Cause célèbre

Chapter one

Despite lying on a wooden deck chair in the warm July`s sun, Barbara Krull was far from relaxing. Actually, she was fighting hard to change her current position, but only a close viewer would have imagined that, for a perfidious arrangement of ties held her to her place.

Barbara`s arms and hands, resting by her sides, were strapped to the deck chair`s frame with some transparent zip ties. Though the helpless teacher could not see it, her arms had been wrapped with some equally transparent tape before to minimize the pain caused by the zip ties. Since both arms were tied to the deck chairs at several points from the wrists to the armpits, Barbara could neither move her arms nor lift her body from the chair.

The same combination of tape and zip ties held her legs to the deck chair, forcing her to lie absolutely still. Even her big toes were fixed to the chair and her hands were wrapped with several layers of tape, preventing her even from moving her fingers.

Her neck was tied to one of the cross bars, this time only with clear tape. Obviously, her attacker wanted to keep Barbara from moving her head, but not from breathing. But another zip tie went over and around her head at eye`s level, pressing some cloth to her eyes and pinning her head to the backrest. This arrangement was totally hidden by a pair of oversized sunglasses.

These sunglasses were the only things the dark brown haired woman was wearing. With horror, after she had awoken from her unconsciousness, the teacher had realized that she was stark naked.

„Mhhmmmmm! Uuuhhhmmmmm!“

Again, she tried to call for help, but something soft was stuffed into her mouth. It tasted strange and bitter, but somehow familiar. Over the gag, her lips had been squeezed shut and sealed with several strips of clear tape.

„Mhhmmmmmmm! Mhhmmmmphhh!“

Barbara pulled at her ties and tried to get free, but she did not even manage to move the deck chair. Unbeknownst to her, it had been screwed to the ground. Nevertheless, the naked, bound, gagged and blindfolded woman fought until exhaustion stopped her.

Until some two hours ago, this had been a normal day in the life of the 33 years old Math and Economics teacher. Despite her relative youth, she was second-in-command at the St. Ursula`s high school at Würzburg. At about three o`clock in  the afternoon, Barbara had left her office and had gone to her flat. There, suddenly someone had grabbed her from behind and had pressed a smelly rag over her mouth and nose. After some struggling, everything had went black.

When Barbara had regained her consciousness, she had been lying on the deck chair, naked bound and gagged.

„Mhhmmm! Nnnnnggg!“

„Who has done that to me? What does he want?“

Desperately, Barbara thought of anyone whom she could have done anything wrong. As a teacher, she of course had some pupils who did not like her, but this was far more than a revenge prank! Her colleagues rather respected than liked her, but there was noone who hated her. Barbara thought of everyone possible, but she could think of no person that would treat her like that.

Then, some news came to her mind. There was a lunatic in the streets who had already committed two attacks on women so far and who had not been caught yet. On both occasions, he had drugged his victims unconscious and placed them on a public place – naked, bound and gagged. Barbara had told her female pupils to be careful when going out at night, but she had never thought that she would become victim number three.

„Uuuuhhmmmmmmm! Mhhnmmmmmmmmmm! Uuuhhmmmmmmmm!“

More and more details came up in Barbara`s mind. These psycho had not only stripped his victims, he had also posted pictures of them to the internet. She was not prudish, but she definitely did not want any of her male colleagues, her pupils or their parents to see her in the nude! She screamed into her gag.

„Mhhrrrrrr! Mh-“

She stopped, remembering another detail. The other two women had been gagged with a pair of panties – who had not been their own. Now, Barbara could classify the strange taste of the wad in her mouth. She had to fight back her gag reflex when she thought about being gagged with another woman`s used underwear.

„Where am I? Is anyone around?“

Though she feared being discovered stark naked, she definitely wanted to get free and her desperate attempts to work on her bonds had had no effect. Suddenly, she realized where she was lying.

„I am on the roof! I am on the roof of my own house!“

Barbara lived in a six-appartement-house with a flat roof. This roof was excellent for sunbathing or having small parties, but Mr. Klein, the caretaker, was against these and so, the door usually was locked and he took care that none of the tenants broke this rule.

„If they all obey his order, I won`t be found for days!“, Barbara thought with panic and mmphed through her gag. Suddenly, she heard some steps and the opening of the roof`s door.

She could hear a coughing sound, thedn, after some hawking, she recognized the voice of Mr. Klein:

„W-well, Mrs. Krull, I-I am sorry to d-d-disturb you, b-but I must insist-“

„Mhmmmmm!Uhmmmmmmm!“

„Mrs. Krull, I-I understand that it is a warm day and I will stay with my back turned to you till you are dressed, but I have to insist on you to leave the roof immediately!“

„Nnnnnnggg! Mph! Mph!“

Barbara fumed and screamed through her gag, no longer taking care that this man was seeing her in the nude. He just had to free her! Now!

„Mhhrrrrrrmmmmmm! Uuuhhhmmmmmm! Nnnnnng!“

„Mrs. Krull, the house rule says – oh my God!“

When the caretaker approached the naked woman lying in front of him, the small drone that had hovered some 15 feet over the deck chair silently flew away.

***

At the same time, Police Inspector Ulinka Miotova cursed silently at her averzealousness to get the case of the madman who attacked and stripped women in the usually rather quite streets of Würzburg. Since „Jack the Stripper“ had been occupied by a British serial murderer some decades ago, the Yellow Press had called this lunatic „The Defoliator“ - not without mockery. Ulinka instead considered the man to be a real criminal and felt real pity for his victims – but Patrizia Nahle, the second victim, was straining her nerves.

„As I tell you, this is no lunatic! It was an attack on the liberation of women!“

The blonde 21 years old student was the speaker of an activist`s group at the university. She had been elected as a student`s representative six months earlier and always emphasized the importance of things like the gender pay gap, street harrassment, etc..She was nevertheless quite reasonable and did not do things like going topless to fight for equality – though many men would have liked to see the pretty and buxom Patrizia in the nude.

However, six days ago this secret dream had come true. On her way home from the discotheque, Patrizia had crossed a small park. Someone had attacked her from behind and stunned her before she could even try to use her Karate skills on him.

When she had been awake, Patrizia had been sitting on a park bench – stark naked. Her arms had been tied at wrists and elbows and were bent over the armrest where additional ropes secured them to the seat. The blonde`s legs had been tied to the bench`s feet, forcing her to sit with her legs widely spread. This, and the fact that her tied elbows emphasized her anyway big boobs meant that she had to present everything to any potential viewer.

A cloth had been stuffed into Patrizia`s mouth (the forensics had not found out yet who the former owner of these panties was). Over this, her lips had been squeezed shut and taped with some strong scotch tape. From a short distance, especially in the night, it looked as if Patrizia was exposing herself without being forced to do so. So, after a few agonizing hours, the two ´dustmen who had discovered Patrizia had made some lewd comments before they had discovered the student`s predicament.

There had been more humiliation, though. Obviously, the attacker had also taken some photos of Patrizia in her nude and exposed position and displayed these on the internet. Of course, Ulinka`s colleagues investigated on that, but sure quite a lot of people who knew Patrizia had already seen – and downloaded – these pictures.

The obvious suspicion was that a radical anti-feminist was behind the attack. At least, that was what Patrizia thought. She had refused to see a doctor or a psychologist, but instead insisted on telling Ulinka and her assistant Tina Junghans again and again that she would not fall silent in the forseeable future. Though both policewomen actually were on Patrizia`s side, they privily wished the gag back in the blonde student`s mouth.

„This was not only an attack on me, it was an attack on every woman! But I will not bent down! They may have bound my limbs, but not my will! They may have stuffed my mouth for hours, but nor forever! They may have taken my clothes from me, but not my strength!“

Having said so, the curly girl rushed out of Ulinka`s office. When the door fell close, both women emitted a sigh of relief.

„Do you think she`s right?“, Ulinka asked her red-haired colleague.

„Well, it sounds quite plausible, since she has made quite a lot of enemys and opponents by her activities. But, how does that fit with number one?“

„Number One“ was Sarah Winkler, a painter quite well know in the region, but with no real national or international reputation. It was her who had the backhanded honour to be the Uncoverer`s first victim.

The 36 years old woman had been working in her studio during the day when she had been overpowered and knocked out from behind. Then, the  Defoliator had proved that he had a sense of art in his sick mind, too.

After having stripped Sarah totally nude, he had tied her to a huge Andreas`s cross, forcing her to stand with raised arms and with her legs spread. Then, he had gagged her with a pair of used panties and wrapped some tape over that. He then had painted Sarah`s body with watercolour, till she resembled the professional models who sometimes did some body-painting-shoots, too. These models sometimes even were bound, too – but on this occasion it was neither a fake bondage nor had the model agreed to the arrangement before.

The Defoliator had placed a sign with „The imprisonment of the artist`s soul. Life performance by Sarah Winkler“ beside the Andreas` cross and left. When some visitors came to her studio, it took the desperate bound and gagged woman some time till anyone recognized that she was not performing, but desperately trying to get free. Again, a webcam ensured that a lot of people saw Sarah in her nude predicament.

Except for the fact that both women had curly hair, there was nothing they had in common. Sarah had never been interested in politics, or had at least never said anything in public. She was some 15 years older than Patrizia, both women knew each other only from the papers and they obviously had no common friends. But, obviously, both cases showed the same modus operandi.
„We still do not know enough!“, Ulinka fumed.

„We know that he must have some knowledge about chemistry.“

The two victims both had been knocked out by a soaked rag pressed over their mouths. Unlike most detective movies say, it is quite difficult to render someone unconscious who was struggling by the use of Chloroform, for it needed some minutes to work. However, there were more efficient drugs, but these were quite difficult to get – or to produce. Besides, these drugs were not commonly known, so, they had deduced that the Defoliator had at least some technical knowledge – perhaps, he was a student of Medicine or Biology, reducing the number of suspects to some 1000 people only in and around Würzburg.

The fact that he preferred to gag his victims with another woman`s used underwear added to the theory that he was a student. The common laundry room in most student`s hostels made it quite easy to steal pieces of clothing without being discovered. Perhaps the victim wouldn`t even notice that something had been stolen and just think that she had lost it. Or, since it had been used panties, she would think that it had been a pervert. Anyway, there had been no reports of any missing or stolen underwear during the last weeks.

Before Ulinka could answer, the telephone rang. She answered the call and her look became alert. Tina frowned when her colleague hung up and said:

„Hurry! There`s number three!“

***

Despondently, Anne Rach looked at the balled up piece of cloth in her right hand. It was nothing worse than her own panties, but she just could not overcome herself to put them into her mouth.
Some two years ago, Anne, until then a German and English student, had become the shooting star of the Würzburg literature scene. She had sent her novel about private investigator Julia Gold to the publishing company without real hope, but obviously, her work had pushed the right buttons.
A part of her success was based on the fact that she had been just 21 when the first volume had been published. The local color of her novel that took part in Würzburg was helping, too, but there were other such detective novels. But Anne`s work had some erotic subtext that was neither awkward nor pornographic and that was very intriguing.

Anne smiled when she remembered an interview in which she was asked the stereotype question about where she got her ideas from. The reporter had obviously waited for some spicy details of her sex life, but the answer was simply a mixture of lively imagination and  - desire. Anne was technically still a virgin.

The pretty girl was neither very prudish nor against sexual contacts in general, she just had always been quite shy and in addition, she was very demanding as far as men were concerned. Anne had had a few short-lived relationships, but none of these had led to more than a bit of light petting. Anne owned not only one vibrator and, as she had once told a friend after two glasses of wine, she had quite adept hands, but she had never had sex with a man – or woman – yet.

Anne vaguely felt that she was missing something, but she knew that she only had to go out wearing a tight dress to get some potential candidates for introducing her into sexual intercourse. Besides, this desire seemed to help her to create erotic situations her readers loved.

Another fact was that she always had a sense for details from real life that would fit into her novels and made them both realistic and thrilling. Anne had subscribed to three newspapers and always thoroughly read the criminal reports.

The crimes of the Defoliator had first disgusted her, but then, she felt somehow fascinated. Anne shuddered by the thought of being naked, bound and gagged in public, but at the same time, she considered it as exiting. When she had read that the two girls had been gagged with a pair of panties, she had not been able to get rid of this image again. The thought of being forced to chew on another woman`s used underwear was vile, but fascinating, too. So, she had decided to have that experience, though she decided to use one of her own pairs.

Slowly, Anne brought the balled up silk to her lips. Her nose slightly cringed when she sensed her perfume and body. With a faint sigh, she pushed the wad between her open lips.

„Uuuhmm!“

Anne had to breath through her nose and retched when she tasted her used garment. How much worse it would have been if it had been those of someone else! Anne stopped and spat out the panties. Though she still was curious, she just had to regain some strength to try this again. But, deep inside, Anne knew that in her next book, private investigator Julia Gold would perhaps get gagged with a pair of panties, too.

***

Barbara Krull had never liked Mr. Klein, the caretaker, but now, she hated him with all her might. Immediately after he had discovered that Barbara was not sunbathing voluntarily, he had called for the police. Barbara had mmphed through her gag, insisting that he now would free her.

„Mhmmmm! Uuuhhmmm!“

„Sorry, Mrs. Krull, but the officer just told me not to touch anything. I know from the TV, one shall never spoil evidence!“

„Mhhrrrrrrr! Uuuhhmmmmmmm! Mph!“

Barbara fumed and squirmed in her bonds. This fool really intended to leave her trussed up and gagged until the police would come! More people to see her in her naked plight!

„Mhhmmmph! Nnnngggg!“

„Just relax, they promised to be here in five minutes.“

Actually, it was only four more minutes, but it seemed like hours to the naked, bound and gagged teacher.

„Ah, officer, I have left everything as it was!“

„You have – oh my god! Tina, take some photos, then, we will have to free this poor woman. One moment, Miss, your ordeal will soon be over.“

To Barbara`s relief, it were two women and after a few seconds, the tape was peeled from her lips. A hand assisted the still blindfolded woman in spitting out her gag.

„Th-thank you“, she croaked after some panting.

A minute later, Barbara`s head had been freed and the blindfold fell off. Blinking into the sun, Barbara saw that Mr. Klein was still standing nearby.

„You bastard! You enjoy this, don`t you, you-“

Ulinka interrupted her, but sent the caretaker down to his flat. After a last look on Barbara`s naked forms, he obeyed.

***

At the same time, the Defoliator received a message on his smartphone:

„Seen the pictures. Good work, once again!“

He smiled. Freud always showed a lot of interest in his work, his opus magnum. He had had the idea of doing these things to some girls, but it had only been after he and Freud had learned to know each other that he had started his crusade in earnest. Freud had told him that there was nothing wrong with his desires and that he could become healed only by fulfilling what his mind told him.
The Defoliator erased the message. He already was starting to become famous. Ha already had a nickname and his second attack had been on page three of the local newspaper. Now, he would be on the front page! And he was far from being done! The Defoliator put the smartphone back into his pocket and let his eyes wander over the crowded market place. All these pretty young girls, innocent and clueless. But, some of them would soon be a part of his work! Or rather, their work. Though he was operating alone, Freud always asked him about his progress and sometimes even made suggestions about who would deserve to become a part of the work. Freud was not only his friend, Freud could be called his mentor and he wanted Freud to be proud of him.

***

Dressed in a bathrobe and sipping from her tea, Barbara sat on her couch and tried to answer the questions of the two policewomen. Her eyes rested on a transparent evidence bag that contained the black pair of panties that had previously gagged her. Ulinka had carefully asked Barbara if she recognized the underwear, but to no avail.

„Mrs. Krull, we know that you are exhausted, but I am sure you want this man behind bars asap, too. But, before, would you like to call someone – a friend, or a doctor?“

Barbara shook her head. She still had not fully realized what the attack would mean for her future. If the Defoliator had posted pictures of her in the nude, too, her life would never be the same again. Barbara would never know, if a colleague or a pupil that was looking at her or talking behind her back was secretly remembering her lying on the deckchair. It would be-

„Mrs Krull, if you don`t mind, we would like you to talk to a psychologist we have asked to help us in the investigations. Her name is Dr. Nicole Suttner, and she has been very sensitive towards the other victims. Perhaps, she will help us to get this criminal.“

Barbara nodded. She was happy that these two policewomen did not blame her for being careless or ask her about whom she might have provocated in the past. They only saw the victim in her.

Ulinka suddenly smiled: „I was hoping that you would amswer that way. She must be here every minute.“

As on keyword, the doorbell rang. Tina opened and a tallish blonde woman of about 30 entered the room. She shortly greeted Ulinka and Tina, then, she reached a hand to Barbara. Her handshake was firm.

„Well, Mrs. Krull, the Inspector has already told me about what you have went through. So, there`s no need you have to repeat it to me. But my aim is to understand what kind of disturbed mind is behind all this. So, please, answer my questions, as far as you feel strong enough yet.“

She sat beside Barbara and, like she had done when dealing with Sarah and Patrizia, she asked Ulinka and Tina to leave the room. So, the two policewomen went to the balcony. Ulinka fumed.
„There must be a common ground! But which, except for they are all women?“

Tina shrugged: „All three are quite pretty.“

„Then, you and me would be on the Defoliator`s list, too“, Ulinka laughed, causing Tina to blush slightly. Then, she continued:

„As Nicole told us, this man is triggered by something these women have done. If it would be just zhe fact that they are pretty, he would be triggered every time he would cross the streets and he would not be able to behave like normal any more. No, it must be something much more specific. But what?“

„Well, I don`t know either. The press will have a field day!“

Ulinka grunted. Since the first attack, Tanja Schmidt, an ambitious journalist, was on their tracks and somehow insinuated that they were not doing their job well. This journalist had turned out to be a real pain in the ass and both Ulinka and Tina had been more than concerned when they had seen that Patrizia Nahle had been talking to Tanja after the interrogation.

„It`s not only the press. I am afraid, now even the Lord Mayor want`s to talk to us.“

Tina frowned. Since the last election, this Lord Mayor was Sabine Sturm. She was not the first woman in that position, but with 34 she was the youngest Lord Mayor of any German city as big as Würzburg. She had not reached her rank by being gentle and nice and so, this meeting would be no picknick if she and Ulinka had no progress in the Defoliator case.

„We are becoming local celebrities“, Tina meant ironically. Then, she moved back when Ulinka not too gently grabbed her shoulder.

„That`s it! When this caretaker called us, I had a feeling that I had heard the name of Barbara Krull before. She has been in the newspapers some weeks before! Something about a project of her school, European business or something like that. Sarah Winkler has been in the news on several occasions, too, due to her art. And if Patrizia Nahle`s no attention whore, then I`ve never seen one! The Defoliator is hunting for women who are in the papers!“

Tina followed her colleague with mixed feelings. This idea was indeed a promising one, but it also meant that now there would not only be pressure from both the press and the officials, but also from the more or less famous people in Würzburg who would ask for more protection.

***

Martin Graf and Oliver Will were in high spirits. The Kickers, the local football club, had just won the third game in a row – quite a balm to their souls after the team had had to leave the second league the year before. But now, the Kickers were on their way back!

Oliver emptied his beer can, dropped it to the ground and kicked at it. He was quite a skilled football player, too, and so, the can flew for some 20 yards until it hit a police car.

„Damn! You fool!“

Laughing, the two young men ran through the adjacent park until they were sure that the police had no intention in hunting for them. Then, Martin discovered that they had reached the fence of the beer garden.

„Well, I think after that exiting manhunt, we have earned ourselves another beer!“

Not wanting to walk alongside the fence to the entrance, they decided to climb over it and they entered the beer garden just near the playground. Since this beer garden was rather visited by people without children, this place was normally not visited very often, but this time, there was a woman sitting on one of the swings.

It took Oliver and Martin a few second to fully undrstand that this woman was stark naked. Her arms were slung anround the strings of the swing and cuffed behind her back and her mouth was taped shut with some tape. She had her legs over each other and looked at the two men with her blue eyes.

„Mhhmmmmmm! Uuuhhmmmmmm!“

Martin stumbled over to her and ripped the tape from her lips. The girl spat out a pink piece of cloth that landed in the sand. It was a pair of panties.

„Thank you! The Defoliator! He must have grabbed me! Please, call the police!“

Martin looked a bit shepishly at the girl`s heaving breasts, but Oliver rose his cellphone and dialled for the police.

„I-I just went for the toilet, when he came from behind! He chloroformed me and when I woke up, I was here, stripped and gagged!“, the blonde women continued.

Martin, who had recovered from his astonishment, was working on her handcuffs, only to find out that he was unable to undo them.

„S-sorry, but you will have to wait for the police“, Martin stammered. He had to force himself to look into the girl`s eyes and not at her breasts or between her legs. The blonde smiled at him.

„Well, I will not die from that. At least, you have found me. I will not forget about that. By the way, I am Sandy Orden.“

A bit absent minded, Oliver and Martin introduced themselves, too. When they were waiting for the police to come, some other visitors of the beer garden recognized the three and soon, quite a lot of people were standing around and watched the pretty young women sitting on the swing naked.

„Hey, that`s Sandy! I know her, she is working at my hairdresser!“, a man yelled.

When another man took a photo with his cellphone, Martin wanted to take the phone from him, but Sandy called him back.

„Let him go, Martin! I am sure, the Defoliator has already sent pictures of me to the internet. Thank you, but I am afraid it`s too late.“

Martin could not help admiring Sandy for staying so cool whilst she was forced to sit naked in front of a crowd of spectators. Now, quite a lot of these spectators checked their smartphones and obviuosly, they had indeed found some pictures of the very girl that was sitting in front of them.
After a while, two policemen arrived. Quickly, they had freed Sandy from the handcuffs. When one of them wanted to drape his jacket over her, someone brought a bundle of clothes from the bushes.
Gratefully, Sandy took the clothes from him and quickly got dressed, obviously not too concerned about what sight she offered. Before she left with the policemen, she turned to Oliver and Martin and once again thanked them.

So, the two friends both got offered more than one free beer from curious people.

***