Valentine's Dinner?

23. Taking the Bull by the Horns

Reinforced by her warm feelings, Valerie clicked on the Twitter icon in her bookmarks bar. When the page opened, she saw 99+ Notifications. Yeah, it's been three or four days. She looked at the United Kingdom trends. Fuck!

She dug into her computer case, took out her business phone and switched it on. As she waited for it to cycle, she tried to calm herself and think about options. Press conference. Face them and make an appeal for common sense and decency.

When the phone prompted, she entered her password and then the code to unlock the sim, then she pushed Brad's icon, and he immediately replied.

"Hi, Val. It's gone from bad to ugly. Have you been watching?"

"I haven't dared until now. I just glanced at Twitter and saw #valgina is trending fourth."

"And #BurnRedBurn is eighth."

"Has IT found any links?"

"Nothing sufficient for Scotland Yard to act."

"Meaning?"

"He's posted newly created images, and one —"

"Newly created?"

"He's now using headshots of you from our press pages."

"Fuck! So not just dredging up stuff still lurking on the net."

"IT has been doing image searches, and they found one of the bodies in an old issue of Club International."

"Too much of a coincidence? How did they find that?"

"One of the team has a collection of old porn mags and a very strong memory for beautiful bodies. He started going through them and —"

"Broughton had tried to talk me into posing nude for Club International and Mayfair."

"This was a Broughton spread. Two men are now searching through the selection at Vintage Magazine Shop in Soho, looking for others."

"It could be anyone, though. All that's needed is to scan the magazine image and manipulate it."

"Yes, except the Club International image we identified doesn't have the grainy look of a scanned mag photo. It appears to be an original."

"Hmmm. Far too much for mere coincidence."

"But no linking evidence for Scotland Yard."

"Set up a Zoom chat for me with IT, PR and Security — Whomever else you think can add to this. Tell them to start thinking about a press conference. A major one. TV and all, as early as makes sense this afternoon. With the way this is playing, the media should all scramble to cover it. Get PR working on it immediately while you set up the Zoom."

"Great! Zoom should be ready in ten or fifteen minutes."

"Thank you, Brad." Valerie clicked off and stared at her phone as she thought. Head directly into it. Reveal the whole sordid mess. No sense in trying to —

"Mummy, you used that word we're not supposed to use. Something is really bad, isn't it?"

"Hmmm. Sorry, Sweetheart. I must have let it slip out. Not an excuse, but sometimes there is no other word for an adult to use in expressing their depth of disgust."

"So, what is he doing now?"

"We'll talk about this later, Chloe. At the moment, I need to prepare a statement for the media."

"This is really serious, isn't? You don't call me Chloe unless it is."

Valerie extended her arms. "Come, Sweetheart. Hug time. We both need it."

<><><>

At one thirty, Valerie walked to the podium in the conference room as the buzz of voices fell silent and cameras flashed. She watched a fifth TV crew arrive and quickly set up on the rear platform. "Thank you all for coming at this inconvenient hour and at such short notice."

She scanned the room, spotting many familiar faces and acknowledging them with smiles and nods. "You know why you're here, so I won't waste your time by describing this harassment. There are indications that the person who is doing this is the one who had drugged and raped me eleven years ago." She paused to allow the information to sink in.

"During his first trial, he did a similar smearing of my reputation, and he convinced the courts I had enticed him and welcomed his raping me. After his acquittal, videos of his raping me emerged, as did evidence of his having Photoshopped my head onto the lewd images which he had used to defame me. In a second trial, he was found guilty of rape, libel, slander and fraud, and he was sent to prison for ten years."

Valerie raised her hand to stop the questions. "Allow me to continue. For eleven years, I have suffered the traumas from his rape, and my inability to be with a man has led to your..." She paused and pointed at several individuals in the crowd of reporters. "Led to your libellous and slanderous accusations that I am a lesbian. And, while I have nothing against lesbians, I am not one. I am a victim of violent rape. Has that possibility ever entered your minds?"

The crowd was silent as she made eye contact with as many as possible. "Those who continue spreading his Photoshopped images are assisting with his continued raping of me. Think about that." She swept a pointed finger back and forth across the reporters, pausing for a moment or two on many of them. "Think about it."

After another pause, she continued. "There is a culture in the Middle East which stones women to death because they were raped. We deem ourselves more civilised than that, and we condemn such activity. But, think." She pointed into the TV cameras and the video recorders as she continued. "Think of yourselves as stoning me as you assist my rapist in spreading his hatred. Pause for a while to picture your wives and your daughters in similar situations. Being stoned. You stoning them."

After another pause, she concluded, "Think about what you're doing. Thank you."

Christine, the head of PR, moved quickly to the podium as Valerie stepped back. "No questions, please." She pointed to the three members of her staff as they moved to the front of the dais. "We have transcripts of Ms Redburn's address here, as well as background information. If you wish follow on, my contact information is in the handouts."

She paused a moment before saying, "Thank you for coming." Then she nodded, turned and escorted Valerie from the dais and out the side door.