Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 09:38:29 -0400 From: Chris Johns Subject: Brett and Daniel Pt.2 Daniel Chapter 2 It had barely been 24 hours since the start of their euphoric journey when Daniel answered a knock at the door. When he opened it, a very official looking man stood there with an escort of two police officers and Ms. Willis, with a self satisfied smirk on her face. "We have a warrant here for the arrest of a Mr. Brett Salmon on a charge of unlawful sex with a minor." Daniel was shocked into a temporary paralysis. He couldn't move until a struggling Brett appeared cuffed and being dragged by the two police officers. "You'll have to come with me now Daniel. You'll be safe at the children's home." Daniel took a good look at what was happening and ran. Too late for anyone to stop him he banged hard on the door of the vicarage until the vicar answered. Daniel threw himself at the vicar and dissolved. "Please Father, help Brett. They have arrested him for having sex with me, and he never has. It was Ms. Willis. Oh please help him, he is my life now." The vicar was amazed, scandalised, and eventually so angry he was spitting blood, almost. "You stay here Daniel, and you don't answer this door to anyone else but me." The police were sympathetic and torn. They hated paedophiles with a vengeance, most of them being family men, but the vicar painted such a glowing picture of Brett, he was difficult to ignore. "As God is my witness, Brett Salmon is a candidate for sainthood, it would be difficult to find a young man with so much good in him." The duty sergeant didn't know what to say or do. He was looking lost as the constable that had helped Brett and Daniel entered the fray. "What's the problem Serg?" Explanations complete and Constable David Spencer looked aghast. "Are you kidding? Brett Salmon is probably the best thing that has happened to young Daniel in years. I wouldn't care if he was a paedophile. That boy is amazing, considering what he has gone through, and it's all down to Brett." "I'm sorry David, there is nothing I can do except keep him from harm by telling the remainder of the staff." The vicar and David Spencer got together after that and hatched out a plan to recover the situation. "The boy will have to be brought in for an invasive medical, Father, and then, with a responsible adult present, I would suggest you, we will have to take a statement from him. If that all looks ok we can go before a judge to have the charges dropped. The only problem is that Daniel will have to go into care until we have it sorted." "How long is that likely to be David? "Hopefully, only a couple of days depending on which officer is allocated to the job. I can organise the police surgeon to examine Daniel sometime today and then you can bet Ms. Willis will be standing by to take him so we had better try to get you in straight away to sit in on Daniel's interview. I'll get a solicitor to represent Brett and if it all looks good file a case against Willis for criminal mischief and anything else we can think of. That should get her suspended and Daniel freed into your care if we can find a magistrate quickly." The vicar went back to his home and sat Daniel down to tell him what was going to happen. "You'll have to be brave Daniel, the Doctor will want to check that your bottom hasn't been violated and that your genitals haven't been abused." "But they haven't Father, Brett has never touched me down there except the first night when he bathed me, and all he did was wash me." "I'm sure Daniel, but the Doctor will still have to check, and then you can make a statement." "But what about Brett, will they let him out then?" "I'm afraid not, we need a judge to overturn the warrant, and we need a friendly magistrate to release you into my care until Brett is released." "But they have to Father, Brett hasn't done anything wrong." Daniel was getting more and more agitated and it got worse when the vicar wasn't allowed to remain with him for his medical. The screams of anguish as the police surgeon checked his anus aroused the whole station. The only person who appeared to be enjoying it was Ms. Willis. David Spencer pointed out her obvious glee to the desk sergeant. "That woman is the cause of all this Serg. She was really peeved when the magistrate gave Brett temporary custody, and even more hacked off when she renewed the custody order until Daniel was sixteen. This is her revenge." When Daniel came out from the medical he was sobbing and Ms. Willis went to grab him straight away. David Spencer stepped in. "No, Ms. Willis. The vicar is going to act as temporary guardian to the boy while he makes a statement." "The boy is my responsibility now and I'm going to take him." "No, you are not, and if I had my way it would be you in the cells not Brett Salmon, and it may well be when we have this all sorted. Father, take Daniel into interview room one. An officer will be in to take his statement as soon as he has had a word with the doctor." With that accomplished David tried to get hold of the judge who had signed the arrest warrant, unsuccessfully. Neither could he reach the magistrate who gave Brett custody to try to get Daniel released into the care of the vicar. The whole episode was turning into a nightmare. The interviewing officer came out with Daniel's statement and the doctor's examination results. "I don't see any case for Mr. Salmon to answer. The boy has not been sexually abused in anyway, confirmed by his own statement and the doctor's examination." Ms. Willis stepped in again then and took Daniels arm. "Well he has brainwashed the boy then because I'm certain he has been abused. I'm now taking him into care." As soon as Daniel heard that he kicked her in the shin, broke free from her and was out the door before anyone could stop him. For the second time in two years, a massive police hunt was set in place to try to find Daniel, and just as he had avoided them last time, so he did this time. When Brett was told he was beside himself with worry and anger. His instruction to his solicitor the next day was plain and simple. "I want you to get me out of here, but fast. Next I want you to instigate civil proceedings against that woman for defamation of character and anything else your legal brain can conjure up. If it's possible to bring criminal proceedings against her for mischief I want it done. I don't care how much this costs, I want her crucified." "Mr. Salmon, what you are asking could cost you as much as £100,000 with very little chance of getting more than a small proportion back." "I don't care if it costs a million, I want her punished. I daren't even think what state Daniel is in, or where he is. Now get me out of here." The solicitor went, but it was still another day before Brett was a free man. His first action was to join the hunt for Daniel, he hired helicopters that carried police observers, he paid for volunteers to help the police sweep the countryside but after a week there was still no sign and the search was called off. The police superintendant in charge took Brett aside at the end and told him. "I'm sorry Brett, but that boy doesn't want to be found so the chances are we could search for a month and still not find him." "I hope you will put a dedicated officer on the case that needs to be brought against that woman then. She has destroyed weeks of work I put in to bring that boy back to normal." "Already in the pipe line. The head of our children's section has taken it on and seconded Constable Spencer to help." Brett was satisfied. His solicitor had filed civil charges for defamation and the woman had been suspended from her job. Brett made it clear he would not be happy until she had been sacked and he had broken her. There was nothing more could be done, Brett knew the boy could survive but that wasn't what he wanted. Daniel had become very dear to him and he wanted to keep him forever. If he was lucky, Daniel would be gay and when he was old enough they could have a proper relationship, but regardless, Brett loved the gentle boy that he had worked to settle back into a normal life. The weeks passed with Brett becoming more and more depressed. He would wander into the room he had set up for Daniel, check his clothes were all neatly put away, smooth the bed cover over a bed that had never been used. He folded, and refolded Daniel's pyjamas and placed them on the pillow next to his own. He spent long hours in church praying, with the vicar noting it and worrying as well. The only constructive thing he did was continue to beautify the grave of Daniel's mother. Fresh flowers were placed in the vase every few days, the grass was kept neatly trimmed and leaves swept away. "Where is he Maria, where would your son hide, where did he hide for two years?" Things didn't improve and eventually, when confronted by the vicar about trying to move on Brett broke down. "I love him so much Father, I didn't realise how lonely I had become until Daniel came into my life. I don't think I had a sexual thought about him until that woman accused me of abusing him. I hope he's gay, but if he isn't I still want him back to love and cherish him. Where can he be? He survived for two years in this area without being found, but it must be a solid structure to survive two winters." The vicar could do nothing except reassure him that God's love would protect Daniel. Through his tears Brett committed his blasphemy. "If he doesn't protect Daniel, Father, I'll never believe in him again." The civil case was heard and Ms. Willis was found guilty of defamation of character, fined a huge sum of money and punitive damages of £500,000. The end result of that was her being reduced to penury. Next came her criminal trial. The defence case was all built around the idea that Brett was a child abuser and Ms. Willis was the only one who had seen it. Nothing substantive could be proven and Brett could have left it with just the evidence from the vicar, David Spencer and the police surgeon, but he wanted his say, so he was put on the stand. He told the story word for word as he remembered it, not hiding the truth. "Daniel slept in my bed every night while he was with me. We had to overcome two years of his living on his own, traumatised by his mother and father's death. He desperately needed the close contact that he had with me day and night. The magistrate saw that with the huge improvement in Daniel after only one month. If it had not been for the mischievous and acid attack of that woman," pointing at Ms. Willis, "I would have been seeing Daniel off to school every morning instead of fretting about where he is." "Isn't it a fact Mr. Salmon that you are 26 years old, don't have a girlfriend, and in fact have never had a girlfriend." "Yes that's true, and to answer your next question before you even ask it. Yes. I'm a gay man, but being gay doesn't make me a paedophile. I love Daniel, he is a beautiful and gentle boy. I would never touch him in a way that could hurt him or traumatise him again. All I have ever wanted to do is look after him, protect him in any way I can from any further hurt." Defence counsel then went on to describe all the vile things, in his opinion, that gay men did to each other and what Brett had almost certainly been doing to Daniel to make him run away at the first opportunity. "Daniel ran away because he didn't want to go with that woman, who was supposed to help the boy not terrorise him. She is a disgrace and should never be allowed near another child." Brett was almost beside himself with anger at this attack on him to try to justify that evil woman's dirty mind. It was quite obvious after the two lawyers had made their summations that the jury were on Brett's side. He had been a powerful witness, conveying to the jury his love for Daniel, and his distress at his disappearance. The judge's comments to the jury before they retired were telling. "If you find this woman guilty be cognisant of the fact that I have every intention of giving her a custodial sentence." They were out for less than an hour, returning a verdict of guilty. The judge, true to his word jailed her for three years with the recommendation that she never be allowed to work with children again. A satisfactory outcome, but Brett was still left in deep depression, not knowing where Daniel was or whether he was safe. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Happiness returns in the next chaptert, but always a transient thing there are more troubles to deprive these two young men of peace.