I was, quite frankly, fucking scared.
I've always been a confident, easy going, fairly relaxed kind of guy. You know the sort: happy to have a laugh, not too picky, laissez-fayre. Nothing really ever shocked or phased me. Just an all-round nice bloke.
Now I was just berating myself for being such a twat. What was I bloody doing, for Christ's sake! Fucking all these women, most of whom were married. Sneaking in and out of people's homes. And worst of all -- inviting them into mine! According to the officer, That's technically "operating a brothel".
And if that wasn't bad enough, I'd been accused of rape! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
Having dragged me down to the station, I was left for a couple of hours in a cell with nothing to do but fret over what the hell had gone wrong. I was especially worried about Lisa. I had no idea if she had been with the women rescued from the apartment, or if she was OK. Was this whole situation due to the pervert trying to get revenge? Surely Lisa would confirm what happened? If she's allowed to give evidence. But also, in the back of my head, there was a tiny, nagging doubt. Had I been set up? Was Lisa part of this? Surely not!
I couldn't eat anything they offered. I just shed a few tears and fretted.
Eventually, I was escorted to an interview room. There were several hours of grilling as they went through all my personals, what I'd been doing, the massage work. I'd already decided there was little point in lying so I told them as much as I could. They asked for names, but I refused. They told me this was very serious and that I should consider my position and future. Aside from the other charges, rape carries a maximum life imprisonment, they said. And even when you get out, you"ll be a registered sex offender for the rest of your life. I just hung my head in shame.
I asked repeatedly about Lisa. My questions about her were met initially with blank looks and then ignored. Eventually one of the offers asked what the hell I was talking about. I explained and they went off to investigate.
Later in the day I was informed that a warrant had been secured and my apartment was being searched. By this time, I didn't care about my stuff. I was a wreck. But it dawned on me that they would almost definitely find my "client notes". And with phone records it wouldn't be too difficult to track down Vanessa, Maya, Jenny etc. Probably all of them, I thought. Bollocks! It's all going to come out. Now I've ruined their lives as well!
I was left to stew for another night. I knew I'd missed appointments, so I suppose there were some angry ladies out there too. Least of my troubles, I sighed. And it's not like I'll be seeing any of them ever again.
The next morning I was taken back to the interview room.
"You witnessed and reported an abduction on the night of July 14th, is that correct?" said one of the officers. He was new to me, a little less acerbic than the previous day's cohort of detectives.
"Yes! Finally! I called it in and followed them." I went through the events of the evening, pleading that I had only massaged Lisa's back and neck as a way to distract the pervert and help her.
The detectives huddled just out of earshot. They examined a bundle of notes and huddled again. Then they turned back to me.
"Mr Rollins, I'm the officer handling that case. Firstly, I want to thank you for what you did. It was admirable. I can confirm that Lisa is safe and being looked after. You did the right thing." I sighed with relief. The best (and only) good news I'd had all week.
"But I'm afraid your situation has nothing to do with her, or the gang we arrested last week. You're being charged for inviting a Miss Amelia Brown into your home for the purpose of paid sexual intercourse, then molesting and raping her without consent. These alleged crimes took place on July 20th."