The care with which the event appeared to be organized made Albert think there was a disciplined effort behind it. Such aggregates of hormone-ridden youth don’t learn to behave in meticulously orchestrated manners to maximize pleasure while ensuring consent and protection. There had to be a deliberate organizing process and force behind it. Aspiring to recreate the intrigue of the royal courts of the past… He thought there was something his son was missing.
“Have you known the girl? Alyson Crawford?”
“Yes, of course. She is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life.” Keith said with enthusiasm.
“So, you liked her?” Albert prodded gently.
“Very much. I was kind of obsessed with her. I don’t think she knows about me, though.”
Albert listened to his son, thankful for the opportunity to cross-examine him in the safety of their home. This was what he was scared of. He could easily see how his son could be framed for whatever happened. He could see how an overzealous prosecutor could latch onto those innocent admissions and build a bulletproof case.
“Does anyone know you liked her that much?”
“I mean, dad, I still like her. You had to see her in real life. I didn’t, of course, go around confessing this to everyone. I kept it to myself and kind of studied her. I don’t think she has a steady boyfriend. She hangs out with mostly the seniors. Very mature. Like a grown woman.”
That was a troubling development. His son was beyond immersing in an obsessive quest. He wasn’t ever going to allow him to be questioned by a lawyer. He would crack and sing his own guilt into prison. Possibly a life sentence. Albert tried to hide his outrage and concern.
“At what point did you have contact with the girl? Alyson Crawford?”
“I can’t remember exactly. I was walking by. Still kind of reeling from the shock of the whole thing. Pretty excited, too. I saw someone pulling a girl toward a side corner. Kind of dark and out of the way. It seemed the girl was pretty hesitant. But didn’t scream or make any kind of noise. Then, I noticed her neck, it wasn’t covered with a mask. How her shoulders were like slanted and her left hand, the one not held by the guy, long and skinny waving side to side. It was slightly bent at the elbow. I was pretty sure it was Alyson. So, I followed them right behind. Trouble was another girl came towards me from their direction and kind of bowed before me. It was like she knew I was going in that direction. It was weird. I didn’t want to say no and spoil my cover. So I bowed back. All she wanted to do was dance. For like two songs. Then she kind of left me on the dance floor. There was no exposed body part about her I could recognize, though.”
“How sure are you the girl knew where you were going?”
“I don’t know. It was kind of interesting. I had been walking around for a few minutes before my attention was caught and I started following Alyson and the guy. Then, all the girl wanted to do was dance when every other interaction had been at least dancing and something more.”
“So you are standing on the dance floor after the girl leaves you and then what?”
“I went to where I thought Alyson and the guy went. It was kind of a row of compartments. So much stuff was going on. Each compartment was covered with a curtain. It was pretty weird. I waited around to see if I could hear any kind of sound. There was a lot of sounds, but not Alyson’s. I mean her voice is very distinctive. Soft and gentle. I waited for like maybe five to ten minutes. It was kind of awkward because people were walking around. When I was about to go back to the big hall, I saw the guy from the corner of my eyes leaving the compartment at the far left of the hallway. It was pretty much out of the way. Other people were walking around. Another guy and girl were walking in that direction. I hesitated for a moment if I should follow them or not. Then, out of nowhere, I felt my handheld on one side and dragged to the side. The hallway is kind of narrow so, I was like one step from either side, they pulled me to the room on my right. I could tell there were two girls there. I had seen them walking around at the party. I mean I was pretty disoriented. I couldn’t tell them apart. One of them tied my hands in some kind of the rope, and the other blindfolded me. It was the strangest thing ever. I mean these girls knew exactly what they were doing.”
As the plot thickened, all Albert could do was listen with his jaw hitting the floor and trying to keep his analytical mind sharp enough not to miss any of the details. All of what Keith was saying hadn’t been mentioned beforehand. It was as if he had stopped worrying and started confessing every detail to his father without reservation.
“Go on,” Albert said calmly.
“It was wild, dad. Some of the stuff I can’t remember. They took turns and did stuff. With their hands and stuff like that. We drank a lot. I can’t remember how long it was. They were whispering in my ears. Like saying how big I was and things like that. None of the other girls had spoken.”
Albert could understand what was being said. It was as if the men of the Lloyd family had been cursed with being short and generally unimpressive in the public eye but blessed with a disproportionate phallic gift. He had heard legendary stories about his grandfather in the old days and had known his son was stepping into the same family inheritance from a young age.
“So, to get to the point, you couldn’t go and check on where Alyson was because you were distracted by these two other girls.”
“Right, I was kind of enjoying the experience and not thinking much about anything else. Like imagining how much the simple disguise of the mask had eliminated my usual disadvantage. I swear, none of these girls would have even said hello to me if they saw me outside. It was really intoxicating. I was almost passing out from the pleasure and all the drinks they kept giving me. The thing was I don’t remember exactly when I passed out, and everything stopped.
When I woke up, I was lying next to someone, I could tell. My hands were untied, but I still had a blindfold on. I was completely disoriented. I was scared to take off the blindfold. When I reached forward, I could feel the body of a girl. It felt like she was naked. I was pretty scared. I kind of opened it slowly and saw the room looked different than the one I was in before. But now there was a girl next to me. Like all naked. I could really see well in the dark. Her face was turned away from me. It was like crazy. She wasn’t moving. I kind of lifted my head and looked at her. There was no mask on her face, and it was Alyson. It was crazy. Her eyes were closed. But it was really her. Her face looked like it was bruised. That is when I was so scared and didn’t know what to do.”
Albert, the distinguished lawyer of many years of experience, could see the threat marching to his front door. His own son was deeply immersed in the mess. He didn’t need to hear more to realize there was likely no winning here. Either way he looked at it, there were land mines all over the place. Was his son framed? Or, did he stumble into a disastrous situation? He could tell his son knew the gravity of the trouble on hand. Standing at the cliff’s edge looking for his father to rescue him.
~~~
