Frequent Traveller (Cathy Dixon #1) (6 page)

It is one of the first few cities in the world to have been awarded for its "green" efforts towards environmentally friendly living areas and methods. More than 35% of the city consists of park and lush green areas while another 30% is made up of waterways. The government continues to stress that all efforts will be made to steer clear of heavy industries to enable further advancement with the city's green efforts.

With history that dates back as far as 1250, Stockholm is rich in culture, literature, music, performing arts and annual festivals. In 1634, Stockholm was declared the official capital of the Swedish Empire and still holds on to this title with the royal family of Sweden currently residing in the Drottningholm Palace. It is also home to the world's oldest military training centre built in 1790. This facility has remained in the same location ever since.

With more than eight million tourists in the city centre annually, a large part of Stockholm's population plays an active role in tourism and the service industry. As many as ten Michelin star restaurants thrive in Stockholm. Every street is peppered with a variety of eateries which serve a range of local and international flavours such as French, Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern, Asian. Fast food restaurants, bars and coffee spots are also popular haunts for locals and tourists.

Christmas was barely three weeks away and the streets were decked with colourful decorations. But Yuletide joy was the last thing on Cathy's mind as she stepped into the crowded lobby of MoonStar Stockholm. Even if no Christmas decorations dotted the place, she hardly recognised the chic interior she remembered from her training days.

Today it was filled with reporters, curious onlookers, MoonStar associates of various rankings and could have been likened to a zoo. Three days earlier, this was the MoonStar property on every news channel known to man.

Well-known American business mogul Ross Morrison aged forty-eight years old was a household name in Europe, for creating the multi-billion dollar mobile communications company, Roamy Inc. Even after being in business for more than ten years, it still held a worldwide market share of at least 32%. This made it the second biggest mobile communications player next to Apple and Nokia.

If Roamy Inc. had not provided him with a lavish lifestyle, his other businesses more than made up for it. Morrison was also well known for his musical ventures, be it with singers, bands or in the theatre. His wife of more than ten years had carved a name for herself by being behind one of the more popular fashion labels for teenagers, Impulsations.

But disaster had slowly weaved into their lives a few nights earlier. It was alleged that Morrison spent the night with a social escort at MoonStar Stockholm. He had a driver pick her up from her apartment, they went for dinner, headed off to a popular local bar, staggered back to his hotel suite and had consensual sex or so he claimed. Her version differed from the point when she helped him up to his room and was to take a cab home but he had forced himself on her.

Needless to say, things took a dramatic turn when she ran out of the suite screaming and into the lobby dressed in nothing but a bed sheet. Morrison was subsequently arrested and charged before he could leave the country but it would take weeks before the media attention died down. It was early December now and Christmas holidays or not, this would be an added buzz in all gossip columns dragging MoonStar Stockholm in its wake.

Although the property had one of the best public relations teams of all the European MoonStar properties, they had called Corporate Office to ask for more assistance. This was beyond standard operating procedures and keeping the media at bay was a losing battle not to mention the few stragglers of associates who sought their shot at stardom by issuing unauthorised comments to the media. All in, it was a circus and Cathy realised it would be a day or two before she got a good night's sleep, jet-lagged or not.

The suite in question was still sealed off as police waded through evidence and red tape before handing it back to the property’s management team who assured all relevant authorities their full co-operation. To prevent any contamination of evidence or hotel associates seeking trophies, only two people outside the investigating team had access to the suite, the property’s General Manager and Front Office Manager. Cathy explored the scene from the pictures of the suite that were given to her. The furniture was spared but the bedroom area was in shreds, right to the point that the mattress had a huge hole in it. It looked like someone had tried to drive a knife through it.

Rape under any circumstance was a horrid assault no one deserved. Of all people Cathy understood how difficult it was to overcome the experience. Nightmares of her father forcing himself on her and sharing her with his friends still haunted her, even decades after the incidences had occurred. It was after her sixth birthday that he had taught her to "play a game" and so it had gone on for years.

However, when confronted with rape in a professional environment, personal emotions were a line not necessarily worth crossing and objectivity was a handy tool to possess. From a personal standpoint, the victim required any and all support that could be feasibly administered. But from a business viewpoint, clarification to the media that MoonStar Stockholm and its associates were in no way, shape or form accomplices to the rape was imperative and necessary.

Cathy had barely closed her door when it was gently opened and she was greeted by the property's Public Relations Manager, Ingrid Hansson. She looked haggard and far beyond her thirty-five years. Ingrid hugged Cathy tightly and gave her a folder as they both sat down. Hard at work, Corporate Legal had compiled detailed information about victim and alleged rapist. Not as an admission of guilt, they were prepared to offer the victim a significant amount of money to compensate her for the "grievous unforeseen circumstances" she had faced at the property.

Ingrid gazed blankly at the carpet as Cathy flipped through the documents.

"Is anyone else aware of this?" Cathy asked.

"No, there are some interns at the Communications Department and I don't trust them. Well, not enough with such information so I made sure everything was sent directly to me. Other than you and I, alongside Mr. Anderson the General Manager and Legal, no one else is aware of such preparations being made."

Ingrid took a deep breath.

"Cathy, I don't like this. I can't imagine what she has been through but there are so many questions that need answers and I'm feeling uncomfortable here, out of my element," she motioned to her stomach, her right hand formed a fist.

Cathy grimaced. "I know Ingrid. I'm having problems with the fact that she might have recognised him and saw an opportunity to make a quick buck. I don't want to believe it and the investigation is not up to us but it's like you said, things are not adding up. For instance, why did it take her two hours to run down? She said she was helping him to his room when it had happened. It takes about ten minutes from the main entrance to his room."

A long silence fell on both women as they absorbed the significant information regarding the tricky predicament that was presented before them.

"We'll see if she and her lawyer agree to meet with us, Ingrid. Let's just take it from there. We'll keep the settlement quiet, especially from the media and take it one hurdle at a time. First things first, was Front Office in any way involved in hiring the escort for Morrison?"

As Cathy watched Ingrid's face pale, she recognized that the hole they had already found themselves in, just got a little deeper.

"Not this time," came the muffled reply as Cathy looked up sharply.

"On previous occasions, they had called escort agencies for Morrison and other guests. They've already admitted that some of the agencies gave them 'tokens of appreciation' in the form of cash or dates with their girls. Some of them have had consensual sex or performed sexual acts with these girls. I know it doesn't look good at all."

All the corporate values in the world could never come up against a man's desire. Of this, Cathy was absolutely sure.

Ingrid did her best to keep her composure. "Mr. Anderson has suspended the associates involved until this issue blows over, after which a domestic inquiry will be held but it won't guarantee the media not finding out. Our biggest concern beyond them finding out about our associates is that they will also find out which guests have been involved with the girls. It's a tangled web many years in the making, Cathy."

On the verge of tears, Ingrid covered her face in her palms knowing her bare emotions were safe with the other woman.

Few associates understood limitations when it came to keeping a guest happy. Some guests were content with an extra towel and others were more than happy with a hotel souvenir. But there were a few who were certain that a request not carried out was a bad review for the hotel and the employee, and used this to their advantage. The shades of grey were apparent, the clarity of black and white were non-existent in a situation like this. What the hotel saw as keeping guests happy, the media would see as support towards sexual exploitation.

Cathy reached out and squeezed Ingrid's shoulder. "Go home and get some rest, I'll hold the fort for tonight. However the storm blows, we still need to put up our sails and we can't do it without our senses intact. Go on."

Next morning at about 10:00 a.m. accompanied by Elridge, a legal representative from corporate, Ingrid and Cathy were in the Wisborg Conference Room where they saw yet another shocking piece of the puzzle fall into place.

In the confusion that had ensued after the girl ran out screaming, the bed sheet she had clutched to herself was found bundled up at the back-office of the check-in counter. Doing their rounds early this morning, Housekeeping had collected the sheet without realising its significance or the evidence it held. A mobile phone was recovered, tucked deep in one of the folds.

When plugged in to charge and its media played back to locate its owner, a single shocking video, clarified the reality and confusion of the current situation. It showed Morrison arriving at the suite with the girl, both drunk beyond realising where or what they were doing. He fondled her as she giggled and both passed out within minutes of each other on the bed, incapable of any physical activity.

Almost five minutes elapsed when a male voice called out Morrison's name asking him why he had left his room door open. The figure was seen walking towards the bed and stood still before unzipping his pants and getting on top of the girl, tearing her clothes off. Even as his hands roughly grabbed her breasts, the girl woke up screaming and a struggle ensued. The mobile phone was knocked over from wherever it was balanced and fell on the white sheets but not before revealing the man on top of the girl as he slapped her across the face. It was Morrison’s driver.

The hotel's delay in submitting the phone was a crucial issue not likely to be ignored by the authorities or the media. Silence descended on the conference room. The credibility of one woman, the innocence of one man and the monstrosity of another were all laid out in crystal clear clarity in front of them. No more grey areas.

Elridge was the first person to speak. "We could make an anonymous tip and deliver it to the police. That won't implicate us and allow us to retain credibility with our guests at the same time."

"Enough Eldrige. We can't keep literally covering our dirty linen at the expense of guest satisfaction. Right now, it's our credibility at stake. I say go public with it, if anything, we'll need the brownie points with the media when they find out it is our associates who have been supplying escorts to guests. We need public support, not another cover up."

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

March 2008

If one were to set aside all other trades for just a moment, it must be noted that Edinburgh is home to some of the greatest literary creations and minds the world has ever seen. The first Harry Potter book was conceived in an Edinburgh coffee shop by JK Rowling. It was a recent addition to the long line of famous authors from Edinburgh which include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who created Sherlock Holmes; Adam Smith who changed economic mindsets in The Wealth of Nations; Robert Louis Stevenson who gave Long John Silver his mean streak when he conceived Treasure Island and wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde; Irvine Welsh who wrote Trainspotting; Ian Rankin who conceived the mystery thrillers of Inspector Rebus and Sir Walter Scott who was the great mind behind Ivanhoe. Edinburgh is also the hometown to Sir Sean Connery who lent his talents to the first onscreen James Bond.

If such creativity did not highlight Edinburgh's rich background, the city is also known for its numerous contributions towards science and engineering. The mind behind the most used gadget, the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell was born and educated at Edinburgh. Other notable persons of interest include Nobel Laureate Charles Darwin who discovered natural selection and John Napier who is known to many as the “Father of Logarithms”. Not to mention, medical researchers Joseph Lister and James Simpson. The former made hospital surgeries safer with the creation of carbolic acid as antiseptic while the latter created anaesthetic in his bid to make surgeries less painful. James Young made his fortune by selling paraffin as lighting oil, James Hutton is still regarded as the "Father of Geology" and James Clerk Maxwell is said to be the mind behind the theory of electromagnetism. All of these great minds came from Edinburgh.