When Olivia Addison hosted a
party, she made certain that the result would be as close to perfection as
humanly possible. This was one of the reasons why at the youthful age of
twenty-four, she was considered one of the, if not the premier hostess, in county society. This particular
party however, had to be even better than her usual standard of
near-perfection, as it was the most important one she had ever thrown. All of the leading citizens of Celestial County had been invited,
and virtually all had accepted her invitations, including persons of such
exalted social status that Olivia would never have dared to invite them until
this year. This affair would be the victorious culmination of the long campaign
she had waged to reach her rightful place at the top of county society. She
studied the seating charts again. If Senator Hallwell and his wife sat over
here…
Her train of thought was
abruptly derailed by Yana, the maid. “I’m sorry to interrupt you, Mistress, but
there are some men are at the door who say they need to see you right away,”
Yana said.
Olivia had little patience
for incompetent servants. She turned on the short domestic and, glaring down
from her full height, snapped, “I gave you clear instructions that there were
to be no visitors today, until after the
caterers have finished setting up.” She struck the swarthy, dark-haired maid
across the face with an open hand, knocking her to the ground. The little
domestic slave had picked the wrong day to cross Olivia.
Olivia Addison had been born
into a wealthy family of high status. But she had dreams of going higher still,
and to do that she needed to catch the right husband. Fortunately for her
ambitions, she was the most desirable girl in her social group, and she could
have her pick of the men. After some investigation, she settled on David
Addison as being the one with the most promising future, the one most likely to
become financially successful enough to provide the lifestyle to which she felt
she was entitled and, (this was even more important) to finance her rise to the
upper levels of society. With her classic beauty, long blonde hair and sleekly curved body, it was not difficult for her
to ensnare her prey. David proposed to Olivia just one year after she had decided
that he was to be her husband.
David had proved to be as
successful in business as Olivia had hoped. His investment company made more
than enough money to pay for the huge house, luxury cars and servants, and more
importantly, enough to cover the expenses of the elaborate parties, the
memberships in the exclusive clubs and all the other bills generated by Olivia’s
campaign to conquer county society. Indeed, David’s investment trust had been
so profitable that Olivia had insisted her father put all his money into it,
since it paid far better returns than his old, conservative investments.
And now, in just a few hours,
all her planning and hard work would finally reap the reward she had long sought…
An insistent pounding on the
front door broke into her thoughts again.
“Yana, go and tell whoever it
is that if they do not go away instantly, I’ll have the sheriff come and arrest
them for trespassing,” she said, glaring.
“I was trying to tell you,
Mistress,” Yana said, rubbing her cheek where Olivia had hit her. “It is the sheriff; three of his deputies,
anyway, and the constable is with them. They say they have to
talk to you. I told them that you didn’t have time to see anyone today, but the
constable said…”
“I can see I’m just going to
have to handle this myself,” Olivia said. She flung down the seating chart and
marched off toward the front door. “I’m coming,” she called, as the pounding was
renewed even more loudly, now accompanied by bellowed demands for the door to
be opened.
She snatched the door open to
see the town constable, wearing the traditional cylindrical red hat of his
office, in the company of three sheriff’s deputies in their black and gold
uniforms. The constable was holding a scroll decorated with ribbons and wax
seals.
Before Olivia had a chance to
give them a piece of her mind, the constable spoke.
“Are you Mrs. Olivia Pierson
Addison, the wife of David Addison, who is president and chief executive
officer of a business known as Addison Investment Trust?” he asked, in an
official-sounding voice.
“What?” asked Olivia, taken
aback by both the question and the manner of its delivery. The constable had not
even offered the most elementary courtesy, not even a “Good morning”, before
asking his impertinent question.
“Yes, of course I am Olivia
Addison and David is my husband, as you should know perfectly well, Constable
Arthur, after the amount of money we throw around at your charity carnival
every year,” she answered with some heat. “What is the meaning of…?”
The Constable interrupted
her, unrolling the scroll and reading aloud from it. He
spoke in a voice louder than any she had ever heard him use before. “By order
of the High Court of Celestial County, in and for the State of New Harrow, I
hereby serve notice that this property and all chattels and persons herein are
as of this moment seized and placed in the custody of this County until the
matter giving rise to this judicial order is adjudicated.” He lowered the
scroll and turned to the deputies. “Go inside, impound any slaves you find, and
put them in the van. If you see the husband, arrest him. If you see anybody
else, get them out of the house. I’ll seal up place up and we’ll can take an
inventory of the contents as soon as it’s empty.” He looked at Olivia, who was
staring at him, momentarily struck dumb.
“Mrs. Addison, I’m afraid you’ll
have to go along in the van, too,” the Constable said. “The deputies here will need
to…”
“Who do you think you are?”
she shrieked at the constable before he could finish. “How dare you invade my home? I’ll have your job; I’ll have you strung
up on the town whipping post before I’m done with you,” she ranted, hardly knowing
what she was saying in her rage. “When David gets back, he may just take a
horsewhip to you himself! In fact… What are you doing?”
The constable gestured to one
of the burly deputies, who came up behind Olivia, seized her arms and snapped
handcuffs on her wrists, all in a smooth, practiced motion. Almost
simultaneously, before she had a chance to respond to this new outrage, a
second deputy stuffed something bulky in her mouth and tied it in place around
her neck.
“For your information, Mrs.
Addison,” Constable Arthur told the now madly struggling woman, “auditors from
the State Assessor’s office seized Addison Investment Trust and all of its
assets this morning under a court order. It appears that the entire company was
nothing but an elaborate fraud. Your husband David has disappeared, and is now
a fugitive from justice.” To the deputy holding Olivia, he said, “Take her
away, Mike.”
Olivia’s face turned white
with rage. She screamed that she would have Constable Arthur arrested if he did
not have her released immediately, that he was lying about David, that he was a
filthy low-class goon, but all that emerged through the gag was “Nnnnnnnn!” before
the sheriff’s deputy dragged her to the van, and casually tossed her through
the open doors like a sack of laundry.
***
Olivia spent a long night in
the county jail. It was made longer than necessary by Olivia herself. From the
moment she was placed in her cell, she continuously berated and threatened the
turnkeys, until they wearied of the sound. In the end, they gagged her and left
her in restraints all night just to keep her quiet. She was still gagged and locked
in manacles when she was dragged off to court the next morning. The wheels of
justice turn swiftly in Celestial County.
Olivia sat silently flanked by
court officers to await her turn to testify. As she waited, she heard the
auditor from the State describe the results of his investigation into the
financial condition of David’s business.
“An inspection of the records
of Addison Investment Trust revealed that the company had in fact made no
investments of any kind on behalf of its clients, but had used money from
obtained from new investors to make ‘dividend’ payments to older ones. It was a
classic pyramid scheme,” the state auditor droned in a bored voice. “The total
assets of the company as of yesterday afternoon consisted of a bank account
containing one hundred two crowns, and some office furniture.”
“Did you investigate the
personal assets of the owners?” the judge asked.
“Yes, Your Honor, if I may,”
the auditor replied, opening a notebook and flipping
through the pages. “The business license indicates that the joint owners of
Addison Investment Trust are Mr. David Addison and Mrs. Olivia Addison. It
appears that their personal holdings include a large house, some valuable
artworks and other personal property, two bond-servants and several motor
vehicles. However, closer inspection of these assets revealed that they are
either heavily mortgaged and have little or no equity value, in the case of the
house; were purchased on time-payments on which the majority
of the payments are still due, in the case of the art; or have already
been staked as collateral for secured loans to the Addisons, in the case of the
slaves and the motor vehicles. We have yet to discover any significant equity
in any property, real or personal in the names of the owners.” He looked
blandly at the Judge and added, “We have thus far been unable to interview Mr.
Addison concerning any of these matters.”
“There are a lot of people in
this county that would like to do that,” the judge said grimly. “All right,
let’s get on with it. Bring up the defendant.” He banged his gavel down.
Olivia was hustled to a seat
at the table at the bar of the court, and her gag was removed.
“Your Lordship,” she said
immediately after she was sworn in, “this is all a terrible mistake. David took
care of all the business. I didn’t know…”
The judge cut her off. “Olivia
Addison, is this your signature on this application to operate a business in
this county?” he asked, holding up some papers. “Show these papers to Mrs.
Addison, please.”
A court officer jumped up,
brought the business license papers over to Olivia’s table, and laid them down
before her.
She made a show of studying
them, as if there might be some doubt about the matter in her mind.
“Well?” the judge demanded, “Is
that your signature on the last page, or is it not? Remember, you are under
oath.” Olivia hesitated, wondering if denying it would do her any good.
As if reading her thoughts,
the judge said, “Before you answer, I am obliged to remind you that the
signature has been notarized and witnessed by three persons in the prescribed
manner, and the court has additional samples of your signature for comparison. The
penalty for perjury is…”
“Oh yes, I suppose it’s my
signature,” Olivia said hurriedly. The penalty for perjury, she recalled, was
twenty-five lashes in the public square. “But, Your Honor, I didn’t know
anything about what David was doing at the office. He handled all the business himself
and he never told me anything about it. Whatever he may have done, I’m not
responsible for it.”
“Do you have anything further
to say on your behalf in this matter?” the judge asked in a cold voice.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,”
Olivia said, with a feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
“Then this hearing is
closed,” the judge pronounced. “This court finds as follows: One: that the
individual before it known as Olivia Pierson Addison is the co-owner of a
business known as Addison Investment Trust, and legally responsible for its
debts. Two: that said business is insolvent and unable to meet its financial obligations.
Based on the preceding findings of fact, the court will now issue a final order
in the matter before it.” He gestured to Olivia. “The defendant will stand.”
She did, her knees shaking so
badly that she had to hold the edge of the table to keep from falling back into
her chair.
“Pursuant to the laws of the
State of New Harrow, this court orders that Olivia Pierson Addison shall be enslaved
and stripped of all rights as a free person of this State, and of the Western
Provinces, and shall henceforth and for the rest of her natural life be made a
bond-servant. It is further ordered that she be sold by the constable at a time
and place to be determined, and that the proceeds of this sale be distributed
to the claimants of Addison Investment Trust. It is so ordered and decreed. Let
the judgment be recorded.” He banged the gavel with finality.
“No!” screamed Olivia,
jumping to her feet to protest. “No, it was David, I tell you! I didn’t know
anything about the …mmmmm!” The court
officers rammed the gag back into her open mouth, ending her protests, and
dragged her from the court.