Chapter 146

• Then he stood behind her, held her bound arms and pulled her backwards towards the pole. Abigail was startled as she felt the solid steel in the cleft of her backside and against the back of her cuffs. The uncle held her head upright, the back of the gag strap touching the pole, as a couple of men approached with something metallic from the bag. They clamped the back of the stiff gag strap to the pole on a slider. It held her head upright against the pole.
• Abigail could not tilt her head to the side or forwards or back at all: it was held too rigidly to the pole via the strong gag strap and the slider clamp, but she could feel that it would slide up and down the pole. She whimpered into the gag as she felt another liberty being taken away, her frightened eyes darting around the room, searching for help.
• The uncle kept discipline by taking a truncheon from the kit bag. Abigail wondered whether he had been a policeman in an earlier career. He circled her, using the truncheon to keep the circle of men at a distance.