Best Friends
by
Thomas Silk

Chapter 1: Hugs, Kisses, Scarves & Gags

Andrea Martin slowly moved down the hall. She had been dreading this moment. The 28-year old woman, was 5' 4", but looked much taller than that in the high heels she usually wore. She had on her typical work clothes, a navy blue cotton skirt that extended just below the knees, a white silk long-sleeve silk blouse unbuttoned to show-off her stunning silver necklace, navy blue heels, 'nude' pantyhose to show off her legs and her trademark silk neck scarf. Andrea wore a bright silk scarf, red boarder with yellow and blue flowers with green stems on a white background. The scarf was knotted at the back of her neck with the ends of the folded silk square spilling over the collar of the blouse and dangling beyond her hair on the soft white of the blouse. Andrea wore a scarf nearly every day. When she went home, the scarf was usually tied over her head to protect her long, wavy auburn hair. When Andrea walked her ever present jewelry, a silver necklace, bracelet, several rings gleamed. She opened the door to the office of Debra Collins.

"How could you, Debra?", Andrea asked with tears in her eyes, "That money is suppose to go to children" Andrea was shaking with a combination of anger and disbelief as she came into Debra's corner office and closed the door. She had thought that she would be able to keep her emotions under control until she found out why Debra had done such a thing. Debra was in charge of allocating monetary expenses for the charity. She was the money person. Andrea was the chief accountant. She was offered the department head job on at least two occasions, but had turned it down both times. Andrea loved working with numbers more than making more money and pushing papers.

Andrea and Debra had worked with each other for 5 years. They had known each other for at least twice that long. They were close, very close. As close as two women could be without being lovers. At one point, a couple months after Debra's husband left her, they even became lovers for one glorious evening. Both women enjoyed the company and sexual relations with men, but Andrea was more inclined to seek out the company of women from time-to-time. Still, even after Debra put a stop to their brief fling, the two women spent much of their free time together going to shows, shopping and just hanging out together. Andrea had noticed that her friend had become more distant in the last few weeks. It wasn't another man in Debra's life, Andrea would have heard about that with the intimate sexual details within hours, if it had happened. No, this was something else.

"Andrea, what do you mean? What happened?", as she got up from behind her desk. Debra's voice was far from the strong, confident voice that Andrea normally heard. Debra was 5' 6" and wore flat, 'sensible' brown shoes. Her dress was a conservative matching brown with a belt. It was accented with a gold necklace. She still wore her wedding ring despite her single status. Although Debra did not wear neck scarves often, she had adopted the habit of wearing a headscarf to and from work. Although her bleached blond hair was fairly short, the tunnel-like winds of the city caused her to spend too much time in the ladies room repairing the damage. On one particularly windy day, Andrea had loaned her a scarf and Debra found that not only did it protect her hair, but it kept her warm. Debra quickly found herself wearing scarves every day. On the hat rack was the brown and white checked silk square Andrea had given her last year.

Debra approached Andrea, but didn't try to hug her, something that she always did.

Andrea slowly sat down in a plush chair used by visitors. It was as if her legs couldn't support her. Debra sat down besides her.

"You know what I am talking about. Don't deny it. At the very least, you had to have known about it", Andrea almost hissed at her friend. There was no denial that Andrea had hoped for.  Just a look of hopelessness in Debra's eyes.

"How could you do this to this charity, to your friends, to me", Andrea couldn't hold back the tears. Debra got a handkerchief from her purse and handed it to Andrea. Andrea dabbed her eyes and wiped her nose.

"Andrea, I'm sorry. I am being blackmailed and now it's too late", Debra said with her head bowed.

"Debra, it's never too late"

"Yes, it is.  I already tried to stop this.  But she threaten to kill you...to kill us and I believe her", Debra couldn't hold back the tears now.

"It must be more than that", Andrea hugged her friend.

"She knows about our little fling. She knows that would ruin my career if it became common knowledge"

"No, it would not! Times have changed", Andrea was truly shocked and pulled away, but still held her friend.

"Not to the CEO of this charity! She would make sure that I never got a job in this country again!" Andrea realized that her friend was probably right. The CEO was an uptight woman who was very conservative in her views and she disliked Debra. Debra had too many friends in the charity world for the CEO, Mrs Endall, to fire her without cause. This would give her cause.

"Do you know who this woman is?", Andrea asked with hope in her voice.

"No! We meet in the parking garage. A plain white headscarf covers her hair completely. She wears a mask that distorts her face, although from a distance I don't think anyone would realize that she is wearing a mask. She wears a plain raincoat and gloves. She wears heels by the sound, but I have never actually seen her shoes. Her voice is distorted electronically" The parking garage was a two-block walk from their offices. The garage was generally filled on work days, but both Andrea came early and left late so that there would be very little activity when the blackmailer accosted Debra.

"When did this start?", Andrea pressed her friend.

"A month ago. I went to my car in the parking garage and sat in the driver's seat. She was in the backseat with a gun. She told me exactly what I was to do and told me what would happen if I disobeyed her. I was told where to transfer the money and how much...to a Swiss account. The withdrawals were always small amounts once a week, but now I think that she wants me to drain the charity's accounts completely. When she finished with her instructions and threats, she would use my headscarf to blindfold me and would gag me with a man's handkerchief. The blindfold and gag were tied together so that it was impossible to take the blindfold off until the gag was untied. I wasn't bound, but by the time I got the gag and blindfold off, she would be gone. She knows how to tie some sort of set of wicked knots that take several minutes to undo. She ties the gag so tightly to my scarf blindfold that the scarf is damaged by the time I get everything untied", Debra told her as she opened the bottom drawer in her desk. Andrea looked in and saw three handkerchiefs each folded into a band. They obviously had been used as gags...there was Debra's ruby red lipstick in the middle of each one. The ends, which were pulled out of shape, had obviously been knotted together very tightly. "My souvenirs...the only evidence I have", Debra added with fake laugh.

"We have to go to the police", Andrea told her friend as she hugged her again. This time Debra pulled away.

"No, I have another plan...one that will solve the problem permanently", Debra went to her desk and took out a gun...a small revolver.

"You can't do that...you aren't a killer!"

"I only plan to scare her, but if she...", Debra caressed the gun.

"Look, if you don't go to the police, I will!"

"You must give me your word that you won't interfere. I meet her in less than an hour in the parking garage. I want you to wait here. If she doesn't agree to stop this, I will go to the police with you", Debra pleaded with her friend. Andrea had her back to her friend and was thinking about this request. She didn't see Debra pull the brown and white silk scarf from the hat rack. It was already folded into a triangle. Without looking, Debra rolled up the scarf into a band as she approached Andrea from behind.

"Will you go to this meeting without the gun?", Andrea asked as she felt Debra's hands on her shoulders. She also sensed the scarf in Debra's hands, but didn't think anything of it. Debra caressed Andrea's shoulders producing a soft moan from Andrea.

"Don't avoid the question", Andrea was becoming lost in the massage that she was receiving.

Debra gently moved down Andrea's arms pulling them behind her. Suddenly, Andrea realized that something was up and tried to pull away. It was too late. Debra grabbed her arms pulling her hands together. The move caused Andrea to lean backward almost losing her balance. Debra turned and shifted her body into Andrea preventing her fall and quickly wrapped the scarf around and then through Andrea's wrists. She triple knotted the scarf. Andrea easily pulled away.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?", Andrea stared at her friend. Debra moved forward grabbing Andrea's neck scarf, untying it, and pulling it from her neck.

"I thought that was rather obvious. I am making sure you don't interfere", Debra forced Andrea against the desk. They were breast to breast and Andrea felt a surge of sexual excitement at the close proximity of her friend. But Debra was all business. She forced the thick silk scarf over Andrea's mouth, extended her arms around Andrea's head pulling the scarf tight. From her position in front of Andrea, Debra knotted the scarf tightly behind Andrea's right ear, "There that should keep you quiet enough for a few minutes while I round up a few things. I'm going to put you in the closet. I won't be gone long so behave yourself" With that Debra grabbed Andrea by the arm and dragged her to the wooden cabinet that she used as a closet. She opened the door and forced her friend inside, which was not an easy task given the small size of the closet. But Andrea was still in shock and not in fighting mode. The closet had two doors separated by a vertical wooden post. Andrea knew that the closet could be locked. There was an assortment of jackets, one coat, a dress and other clothes hanging. On the floor were a number of pairs of shoes. Andrea was too tall to stand in the closet, which definitely wasn't meant to be a walk-in closet. She had no choice, but to slide down to the floor of the closet. Debra held her as she went down so she wouldn't hurt herself.

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Don't go anywhere", Debra said with a smile. Then she closed the doors of the closet and locked them. Andrea hear her leave her office and close and lock the door behind her. Andrea was shocked at the turn of events and the swings in emotion. She trusted her friend and knew that she would not hurt her. On the other hand, she had to stop her from doing something stupid. Her hands were tightly bound and the scarf wasn't loosening. Debra had mastered the art of the square knot. Her feet weren't bound, but it would be difficult to get off the floor, particularly with her heels. She kicked off her heels and found that her stockings provided no traction. Frustrated, Andrea decided to work on the gag. She was miffed at Debra for tying one of her good scarves over her mouth. How the hell do you get lipstick out of silk? Andrea tried to call out, but the scarf muffled her sufficiently. There was no way anyone outside Debra's office would hear her. The scarf was tied tightly, but Andrea started to work her mouth. At least it wasn't tied in her mouth.