Deviant Intent: OBSESSION Page 14

  “Someone tried to kill you? And you led them to me?”she looked worried, scanning the street behind me.

  “Relax, I wasn’t followed here,” At least, I don’t think so, I added to myself. “Besides, why would they be interested in you?”

  She gave the street one last scan and then looked at me, weighing a feather against the purity of my soul.

  “I got away,” she said.

  “Pimp?”

  She nodded, her face flushed with embarrassment.

  “Why not start at the beginning?” I prompted her.

  She sighed.

  “Where did it begin? My step-father abused me. So I ran away from home when I was seventeen. In comparison to any place in North Carolina, Texas seemed glamorous. I thought I’d live in Highland Park or some other nice place in seclusion. I made it as far as here to Atlanta before I needed to make some money,” she softly said as to not arouse eavesdropping ears. “So I got a job, and then I needed a place to live, and before I knew it I was living here and managing to keep my head above water. I met Terrance three years later. He was into bondage and domination and so was I. Look, I don’t know how to explain that to you...”

  “I’m a Dominant,” I interrupted her.

  She gave me a stare, like she didn’t want to believe me. I stared into her eyes more intensely than before, which immediately changed her demeanor. It’s amazing what that ‘stare’ can do to a submissive.

  “Okay. So I don’t have to explain too much. The submission was a rush and Terrance knew how to keep me floating. Not a lot of drugs,” she said as she caught the insinuating questions in my eyes. “But mostly a non-stop party of submission; I got in deeper and deeper as I followed the thrill. It wasn’t entirely his fault. But the son of a bitch slowly cut me off from my friends and made himself the center of my world. It was classic brainwashing, though I didn’t know it at the time. By the time he moved me into the apartment... I would have done anything for him. I did do anything for him.”

  “What happened after the apartment?” I asked.

  “He showed up one day,” she said, lips tight. “He told me that it was time for me to move to the next level. I had to prove my love for him with one last test. He was going to sell me to a man for six months. At the end of the six months, if I had passed the test, he’d buy me back. He spun me a bullshit story about buying a house in Aspen, Colorado, skiing all winter and traveling during the summer. So I went along with it.”

  She paused, taking a deep breath and then a deep drink, gathering her thoughts.

  “The next day two men came to the apartment and took me away with them. They took me to Dallas, Texas, had some fun with me along the way, and turned me over to my new ‘Master’. At that point I had become a prostitute and I just wasn’t aware of it. After that... I did what I was told. They’d take me to a party or a hotel room or someone’s house and I’d do what I did.

  “Four months into it someone beat me bad enough to send me to the hospital and I caught the attention of a social worker. He tried to talk me out, get me to go into a program, but I wanted to pass my test. Six months into it, no Terrance. They tried to tell me I’d counted the days wrong, but I knew that they were lying; I’d counted the days religiously. Finally, they told me that Terrance wasn’t coming, that I’d failed the test. I told them I wanted to leave. That got me another trip to the hospital. I kept some of my pain meds and, as soon as I got out of the hospital, I sold them on the street. I took the money and ran.”

  “How does Dana fit into all this?”

  “Leave Dana out of this, she’s an angel,” she snarled at me.

  I backed off that question. I didn’t need to spook her, and besides, if I played my cards right, it would lead me to Veronica Emerson.

  “When’s the last time you saw Terrance?”

  “I’m not answering that question unless I’ve been arrested by the police and I’ve got a lawyer present. Let it go. If he’s dead then this is all over,” she nervously replied.

  “Someone killed Kimberly, Selena,” I said carefully. “Terrance had put her through a lot of abuse and brainwashing, just like you. It’s not over. I’m going to talk to Dana, or Veronica I guess I should say. I need to know more about the pimps.”

  “There’s not much more to know. Torres, Domino, Whitey, Loco... We only ever knew one name for each of them, and they were mean. They’d hurt me if I tried to testify against them.”

  “Tell me about Torres,” I told her, picking a name out of the group that she listed.

  “Big Latino guy, and extremely mean. He liked to beat the girls and was always threatening to cut their throats if they ran. He’d run his finger across their throats when he was making the threat. He was one of the bad ones, but they were all working for someone else.”

  “Who?”

  “How the fuck should I know? The Boss. I don’t even think they knew his real name. Look, I’ll write this down and e-mail it to you, okay? I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

  I nodded my head and gave her my card. I was going to throw a twenty on the table to cover lunch, but, given her history, I decided against that.

  Outside I walked to my car, climbed in, and drove once around the block. You can usually tell if someone’s following you if you make three left hand turns in a row. Satisfied that I wasn’t being followed, I pulled into an alley and parked the car. I had to hurry to get into position to watch the front of the restaurant and I was just in time to see Selena walking out. After a minute I was glad I’d decided to follow her because I saw someone who fit the description she gave of Torres climb out of a car and start walking down the street after her. Apparently I had been followed after all. Or he’d followed Selena here.

  I gave it a minute while I scanned for accomplices. Torres was going to want to know what Selena had told me, and he was going to want to see the terror in her eyes. I didn’t think he’d kill her right away. I didn’t spot anyone that looked like an accomplice, especially since I tried to make his last accomplice’s face a permanent part of the pavement, so I dashed across the street and followed them.

  He started closing in on her, despite her nervous glances around the street, as she approached one of the few alleyways which led directly onto the main street. I gave him a minute to assure himself the coast was clear before starting to close up myself. As soon as he was within five feet of her, I started to run, pulling my gun out and taking the safety off.

  He’d pulled her into the alley and was just getting his knife out when I came around the corner. His eyes lit up when he saw me and he started to say something, his knife still in hand. I’m of the opinion that if you’re holding a weapon in your hand, you use the damn thing. I lifted my gun, and before he could get a good rip across my throat, I popped one in his shoulder.

  That caused him to drop the weapon and Selena simultaneously.

  “You might want to raise up before I remember that I’m not a cop anymore,” I warned Torres, watching him slowly rise to one knee before realizing that I was serious.

  “You okay?” I asked Selena.

  “You knew? You son of a bitch, you used me as bait?” She kicked me in the shins and turned to run.

  “I didn’t know. I just wanted to make sure you got home safe. And I wanted to see if you’d run straight to Veronica after seeing me,” I explained further, rubbing my shin from the pain.

  I think the self-serving portion of my explanation pacified her more than the noble part.

  “Thank you,” she barely managed.

  “You’re welcome. Is this Torres?”

  She nodded.

  “Well, well, well. Would you like an ambulance, Torres?”

  I’m not really sure how to spell his response, my Spanish skills are pretty lackluster, to say the least. It was rude though.

  “Do you want to file assault charges?” I asked Selena while I kept my gun on Torres.

  After a moment she shook her head.

  “Okay,” I told
her, recapping the story that I planned to tell the police. “I spotted him following a woman I’ve never seen before and figured he was up to no good. I followed him into the alley, heard the woman scream, I drew my weapon and wounded the man and the last I saw of the woman she was disappearing around a corner. No ID.”

  “Thank you, Sir. I really appreciate the cover,” she said with a little more feeling and started walking towards the street.

  “Selena, wait a minute,” I called after her. “Did Terrance brand you?”

  “Did he brand me?” she asked, suddenly filled with rage. “Yeah, he branded me, the day before he sold me to those.... bastards. Want to see?” she demanded with tears swelling furiously in her eyes.

  And then, right there in the alley, she pulled up her skirt and panties down to show me a patch of scar tissue surrounded by pubic hair, just above her labia.

  “He said it was so everyone I serviced would know who trained me. He said that he’d hear if I didn’t live up to his training. I’m glad the miserable son of a bitch died a slow, painful death. It serves him right!” she screamed the last words and then pulled up her clothing and left.

  To say that I was taken aback by the sudden burst of rage from Selena was an understatement. She was so reserved, so under control while we were in the restaurant, but to see her face… to see her rage, unbridled and free of remorse. It unnerved me.

  Torres had stopped groaning, mostly, so I punched his injured shoulder to keep him too preoccupied with pain to think about fucking with me and pulled out my cell phone.

  Do I call Natasha, Niki or 911? I asked myself. I didn’t want either of my girls to get a reputation for being my cop, so I went with 911, which meant I would spend the rest of the afternoon convincing police officers that I was the good guy. It really wasn’t a hard sell, especially when I convinced Torres that it would be in his best interest to corroborate the story, given his priors and the fact that he was a two-time felon who had

  no business being in Atlanta in the first place.

  After a few hours of questioning, my former brothers in blue let me go on about my business.

  ~Seventeen~

  I didn’t want to be alone for dinner.

  I asked both girls to meet me at my house for dinner. I was in the mood for some really good fillet mignon, herb roasted potatoes and a nice vintage wine. That, and something about the meeting with Selena and the ensuing gun play afterwards made me both horny and disturbed at the same time.

  I was horny because it was hot that I saw the brand, although it was done horribly wrong by Ramesses’ standards. But I was tremendously disturbed because of what happened at the end of the altercation with Torres.

  Something about what Selena had said bothered me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Sure, in retrospect it’s easy. But you try thinking straight after a gun fight.

  Niki was the first one to ring the doorbell. When I opened it, she was already on her knees on top of the placemat in front of the doorway.

  Thank God for porches and long driveways.

  “Please, Master, may i crawl to Your feet?”

  God, why that all of a sudden took me out of my thoughts, I don’t know, but I wasn’t about to complain about it, either.

  “i can feel it on You, Master. You liked to hear me say that. i can tell.”

  She could. There was no denying that at all. But I couldn’t help teasing her about it though.

  “And if someone you know heard you say that?”

  She shrugged again. “i’ve thought about it. i’m not all that concerned. Neither is my soon to be sister submissive.”

  I saw where this was going, but I wanted to be a hard ass about it first. “I am. I’m not about to see you ruin your career over Me, baby.”

  “It’s not Your choice to make, Dom. Unless, of course, You become our Master. Then You’d have a say in matters,” Niki still had her eyes lowered as she was saying all this.

  The sly, sexy grin gave it away; she twitted me with her Catch-22 maneuvering. I was a little perturbed that she and Natasha had already made up their minds about being mine without me being in on the conversation. I needed to talk to my mentor ASAP to make sure I wasn’t overreacting. Under normal circumstances, the subs are supposed to request to be with their Dominant. At least, that’s why I was trying to remember. I was so used to me being the aggressor that it can fuck with me at times.

  “You’re a very clever little bitch,” I snarled, looking to take control of the situation again. “Give Me one good reason I shouldn’t throw your ass out of here right now.”

  “Please,” she responded in a voice dripping with disdain. “You’re ridden by Your desires as much as i’m ridden by mine. Admit it, Dom. If i took my clothing off and crawled to You and begged to suck Your dick You wouldn’t be able to resist, especially if Natasha were to show up and watch me sucking You. You’d have to restrain me, bend me to Your will, use my luscious body for Your pleasure, make Natasha join me in sucking You when she got here...”

  I broke into laughter.

  “Luscious?” she asked.

  I nodded, still laughing too hard to talk.

  “Yeah, that was over the top,” she admitted. “But we need to talk, Dominic. You’re attracted to me, i’m attracted to You, we both want Natasha and she wants us both, and Your exaggerated sense of concern for

  me as well as her is both infuriating and touching. Life’s too short to live in fear.”

  “You’re right,” I admitted back, “we all need to talk. I just don’t want to see either of you branded as a freak....”

  “Well, that’s our concern and i’m willing to take the risk, and i know Niki is as well,” Natasha walked in saying. I’d completely forgotten that I left the front door open. “We want to satisfy our desires, to explore them with someone we both trust, and You’ve showed yourself to be upfront and trustworthy and… You’re not listening to a word i’m saying, are You? Master?”

  “Yes, I am actually,” I said. I could multi-task when the occasion called for it. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a pen and piece of paper. I drew what I could remember of Selena’s brand on the pad and showed it to Niki and Natasha.

  “Is this the design Terrance was branded with?” I asked Niki.

  She took a look at it and nodded.

  “How many times?” Natasha asked.

  She thought for a moment. “Seven.”

  “Seven,” I repeated. “Seven brands, seven women sold into prostitution.”

  “Prostitution?” they both asked, confused.

  “Oh, I haven’t told you about that yet. Come on, I think the steaks are just about done anyway. Are you both hungry?”

  We started cutting through the steaks while I filled Natasha in on the case up to the prostitution angle, and then I filled them in on what Selena had told me.

  “So,” Natasha said carefully about a half an hour later, “You now know that Lloyd was selling women into prostitution. And you think that whoever killed him was getting revenge by torturing him.”

  “That’s what I think,” I replied.

  Niki sat back on the couch and tilted her head back to look up at the ceiling.

  “What...?” I started, but she shushed me.

  “Quiet, I’m thinking.”

  I sat back in the chair, chewed some Thai food, and admired the view. Her breasts, and real hips, gave her that very female form which is hardwired into the male psyche. Deep down in my soul her silhouette stirred ancient instincts that recognized ‘woman’ and the sweet pleasures of the flesh. I felt Natasha looking at her, too, which only excited me more.

  “He’s a serial offender,” she pronounced.

  I shook my head to get the sex out of it and tried to focus on what she was saying. “Yeah, seven repeats of the same offense. So?”

  “So, which murder is the most important in breaking a serial murder case?” she quizzed me.

  “We don’t know we’re talking about murder,” I pointed ou
t. “All we know is that Aris was selling these women into prostitution.”

  “Humor me for a minute, baby,” she replied. “Which murder is the most important in breaking a serial murder case?”

  “The first one,” I replied, remembering my training for a change. “That’s the one done with the least amount of expertise, when the most clues will be left behind.”

  “And it’s often the most personal. The murderer builds himself up until he strikes at someone close to him. He has a closer association with the first victim than he will with subsequent victims. So we need to look at the first victim.”

  “Which we think is Jenna.”

  “Jenna,” she confirmed.

  “Which means that I will need to talk to Veronica Emerson,” I surmised.

  “Better you than me,” Niki countered.

  “Count me out, too,” Natasha chimed in.

  “No, it’s better for me to do it. You two are still civil servants. And what’s this sexism about calling the hypothetical serial killer a man? Women kill, too.”

  “Women aren’t serial killers. That’s a man thing. Women kill for money, jealousy, revenge, or in anger and then they’re done with it. They don’t get a sexual charge out of it and go on a spree. Mostly,” Niki opined.

  I set down my box of noodles and closed my eyes.

  Damn it. She didn’t do it, did she?

  “Pepper steak too spicy for you?” Niki needled me.

  “Quiet, I’m freestyling.”

  It took me a couple of minutes but I finally figured out what was gnawing at me about Selena.

  “‘I’m glad he died a slow, painful death,’” I repeated.

  “Well, he seems to have been a total bastard,” Natasha allowed. “I would have said the same thing

  if he did those things to me.”

  “No, that’s what Selena Russell said to me. She was angry and she wasn’t being guarded. Thing is, I told her Lloyd was dead, but not how he died,” I said. “Come to think of it, she didn’t seem especially surprised when I told her Aris was dead. I’m just guessing, but it could easily be that she already knew.”

  “Speculation,” Niki pronounced. “I can’t even take that to my Lieu. He’d laugh at me and tell me to go get some real evidence.”