Scandalous: The Fabufestan Exposés–Book II

By Ralph Hancox

SEX, SCANDAL, MURDER & MAYHEM

Human trafficking, a sex scandal, political intrigue and murder—things start to boil over in Book II of the Fabubestan Exposés.

Led by the unassuming ‘Legs’ Morowitz, Fabufestan’s script crew soon discover that the subject of their latest TV documentary has morphed into three separate issues: human trafficking, people smuggling and bogus refugees. To expose the horrors of this triple scourge, they have to convince their bosses to take on more financial risk to let them produce three, one-hour episodes, instead of the planned one-hour program.

“When we started looking into it for the prelims,” Legs continued, “it was clear we’d got hold of a writhing python. We had no idea at the start how monstrous the people smuggling racket was.”

Meanwhile, the new provincial government is reeling from its first political crisis: a high-profile sex scandal involving three of its elected members, charged with sex tourism and trafficking under-age Thai prostitutes to Canada. The Premier entrusts Angus McRossie, her Minister for Democratic Action, with crisis management. His wife objects to his involvement in such a sordid matter, and McRossie’s personal life and political career start to unravel from there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: FICTIVE PRESS
• Release date: May 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781927663240

Ralph Hancox

After retiring from a long, distinguished career in the publishing industry, Ralph Hancox continues to write memoirs and novels from his mountain top aerie in Victoria, British Columbia.Learn more about Ralph Hancox at:http://fictivepress.com/ralph-hancox.htmStart reading his books chapter by chapter on Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/RalphHancox

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The Fabufestan Exposés–Book II

SCANDALOUS

A novel by

Ralph Hancox

A Fictive Press Book

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Copyright © 2015 by Ralph Hancox

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means (except for brief passages for review purposes) without the prior permission of Fictive Press.

All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Published in 2015 by Fictive Press, a division of BizNet Communications (2815699 Canada Inc.), British Columbia, Canada.

fictivepress.com

Fictive Press and fictivepress.com are trademarks of

2815699 Canada Inc.

Cover photo by Doug Long: Copyright © 2815699 Canada Inc.

Cover design by Fictive Press: Copyright © 2815699 Canada Inc.

Author portrait by Patrick Fitzgerald: Copyright © Patrick Fitzgerald. www.patrickfitzgerald.ca

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Hancox, Ralph

[Knock, knock, who's there...]

Scandalous / Ralph Hancox. -- First Fictive Press edition.

(The Fabufesten exposés book 2)

Previously published under title: Knock, knock, who's there...

Electronic monograph.

ISBN 978-1-927663-23-3 (pdf).--ISBN 978-1-927663-25-7 (mobi).--

ISBN 978-1-927663-24-0 (epub)

I. Title. II. Title: Knock, knock, who's there...

PS8615.A55274K56 2015 C813'.6 C2015-902582-6

SCANDALOUS, formerly Knock, Knock, acknowledges the scrutiny, encouragement and invaluable advice of Morri Mostow and Doug Long, senior executives of Fictive Press.

The book in turn is dedicated to our family of four, who, in their search for independence, developed careers in which they have all been able to make invaluable contributions to the worlds they live in … and to dear Peg, who was an inspiration to, and manager and supervisor of, the working habits of an often fractious and despairing author.

Contents

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Main Characters

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

About the Author

Main Characters

Provincial Parliament

Premier Ilyanetta Borovic, leader of the People’s Party

Angus McRossie, Minister for Democratic Action

Roland Giraudoux, Deputy Minister, Ministry for Democratic Action

Martin Thornbury, Minister of Trade and Intergovernmental Relations

Shelden MacIntyre, Attorney General

Henri Alcott-Madison, People’s party whip in the Provincial Parliament

Sidney Gerantville-Smith, People’s Party member for Bowell Mackenzie, accused of sexual tourism

Silas Prendergast, People’s Party member for Lanark-Lakeland, accused of sexual tourism

Jacob Elz-zano, People’s Party member for Buchanan Hughenden, accused of sexual tourism

Fabufestan Staff

Vincent (Vince) Fairclough, CEO Fabufestan Productions

Clarence (Clare) Bufeld, COO Fabufestan Productions

Stan Bentley, COO Fabufestan Commercial Productions

Gregor (Legs) Morowitz, VP Coordinating Director, Fabufestan

Natalia Messier, VP and Controller, Fabufestan

Fabufestan Crews—Script and Visuals:

Liz Collier, Senior Manager, Creative Services

Spencer (Spence) Cassidy, Senior Manager, Visual Services

Billy Knight, Senior Manager, Logistics and Equipment

Felicity Madsen, Crew Chief, Script and Visuals

Chad Nielson, Script and Visuals

Sally Charles, crew member, voice-overs, camera, researcher

Wesley Harper, crew member, camera and script, researcher

Documentary Interviews

Sonia Katernya Smetana, Deputy High Commissioner, UN Refugee Agency

Madeleine Lacroix Côté, Professor of Family Science and Social Studies

Matteo Agostino Iaconetti, Deputy Director, UN Office on Drugs and Crime

Willie Flack, Chief Superintendent, RCMP, Ottawa

Ilyanetta Borovic, Premier

Angus McRossie, Provincial Cabinet Minister

Divorce Action

Judith Sinclair Bufeld, spouse of Clarence Bufeld, partner in Robbins Nesbitt Grieg & Sinclair, Canadian law office, Divorce Mediator

Alania Mendip McRossie, spouse, seeking a divorce from Angus McRossie

Walter Mendip, CEO Mendip-Reid, father of Alania McRossie

Benjamin Baruch, U.S. legal counsel to Alania in her divorce from Angus

Rosa-Lee Jefferies, attendee at the Advanced Public Administration seminars in Boston, Mass., and in a secret liaison with Angus McRossie

Cameo Appearances

Provincial Parliament Security Superintendent

Senior Security Officer

Monty, Limousine driver

Tomar Gujrati, Minister of Labour and Immigration

David Stein, Member of the Provincial Parliament, lawyer

Kathy Pritchard, McRossie maid

Grant Mercer, former Director of Photography, Fabufestan

Aisha, Lavra, and ten abducted victims transported to Canada for sexual exploitation

Robert and Alice, the McRossie children

Chapter 1

Truly, First Minister, I don’t think I’m the right man for the job.

"Person, person, Angus, the right person."

"Of course, the right person, First Minister. We have to be careful to use a neutral approach. Nevertheless, I think that bears out my point. It may well be misconstrued by the electorate that you’ve sent a man to defend those of his own gender in a sex scandal that crosses international borders," Angus McRossie said.

"Much more important in the minds of the electorate will be that the right ministry is in charge of answering for the government. It may turn out not to be a matter of defending anyone. The major objective of what you must do is to dissociate this government and our party from this scandalous business. I can’t think of any department or person better qualified to do so than the Ministry—and Minister—for Democratic Action."

Angus McRossie, the minister in question, looked at the purposeful figure of the province’s premier, Ilyanetta Borovic, and saw, after their half-hour discussion, that he was beaten.

He’d now have to risk the consequences of taking on a high-profile, damaging sex scandal in full knowledge that he could well have certain reproachable behaviours to answer for—if they ever came to light.

He nodded, seemingly in assent. You are right, First Minister. The Ministry for Democratic Action, as you say.

Then we shall call a Cabinet meeting for early tomorrow morning, announce that you are in charge, and have an open discussion on strategy. I’ll deal with Gerantville-Smith, Prendergast and Elz-zano.

Angus took his leave of the premier, thanked her for her confidence in him and went back to his office in the Provincial Parliament building. Waiting for him there was his deputy minister, Roland Giraudoux.

We lost that one, Angus said, as he went in. She was adamant.

Figured she might be, his deputy replied. We’re in the thick of it, in any case. This morning we received notification from NOLIB to say they were organizing a protest on the Provincial Parliament lawn tomorrow at noon.

NOLIB?

Stands for ‘Never Overlook Immoral Behaviour.’ It’s sponsored by the Universal Church of Reason.

That’s a new one. Did we get the statutory twenty-four hours’ notice?

Just under the wire.

How many?

Declined to submit exact numbers, but said it could number up to a thousand.

Security been alerted?

Yeah, but I don’t expect violence or vandalism, so we won’t need police support. There’ll be placards and megaphones for sure. But Security can handle that. Will you be ready to make a statement?

Haven’t had a chance to get all the facts yet, Angus said.

"Thought you might be in a bind. So I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a five-minute statement and a pro forma list of questions you might expect along with suitable answers."

The Cabinet is to decide strategy early tomorrow morning, so we’ll have a bit of time to make any adjustments, but thanks. I knew I could rely on you. I appreciate it.

The deputy put a neat file of paper on Angus’s desk. Angus picked it up and glanced through the statement.

This would not be the first time he had addressed a protest demonstration on the Provincial Parliament lawn. It had never been a pleasant experience but he had developed a few of the skills needed to stay out of trouble. He had become an impressive speaker.

He had acquired these indispensable skills at a three-week Advanced Public Administration seminar at Harvard soon after his election. Roland Giraudoux had been to an earlier APA seminar so they agreed on techniques for managing protest rallies.

The ministry that he headed—for Democratic Action—had been promised in the People’s Party’s first election campaign. The party, assiduously formed during the tenure of two previous governments, had ridden in on a tidal wave of support, with fifty-seven percent of the vote and victory in a majority of constituencies.

Two previous governments—the first, led by the right-wing Reformists, and succeeded by the left-wing Liberalists—had been in power for some five years each. Scandals, incompetence, prejudice, improper comments, and inexcusable patronage had dogged both regimes.

The only female premier in the ten provinces and three territories, Ilyanetta Borovic had captured the electorate’s imagination as a provincial leader who could be trusted to restore public confidence in the behaviour of the Provincial Parliament and its members.

Angus McRossie, who had swept up seventy-three percent of the popular vote in his constituency, seemed to be the logical candidate to lead the new ministry—the only one of its kind in the country.

The mandate of the Ministry for Democratic Action had been set out to give ‘every legitimate element of the provincial electorate, regardless of party, political persuasion, race, creed, gender, age, income, occupation, or association’ a voice in the affairs of government, in the forming of public policy, and in matters of general public interest.

Opinions could be expressed to the minister by individuals or social groups: First Nations, religious organizations, trade and labour unions, management associations, commercial bodies, organizations, universities, and municipalities.

The law enshrining this newly fashioned concept of democracy was the first piece of legislation passed by the Provincial Parliament. There were seventeen absences and only one contrary vote.

Immediately after the law’s passage, the ministry went from having little to do to assessing a growing flood of submissions dealing with more than a thousand different issues. Through the media, Minister Angus McRossie was now as well-known as Premier Borovic.

The quid pro quo for this novel approach to the harnessing of public opinion was deemed reasonable and just. Any organization or group planning a protest or demonstration on any issue, on public property in the province, had to notify the Ministry at least twenty-four hours in advance of the time, place, and numbers taking part.

The scandal now rocking public confidence in the new government—and that Angus McRossie, his deputy, and the entire ministry were facing—was the first such crisis in the eighteen months that the People’s Party had been in office.

Chapter 2

You were a damned fool to take on the job in the first place, Alania McRossie said. But no, not you. You were basking in the glow of your huge majority. Wanted more—Cabinet position and all that.

Borovic gave me little choice, Angus replied. It was that or the backbenches.

And what would have been wrong with that? We have plenty to live on, a relatively quiet life. And what have we got now?

She stopped and looked around the den, now cluttered as never before with his desk, papers in trays, his jacket slung over the back of the ‘ergonomic’ swivel chair.

We’ve hardly any time for ourselves, you away for days on end; me forced to go with you to these stupid receptions, putting on false faces not to upset the malcontents. Now you’re going to be front and centre in a fight that’s going to ruin your political career and our lives forever.

"I don’t see much difference between that and what I was doing. Except I’ve maybe got a higher profile."

When you were running the PR firm, at least you had a choice of where you wanted to be and what you wanted to do.

She fell silent and so did he.

Angus had not expected such a vehement reaction from Alania. At their evening meal, he had told her of the premier’s decision to give him the task of rescuing the government from the sex-trade scandal.

She had listened to the gist of it, pushed her plate away, stood up, said, I’ve had just about enough of this, and walked out of the dining room.

He had had no appetite after that, had cleared away the dishes and started the dishwasher—it was the maid’s day off. He had gone into the den to look after some of the work he had brought home. He still had to meet with the party whip who was coming to brief him on what the premier and he could expect from the two opposition parties on the parliamentary floor the next day.

Alania returned to the den and was now internalizing what she had expressed in her truculent tirade.

Look, Alania, can’t we continue this discussion when you’re feeling a little calmer? I’ve got Alcott-Madison, the party whip, coming any minute to brief me on tomorrow.

Of course. Now that this house is an annex to the Legislature, I don’t have any choice. Will you have time to look in on the children before they go to sleep? She swept out of the room.

It was almost half an hour before Angus heard the doorbell. Normally, if the maid were not available, Alania would answer. However, tonight, Angus knew that he would have to do it himself. He got up, put on his jacket and went to the hall.

Dimly, behind the leaded and frosted glass of the double doors, he could see the figure of Henri Alcott-Madison.

Come in, Henri. Good of you to come so late and not make me come to you.

It’s not with the best of news, Angus. And I much regret the purpose of my visit.

Let’s go in and talk about it. I’m sure you’ve figured out how to deal with it.

In the den, Angus pulled a winged, high-back chair to the front of the desk he had installed at one end, walked around it and stood behind his chair, looking across at Alcott-Madison.

There, I think that’s a comfortable seat. I’ll make notes here. Angus pointed to the pad and pencil in front of him. Tell me what’s on your mind.

They both sat down.

As you undoubtedly know, Alcott-Madison said, "our trade with Thailand is quite substantial. We export nearly seven hundred million dollars’ worth to them annually. We import two and a half billion a year in return. So this whole business has the potential to become a major embarrassment to Ilyanetta and the party."

"What’s our trade got to do with it? That’s all federal stuff. I thought we were dealing with three provincial idiots who went to a place of illicit sexual indulgences."

Yes, but that is only part of it, Alcott-Madison continued. What is emerging shows that was only the tip of the iceberg. It all started some six or seven years ago. You remember the so-called ‘refugee scandal’ that plagued the Liberalists?

When who was it was bringing young call girls from Thailand into the country under the guise of being refugees?

That’s roughly it. Except when they got here, their sponsors turned them into call girls. Our three idiots weren’t involved in that part, but the so-called sponsor contacted Sidney Gerantville-Smith when he was in Bangkok sampling the local girly delicacies.

Gerantville-Smith, the member for Mackenzie-Bowell?

"The same. But this was before the election. How we ever picked that turkey to stand for the party, I’ll never know."

Didn’t really have a reliable vetting system in place quickly enough, I suppose, Angus said.

Anyhow, Gerantville-Smith got involved with a smuggling racket that was trading favours for getting girls into the country without benefit of our immigration policies.

Smuggling prostitutes into the country? I cannot believe it. He’s not bright enough.

Maybe not, but the other two unquestionably are. They got into it when we sent a provincial trade delegation to Thailand.

So that’s where the trade business comes in?

Thailand nailed the three of them in Bangkok. Partly because they were watching Gerantville-Smith who was there for reasons other than trade with the Thais. They’d all got together with the Thai sponsor—I can’t pronounce his name—and some other Thai who turned out to be an undercover agent with a wire.

But the delegation was more than a year ago, Angus said.

Yeah, but they didn’t do anything that time. They just established identities. The three idiots were back in Bangkok recently, sensed something was afoot, and took refuge at our embassy there. The embassy flew them back privately the moment they realized they were MPPs.

What happened to the Thai sponsor?

He was much too wily to be caught, as he was the time before.

How did this all get into the open?

"A delegation of our forestry guys applied for a trade conference in Bangkok so they could boost our wood-related export from sixteen percent of the total trade to twenty.

They were turned down. We wanted to know why. The Thai government revealed the whole story. It was no longer a matter of three members of the Provincial Parliament caught in Bangkok enjoying a few cheap thrills. It was now a major federal issue of trade ‘pollution’ and international adolescent smuggling for immoral purposes.

Oh God, Angus groaned. And I’ve got to deal with that?

Afraid so. The story is going to break tomorrow.

Do the NOLIB busybodies know the full story?

I was talking to Roland Giraudoux earlier and he thinks so, Alcott-Madison said.

Angus offered Henri a coffee or a drink. He declined. "I’ve got to be