Chapter One

 

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.