, along with my sister, acted as a honey trap at wild parties that potential signings have attended. We started testing all our current and future players after some well-published incidents involving underage girls. If I succeed in seducing a footballer and getting him alone in a room, then the club educates the individual in proper behaviour."

"Isn't that rather dangerous?" the detective asked in surprise.

"It's a calculated risk," Anna acknowledged. "If any of them did actually sexually assault me, then they might have a defence of claiming they didn't know my age. However, I make sure to clearly say no. In such cases, I'm always wearing a wire, and a couple of very large bodyguards are in close proximity. I did get groped once, but we didn't press charges. I had already taken my revenge by delivering a kick to his bollocks after the bodyguards grabbed him. He agreed not to press charges against me for assault if I didn't press charges for the groping. We agreed to an out of court settlement. We passed on employing him. The idiot tested positive for drugs a few weeks later at a different club and is now in jail for the amount of drugs the police found in his apartment."

Mr Edwards interrupted, "I hereby advise my client to stick to the events pertinent to this case."

Anna nodded then continued, "The point I was trying to make is that I have been trained in covert surveillance and the use of concealed recording equipment. As soon as Tim raised suspicions that the drinks were spiked, I activated my recording equipment. Technically it was already recording having set it going before I got out of the car, but I stopped the footage from automatically being erased, and possibly, more importantly, activate the automatic upload facility to a secure cloud server."

Anna pulled a card out of her purse and handed it to the detective.

"This is the details of the security company and my subscription details. They are a recognised government contractor and provide cloud hosting for several police authorities, possibly even your own. They can verify the integrity of the data to a standard that should stand up in court."

DCI Osborne regarded the card. He recognised the name of the company and realised that this young girl may be sitting on a treasure trove of evidence. Refocusing back onto the current case, he asked, "What happened when you exited the bathroom?"

"I was in the toilet about two minutes," Anna replied. "I used the facilities then examined the toilet cistern where I observed marks and traces of a white powder consistent with cocaine usage. I immediately left the room, with the intention of warning my new friends and arranging for us to leave the party.

"David had gone to relieve himself behind the marquee while I was in the queue for the toilet, Tim was heading over to two other girls who were starting to show signs of intoxication. I was about to warn them of the drug usage when Tim came back and informed us that he had overheard a couple of guys referring to Rohypnol usage.

"At this point, Emily and Susan became concerned that Zoe had disappeared. We decided to split up and search. Susan entered the marquee, and I followed Emily into the house. I started to scan the ground floor, while also keeping an eye on Emily. I noticed that her way was being blocked by a large individual I recognised as one of the bouncers present outside when we first arrived.

"I was approaching to provide backup, when another boy, I believe his name is Gary, intervened, punching and knocking out the bouncer. I immediately switched my focus to filming the subsequent brawl. I figured it was more important than the immediate search, and if Zoe was still circulating, that she would be drawn to the commotion as the host.

"I kept filming until your officers started to arrive. I slipped back through the ground floor, meeting Susan at the back of the crowds trying to see what was going on. Numerous people were attempting to flee out the back. Tim texted Susan, asking if we were OK, having seen an ambulance turn up. Realising that we still hadn't found Zoe, that Emily was upstairs, and the police were now blocking access to the upper floor, we went out the back and round the side of the house to the front to where the boys were waiting with the couple of girls they had gone to assist.

"I then phoned Mr Bridges while Susan attempted and failed to contact Emily. After a few minutes, I noticed Emily being escorted to a police car, which is when I approached your officer to ascertain what was going on."

"Thank you," DCI Osborne interrupted. "When filming the incident at the foot of the stairs, do you remember seeing, or filming, anybody coming down the stairs?"

Anna thought for a moment, "Yes, I believe that several people came down the stairs. I was keeping an eye out for Emily, but she didn't return. I can't recall who exactly came down the stairs, or where they went. You would need to review the footage to identify specific individuals."

"Exactly how many cameras did you have operating?" The DCI asked.

"Eight in total, of which three are high def and two have both normal and infrared sensors," Anna grinned. "Plus two microphones."

"Do these include the ones on Miss Bridges?" the detective asked.

"Yes, Emily's phone has a recording facility that either of us can activate. I doubt the front facing camera caught much, as it was in her pocket, but I made sure that she had her main phone camera pointing forward, although the edge of the pocket may have partially obscured any footage. Her watch also has two cameras, one normal, one infrared, assuming it wasn't covered with her sleeve.

"I have two cameras in my broach, one normal, one infrared, the two on my phone, plus one on either wrist," Anna pointed out the devices on her jewellery, including the bracelets she was wearing. "I realise that is probably overkill, but I prefer to take the approach of nuking things from orbit. I've been to wild parties before, but I've always had backup. I was hoping that none of this would be needed, and it would be a quiet night, in which case I would only have my broach camera working, and the footage would have deleted automatically. Do I need to hand over by devices?"

"Yes please," DCI Osborne replied. "Your footage could be key in capturing the individuals responsible for the rape and attempted murder of Miss Sheilds. Miss Bridges witnessed two individuals leaving the scene, which we hope you have on film so we can verify their identities. I must ask you not to attempt to retrieve or copy the footage for yourself. Mr Edwards can explain the reason later."

"Does this mean you are eliminating Miss Bridges from your enquiries?" Mr Edwards asked.

The detective nodded, "I need to have the footage reviewed, and there are still other witness statements to be taken and reviewed. However, at this time I see no reason for detaining Miss Bridges any further. We will contact them if we need to ask further questions."

"We are due to return to boarding school in Norfolk next week," Anna added.

"Please give the details to the Constable before you leave," The DCI instructed, "I need to arrange for your friend's release and I have more people to interview, it is going to be a long night."