[Cormac29Ru]

Samantha felt her mouth moving and was dimly aware that no sound coming out. Rebecca calmly pulled over a stepstool and looked at her watch as she sat down at it.

“Well, Samantha, time is not on your side. It’s after 5 o’clock, my crew will be here at one point or another and well, the sun is on its way up.” Samantha looked to her left and saw the massive bay window that she was directly in the path of. Rebecca smiled. “The town is waking up. So let’s get this wrapped up before we have an audience, hmmm?”

“You’re crazy, I’ll have you…”

“Arrested? Not likely. I have Wynnie, who was late to this meeting because, as she will swear, I was with her this whole morning. Plus, I had a very pleasant meeting with the mayor about expediting some construction permits. That meeting was…very advantageous to his re-election drive. Considering the sheriff is a political appointee…” Rebecca’s voice trailed off for a moment. “But, it seems you know one of the sheriff’s deputies, correct? Janelle was in on this from the very beginning. Is she the ring leader? Or is it Courtney? Honestly, I just don’t think it’s you. You don’t seem…to have the brains, as it were.”

Samantha fumed. She struggled for a second to get loose from her coat, but only succeeded in pulling her blouse up a bit.

Rebecca stood up, pulled her phone out of her back pocket and set it on the step stool behind her. “The reason I know you’re not the brains is that you used your computer for setting up the website.” As she spoke, Rebecca slowly rotated her finger around Samantha’s exposed belly button. “I called in a favor to have the site taken down and decided to have them check the IP address as well. You really should have tried to cover your tracks. Not to mention the fact that it was unnecessary. You’d already humiliated her enough to get her out of the way, at least.”

Samantha was sure if it was the movement of Rebecca’s finger or her words, but she suppressed an urge to shiver. “IP addresses? That’s not legal…”

Rebecca stopped her finger for a second and walked it up to the lowest of the buttons on her blouse. “Oh, I think legality isn’t exactly a pillar for you to be standing on, at this point. So, let’s talk about what’s going to happen next.” Rebecca undid the button and moved her way up to the next. “So who.”

Samantha sputtered. “It was Courtney’s idea. She pulled me and Janelle in, and Janelle got two of the girls from the volleyball team to help, since she’s their coach.”

“Willingly?”

“Yeah, they’re her…co-captains.”

Rebecca nodded. She undid another button and sat her hand right on Samantha’s sternum. “So, why?”

Samantha felt the warmth of Rebecca’s hand as she tried to control her breathing. Her heart was racing, she could feel the warmth in her face. “Erin was in the way. It’s a money thing.”

“It usually is, but how?”

“Courtney said…well, it’s…it’s sort of…”

Rebecca shook her head. “You are definitely not the brains of this operation.” With that, Rebecca undid the last of the buttons on the blouse, exposing Samantha’s white bra. “Mismatched? Hmm. I didn’t expect that.”

Rebecca flipped off her phone, pocketed it and sighed. “Well, I want to thank you for your honesty. I’ll just need your help for a bit more, of course. But first, we need to get you down.” With that, Rebecca pulled her knife out again, and cut right along the sleeves of the suit coat. Samantha stumbled out of it and rubbed her elbows for a second. She considered running for a moment, but realized that she wasn’t exactly dressed for it, and she was terrified of what Rebecca would do to her if she caught her. Besides, her car keys were sitting in her purse, which was on the ground next to Rebecca.

Rebecca followed Samantha's eyes to the purse, picked it up, and slung it over her own shoulder. Then she made a few texts before, pocketing her phone and smiling brightly at Samantha. “Well, let’s get going, shall we?”

"Going?"

Rebecca smiled. "Well, yes. I'm sure you don't want to run into my crew, do you?" Rebecca turned and started her way back out of the building. Samantha followed, arms wrapped around herself, deeply bothered by the fact that she didn't know what to cover. She settled on her breasts and her stomach, still feeling self-conscious about Rebecca's tracing around her belly button.

When they got to the front door, Samantha scanned the horizon through the glass windows. It was still early, the town was fortunately not yet up, but she could hear the rumble of delivery trucks in the distance.

Rebecca motioned to her own car. "Don't worry, it's unlocked. I'd scrunch down in the back if I were you."
Samantha didn't need much encouragement. She scrambled as quickly as she could and threw herself in the back seat, scrunching herself into the fetal position. She heard the slam of a car door and then the opening of another as Rebecca sat in the driver's seat.

"Comfy? Prefer the radio off? Would you like me to turn on the heat? Don't worry, it's not a long drive."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm just dropping you off away from my construction site. I left your purse in your car." As Rebecca started to drive off, Samantha tried to look out the car window to figure out where they were headed, but quickly gave up. All she had figured out was that they had left downtown. After a few minutes, they arrived at their destination. Samantha cautiously sat up a bit and looked around. "The park?"

Rebecca smiled. "Yep, back to the scene of the crime, as it were. Stay put for a second."

Samantha didn’t need much encouragement to stay tucked down. She heard the trunk open, followed by Rebecca’s voice. “All right. Come on out.”

Samantha nervously reached for the door handle and eased her was out of the car, conscious of how much her plaid covered butt was sticking out as she got out. She stayed low and walked as quickly as she could to the back of the car. She got very nervous when saw Rebecca standing there with what looked like a broomstick. Eyes wide, Samantha could barely manage a whisper. “You’re not going to…”

“What? Oh, no Samantha. I would never do…well, that’s not true, I’m sure I would but, no, it wouldn’t serve this purpose. No, this is part of how you’re going to help me, actually. Could you hold your arms straight out to the sides for me?”

Samantha shakily held her arms out. Rebecca rested the wooden rod across her shoulders. She nodded and reached back into the trunk and pulled out a roll of duct tape, which she used to bind Samantha’s wrists to the rod.

“So here’s what’s going to happen, Samantha. You’re going to help me change the narrative around here. You’ll tell people that you received an anonymous tip and you came here to investigate the incident at the park with Erin. Tragically, in the course of your investigation you too were attacked and left as the next victim. Tragically, you were grabbed from behind and you have no information besides a female voice but you’ll keep investigating, of course, determined reporter that you are. Who knows, this may actually help your career. This would make a tremendous article for the local paper.” Rebecca finished off her taping. Samantha struggled against it for a moment, quickly realizing that she wouldn’t be able to get out without help.

Rebecca stood back for a second and examined her work. “Your car will be left here at the park of course. You’ll be too distraught to remember where you parked. Your purse will be inside, but with your arms taped, well, you’ll be needing someone’s help first. Besides, I need you to get caught.” She paused and the reached into her back pocket for her blade and quickly cut away Samantha’s bra. Samantha whimpered, aware of the exposure of her small a-cup breasts.

“Oh, now the mismatch makes sense. You couldn’t find a padded bra in plaid. You should really shop on-line in the future. And for a blond, plaid’s a great look for you. That’s unusual. Let’s leave those on you.”

Samantha felt a momentary pang of relief as she saw Rebecca fold up her knife and put it in her back pocket. That disappeared when Rebecca knelt down and pulled the panties down to her knees, exposing her light blond patch of pubic hair.

“Well, I think that about covers it, Samantha. I’d head straight behind you. Apparently, the local high school cross country team has their practices somewhere around here. Also there’s the playground, but that may be empty. Also, I’m willing to bet if there are parents there, they may be more likely to press indecency charges. And next to the playground is the main road, as you know. The high schoolers will likely be more understanding and you may get lucky and hit the girls first.”

Samantha scanned back and forth, trying to decide which way to go.

Rebecca turned to leave, but stopped and spoke over her shoulder. “After today, I won’t be humiliating you if you do as you’re told. But I will be in touch. Get going.”