Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 09:38:29 -0400
From: Chris Johns <chris-johns@hotmail.com>
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.