It was the start of a cold, damp evening in a working class suburb where people from several walks of life lived. Not a place for a lone woman to out too late at night.
Lavinia Martine was hurrying home before it got completely dark. She was a firmly built woman in her late thirties. Fit, generally healthy with a reasonably attractive face framed by short dark hair. She was a cheerful person by nature, though she had seen little to cheer her of recent years. She wore an old suit and because for the worsening weather had put on an old fashioned, belted raincoat which rustled as she walked. She carried an umbrella and handbag.
She had come from a committee meeting in a local hall where she had been asked to step down from a secretarial position in the church guild. It had been unfortunate occasion and she was ruefully reflecting whether she should resign as well. Right now she only wanted to get home to the house she shared with her sister.
She and her sister Letitia lived in an old two bedroom weatherboard cottage a short distance away in this very ordinary suburb.
They had not always lived here. Their childhood and youth had been spent very comfortably and happily in a stately residence in an affluent suburb far to the east. Their father had been considered a well-to-do gentleman who had inherited a solid family business. But he died suddenly when they were in their early twenties and it was found that he had been hopelessly mismanaging the firm for years. Their mother, no more competent than her husband, had attempted to keep the failing enterprise going but eventually she too had succumbed, leaving the two young ladies to salvage what they could of what had once been a good business. And there was very little to salvage.
Lavinia was thirty one and her sister twenty eight when this happened. Though they had both gone to an expensive school for young ladies they were sadly ill educated and trained for nothing. The family ideal for daughters had been that they should marry wealthy young men from their own social class and live happily ever after. But by then they had gone from desirable catches on the marriage market to a couple of penurious young women whom none of their former suitors wanted to know.
But the daughters had risen to the occasion, displaying a spirit their founding forefathers might have approved of. The stately home of their childhood was sold over their heads but they had managed to save enough from the ruin of the family fortune to get another place to live. True, it was a humble residence similar to which their father’s former workers might have lived in but at least they owned it outright. Both now worked in local business offices though neither fully understood much about work procedures.
There was little chance of either marrying. Their unfortunate early indoctrination had conditioned them to think that the available males in this lower class area were socially unacceptable. Lavinia, a little more adventurous than her sister had been trying to make suitable social contacts elsewhere for years but with no success. They were generally thought to be on their way to becoming a pair of old maid spinsters.
Lavinia finally reached the two bedroom cottage they called home. She was surprised to see her sister had not left the front porch light on for her. She let herself in and saw a light on in her sister’s bedroom. “Letty, Letty,” she called from the hall, “Why didn’t you leave the front light on?”
Then the door of her sister’s room opened and a strange woman came out.
This was Beryl. A well built lady of average height with a square determined face and a firm chin. Neat brown hair under a narrow brimmed hat pulled low over her face. She wore dark glasses and black leather gloves. By an odd coincidence she wore an old type rubberised raincoat almost the same as Lavinia’s.
“Good evening,” she began. “It’s Lavinia isn’t it? Well, unfortunately your sister can’t come at the moment. She’s a little tied up.”
Lavinia sensed something was wrong, very wrong. “What! Who’re you? Where's my sister?”
Beryl smiled, “She’s in here,” she indicated Letitia’s bedroom behind her. “Now if you’ll just step in here as well.” She put her hand on the doorknob. Lavinia stopped. She didn’t feel like doing anything this woman suggested. At that moment she heard a noise behind her. She turned and saw a man and a woman had stepped out of the dining room on the other side of the hall. She thought wildly, who are these people?
The man was tall, lean, thin faced and wore a soft black leather coat with a cloth cap. In his very early forties perhaps. The woman was about thirty, thin, somewhat below average height with a narrow face and sharp chin. Like the woman, both wore dark glasses and gloves. Lavinia thought, a robbery, but why?
The woman confirmed this. “We’re here for a purpose and when we’ve done that we’ll be on our way and leave you in peace.” She took Lavinia by the upper arm, “And now if you’ll just join your sister.” She took both umbrella and handbag and steered her into her sibling’s bedroom.
Letitia Martine was three years younger than Lavinia, slightly shorter and less solid and wore her hair in a characteristic bun on the back of her head. Today she had chosen to wear a neat, well fitting blue house dress and would have looked quite attractive in it as she sat on side of her bed. Only this evening she had been tightly bound and gagged.
Many yards of wide soft tape had been used to secure her wrists behind her back and her arms to her body. The hem of her dress had been pulled up and her thighs tightly bound above the knees and lastly her ankles lashed by many turns which went up to her calves. Finally a big wadded gag had been forced into her mouth and secured with more tape. She looked like a neatly wrapped blue parcel.
“As I told you,” Beryl explained, “Your sister’s a little tied up at the moment, and we’re obliged to do the same for you. Now if you’ll just stand beside the bed, next to her, we’ll attend to you. After that we’ll get on with what we came to do.”
Lavinia did not argue. There were three of them and they were, she assumed, practised criminals. They clustered around her and using the same tape, tied her up exactly the same way as they had bound her sister and then seated her on the bed beside her. They did not gag her.
She was puzzled as much as anything. This lot were clearly professional lawbreakers come here for some purpose. But what? The whole neighbourhood knew there was nothing of value in the Martine household and the world knew that the Martine sisters were as poor as church mice. Why then had they come here?
x x x
To answer that it is necessary to go back in time.
Ten years before there had been a daring and successful bank heist. Three men had carried out a meticulously planned raid on a used banknote repository in the inner City. They got away with well over a million in used notes. However, the law was quick to respond and two of them were caught within a week. They did not have a cent of the money with them. This left the third man on the run with the entire haul.
This worthy, desperate at this point and with the loot now carefully packed into a single suitcase, made his way to a house of a acquaintance in the western suburbs. The home owner was not there at the time but this suited the hunted man fine. He had three days to hide it somewhere on the premises.
There was an unused and dilapidated garage with toilet and washbasin at the back of the property. He was a skilled cabinetmaker. He used timber from an old cupboard to reinforce the wooden housing around the washbasin, cut away the wall timbers behind and hid the suitcase in there, using his trade skills to conceal that anything had ever been done. Neither the basin nor toilet were in working order. He knew the householder did not own a car and never went near the old garage.
This done, he burned the timber offcuts left over in the house fireplace, put away the tools and departed. The owner returned after a few days and never realised he had had a visitor. He did not go near the garage for weeks and never knew of the treasure trove concealed there.
Two days after his visit the surviving member of the trio was cornered by the police. Thinking him armed and dangerous, they opened fire, fatally wounding him. He died shortly after, never revealing what had been done with the proceeds of the robbery.
In later years the householder, a petty criminal himself and something of a financial muddler, sold the house to pay off debts. He had hardly ever been in the garage and had been quite unaware of what was so skilfully hidden behind the washbasin panelling.
And then this humble little two bedroom cottage was bought by the Martine sisters. They were too poor to own a car and thought the garage an eyesore anyway. They rarely went near it in the seven years they lived there.
Finally Beryl’s organisation learned where the last bank raider had spent three of the final days of his life. And deduced that the loot from the bank repository, which had never been found, might be there. They decided it was worth their time to investigate. But first it was necessary to enter the premises and capture the two lady owners in order the that a search could be made.
And that was how Lavinia and Letitia Martine came to be sitting side by side on Letty’s bed both securely bound hand and foot with Letitia tightly gagged.
x x x
The man and the thin woman stood up. “We’d better start looking,” he said, “This may take some time.” They moved toward the door.
Lavinia was reasoning, the sooner these people find whatever they’re looking for, the sooner they'll leave us alone. She asked, “Just what have you come here for?”
The man stopped, looked at her but was not inclined to answer. Beryl though, seemed to think the householder might be able to help.
She said, “A large suitcase, grey in colour I think. Either that or a box or container the same size and shape. And probably very heavy.”
“There was nothing like that when we came here or been found since.” Lavinia closed her eyes, trying to think of any disturbed ground which would indicate it was buried in the front or back yards. And then, she thought - the back yard. The garage.
“Wait,” she called, “There’s a dilapidated garage at the back of the block. There’s an old toilet and washbasin, neither of which work in it. The washbasin is set onto a large box like wooden housing exactly the size and shape you’re talking about. It looks strange because it’s solid and well made. Everything else in the garage is cheap and shoddy. It looks as if it was added later by someone conscientious." Lavinia was always practical and observant.
The thin woman looked at the man. She whispered, “We know he was a good cabinetmaker.”
The man nodded. “Could be worth a try. I’ll get the torch and we’ll look there first.” The two moved to go out.
“Garage key is last on the left on the kitchen key board,” called Lavinia as they went.
Beryl nodded approvingly, “I’m glad you’re being co-operative.” She even removed the gag from Letitia’s mouth, placing it handily on the bed beside her. Alongside one obviously intended for her sister. “There’s no telling how long we may be here,” she commented, “But what you’ve told us might well shorten our stay," She smiled, “We’ll see. Meanwhile, you might as well be comfortable. And,” she added, “I think we might talk."
She walked slowly around the room, her raincoat rustling as she did so. “You ladies have come down in the world in recent years haven’t you?” She did not say this derisively or mockingly but rather sounded sympathetic. She stopped at a small table and picked up a folded open newspaper.
“The personal ads,” she remarked, looking at the top of the page. The only other item on the table was a manilla file. “And that I assume is the result from them. Well, I won’t embarrass you by looking at it.” She went on, “Some might be OK but you’d meet a lot of fortune hunters, misfits and losers that way. Middle aged failures, on the lookout for a nurse or a purse as the saying goes.” The bound women were silent. Sadly, it was largely true.
“You ladies would find it difficult making worthwhile social contacts here.” Beryl did actually feel sorry for them. “Of course there's that big local licensed club. Plenty of misfits and losers there too I’d say. And that church you attend Lavinia. You were there tonight, weren’t you? You’re on some committee there aren't you?” The amount of information this trio had on the Martine sisters was quite amazing.
The bound but un-gagged Lavinia herself spoke up. “I was sacked from that tonight. No hard feelings. I just hadn’t accomplished anything and they took it off me.” She went on, “Our church group isn’t a place to make social contacts anyway. It’s suffering from declining attendance. It’ll probably close soon.”
Beryl thrust her hands deep into her raincoat pockets and looked at the captive sisters. “I really don’t see much future for you girls. Stuck out here amongst people you’d have great difficulty mixing with. You’re going to become two professional old maids.”
“So what do you suggest?” Spoke Letitia for the first time, “Re-birth into another social class?”
Beryl merely looked serious. “How long since either of you enjoyed the comfort of a man? Or to put it bluntly and crudely, how long since either've you had a fuck.”
The answer was silence. Obviously not for a very long time. Beryl shook her head.
And then there was a noise from the hallway. The other two had returned.
They brought in a suitcase. Grey in colour. And obviously heavy, it took both of them to carry it. They were smiling. The man spoke a single word. “Jackpot.”
“It was in that cabinet,” he explained, “He’d left the end panel held by four screws. We undid them and got it out.” They put their load down on the floor. He laughed, “We even replaced them. Always leave a place the way you found it."
The man was jubilant. “We can bring the car round into the driveway and load it in. Since we didn’t have to spend time searching the house we can be on our way in record time.”
“Just a moment,” Beryl spoke commandingly. “There’s something more to be considered.”
She went on. “Management sent us out with a great amount of information. Details of the house, its construction and history. Details of the occupants and their background. A very clear description of what to look for. But no mention at all of that garage at the back fence. If we’d followed their instructions to the letter we’d have spent hours searching this place from top to bottom and found absolutely nothing."
'It was only when one of these ladies volunteered some vital information that you found your objective within minutes. If we’d gagged them both and kept them gagged, as recommended, we’d still be fruitlessly going over the place with a fine tooth comb and getting nowhere. While they, who could have helped us would have been incapable of saying anything. We are indebted to them for their help. And,” she paused, “It seems to me we owe them something.”
“That’s right,” the thin woman said, “Without them we couldn’t have done it.”
“Alright,” agreed the thin faced man, “We owe them. But what can we possibly do?”
“Well then,” Beryl moved closer to her colleagues, “I've been talking to them and I’ve read their background info. They’ve been living a miserable deprived existence for years. OK, we can’t do anything about their genteel penury. But they’ve been sexually deprived as well. I think it would be fitting if we gave them some solace there. And that’s where you, Sir,” she indicated the man, “Come in.” The male, the bound women simply gaped at this.
She rounded on the two bound sisters. “We’ve been talking about your social life. Which is virtually non-existent. When is your next love experience likely to be? Never, at the present rate of progress.”
She indicated the man, “I know our friend here. We’ve not got anything going but I know him to be an accomplished lover. Kind, gentle and skilled. I’m offering you an opportunity, a delightful love experience, such as you’ve never had in years. Pluck up your courage and seize it while you can.”
The man himself spoke. “Look, I don’t think…..”
“Be quiet. I know exactly what I’m doing. And I’m in charge here.”
The captive sisters stared at her wordlessly. Letitia lowered her eyes and looked away. And then Lavinia, always the adventurous one, spoke firmly and deliberately.
“Alright. Alright then,” she never took her eyes from Beryl’s face, “I’ll take you up. I trust it’ll be done in a suitable manner? There’ll be privacy?”
“Of course there’ll be privacy.” She spun round and faced her two companions, her raincoat swishing as she did so. She pointed at the suitcase on the floor. “Pick that up and take to the dining room table. I know we’ve found it but we’d better check it out in full while we’re actually here. You Sir,” she spoke to the man, ”Come back in here when you’ve put it in place.” The man and woman picked up the case and carried it out.
Beryl then knelt and untied Letitia’s ankles and thighs. This done, she massaged her legs to get the circulation going again and then made her stand up. “Stand there darling while I untie your sister.” She freed Lavinia’s legs. Meanwhile the thin faced man had come back.
“Well now,” said Beryl, hoisting Lavinia to her feet, “We’ll just get your arms untied and make you ready. You Sir,” this to the man, “Can stand by.”
“One moment, if you please,” Lavinia spoke, “If you don’t mind, just leave my arms as they are for the time being.” She looked at the man, then at Beryl, “Just leave me as I am, we could carry on ourselves from here.”
Beryl smiled, “As you wish Madame. Perhaps you have some ideas of your own you wish to follow. No doubt it comes from being too long deprived.” She laughed. “Very well then, we’ll leave you to it. And give you the privacy you spoke of.” And with that she seized the upright, but still bound Letitia and steered her out of the room. “Best of luck children.” She firmly shut the bedroom door as they went.
The man slowly took off his leather coat and put it on the dressing table top and put his cap and glasses on top of it. He looked cautiously at Lavinia, “Look,” he began, "If you’re apprehensive about this...”
“Not in the slightest,” she said firmly, “As your friend implied, this is my first opportunity in years and I’m not missing it. Now, I’d prefer to be done with my arms tied and in my old raincoat. Can you understand that?” He nodded. “Good. Then undo the belt and the lower buttons and remove my skirt and knickers. And take off my shoes.”
He did all of this. He smiled, “I have done it like this before and can understand your feelings. And I see your sister has a towel hanging over the back of that chair. I think we might make use of that.” He eased her back onto the bed, gently massaging her crotch which was already beginning to moisten. He slipped the towel into position. Lavinia’s eyes closed. Already she was staring to moan softly. He eased himself onto her and began to penetrate. Her raincoat rustled softly. She was content.
Forty minutes later the pair came out of the bedroom. Lavinia was unbound and carrying her raincoat over her arm. The man carried his coat and cap. Both looked at ease.
They found the other three seated around the dining table. The suitcase on the table top had been opened, by Beryl who was adept at lock picking. It was packed to the limit with rows of neatly aligned packages of banknotes.
The three were seated around the table. Letitia had been untied. Three glasses and a bottle of whisky had been got out of the liquor cabinet and the trio were celebrating. Beryl was privately surprised the two sisters could afford whisky.
She looked at the newcomers and inquired, “All correct?” Both nodded. One look at Lavinia’s calm, satisfied face verified that.
“Well then,” she said, “As you can see we’re toasting success. And tonight has been successful. We came here and I know we had to tie you ladies up but we did that as considerately as we could. We didn’t harm you otherwise. It wasn’t necessary to take the place apart in a ransacking search and we’re going to depart with only one item of property which isn’t yours and you didn’t know was here anyway.” Indeed, both sisters felt they had come out of this home invasion safely and comfortably.
“However,” Beryl concluded, “One thing remains to be done. We’ve been talking here. Letitia has changed her mind. She would now like to take advantage of the offer made earlier.” Both the thin faced man and Lavinia glanced at her in surprise. She looked back with the faintest of smiles on her face.
Beryl turned to her male companion. “Now we know what you’ve had to do tonight but I also know you to be a pretty strong boy. I think you’re capable. We’ll give you a short drink of this excellent whisky and trust you’ll be able to rise to the occasion.” The man bowed his head and nodded.
He and Letitia left the room together and went into the bedroom. She was unbound now, wearing her blue dress and actually took his arm. Her hair, freed from its trademark bun, trailed loosely over her shoulders. They returned about three quarters of an hour later. There was only one way to describe the look on Letitia’s face - blissfully radiant.
The three visitors were now ready to go. Before The suitcase was closed Beryl took two bundles of banknotes from the top row and put them on the table. “Just a little compensation for any inconvenience we may have caused you ladies,” she smiled. The sisters stared wordlessly. Lavinia nodded in acknowledgement. For helping run their household it would be very welcome indeed.
As the case was taken out to their transport Beryl spoke, “I’m not unfamiliar with this neighbourhood you know. We’ve done business with tradesman from here.” She laughed, “Legitimate business I assure you. Our organisation has maintenance needs like any other.”
She went on. “Oddly, many of them are mature single men. Divorced, separated, never married, but honest, decent men for all that. It’s time you girls rid of this idea you’ve been brainwashed with from infancy that men who work with their hands are socially beneath you. Otherwise, the way you’re going, you'll end up a couple of lonely, ageing old spinsters.”
“The man who pleased you both so adequately tonight comes from a very humble background. Nothing like your former social class.” She went on, “I will be able to speak to some of these single tradesmen. Whom, I repeat are decent, honest and principled. Unlike some of the young sprigs you grew up with. And get some expressions of interest. Do you want me to do that?”
Both sisters stared wordlessly. Then Lavinia said quietly, “Alright.” She looked at her sister and back. She was always the most innovative and ready for change of the two. “Alright. Do that. Just let us know somehow when approaches are likely to be made.”
“Of course,” smiled Beryl. The other two had come back. “Time we were on our way.”
She turned to two householders. “Seeing neither of you were actually hurt and you finally came out ahead shall we say, it would be appreciated if you said nothing about this visit.” Lavinia gave the faintest of nods.
It was agreed the two sisters should be seated in comfortable lounge chairs and lightly anaesthetised, from which they should awake in about an hour. By then their visitors would be long gone. This was done and their bundles of banknotes placed on a coffee table between them.
Driving away in their car the man asked, “Do you think they’ll report us?”
“Who knows,” mused Beryl, “If they did, they’d have to turn in those notes we gave them. It may well depend on how well you pleased them tonight. I trust you gave of your best. I have worked on the idea that that the services which have been provided for them and those little gifts will ensure their silence. If only because they might prefer not to talk about one and because they so much need the other. Indeed, who knows?”
Uto