Mangled

by Zachary Prescott

  “What happened?” he asked, hoping Alex would spill and not make him yell.

  Alex sighed again and continued. “I saw a man walk out the back door, which is where I go through because the Captain never wants me getting seen due to the nature of my job”.

  Sean nodded and helped himself gain some support by leaning against the kitchen table.

  “This dude walks out the back door looking all suspicious and gets into a black Sedan parked just at the back of the house but that wasn’t the odd part for me”, he paused. “The odd part was seeing a lady resembling Susan locking the backdoor and disappearing into the house”.

  Odd and baffling were his tales but it seemed believing enough asides the troubling aspect of him claiming he had seen Susan.

  “Now this is beginning to sound preposterous”, Sean noted.

  Turning around to have another look at the damning pictures, he wanted nothing more than to believe there was a better explanation as to why his wife was dressed as a hooker months before she was found dead. He would take any explanation but he wondered just how much he knew about the lady, considering she had been shacking up with Luke, his old time friend.

  “I know how it sounds and I’m sure it’s ridiculous but even the Captain wouldn’t trust anyone in his unit to look into Susan except me”, Alex pointed out. “He loved her you know and was even talking about marrying her or something like that before things got sour when he found these pictures”.

  Sean had heard enough to torment him for the rest of his life. His knees suddenly felt like they would buckle and his eyes ached badly, with the images seemingly burned into his retinas.

  “Susan would never… “, he paused and gulped down hard. “I don’t see any understanding in everything you showed me here”.

  Cringing and cursing underneath his breath, he pulled out one of the pictures lying beneath the stack and held it closer to his face. “Where was this taken?”

  Alex retrieved it and gave it a good look before responding, “Somewhere around the Aideland Gate where the old metal industry used to be”.

  Sean took a moment to maul through the information, muttering the word “Aideland” aloud before hurrying back to his bed and raising it up to reveal a stash of newspapers he had tucked away there.

  “I know I’ve heard that name before somewhere”, he whispered, before scrolling through the pages.

  Alex watched the man keenly, hoping for some explanation or at least an insight into whatever he was doing soon enough.

  “Is this everything you have on Susan and Luke?” Sean asked.

  Alex nodded gently. “I told you everything I know already”.

  Sean held the newspaper out on the table and spread it in place before placing the picture of his interest on it.

  Turning to Alex, he muttered softly but in threatening tone, “You need to leave now”.

  Stunned and baffled by Sean’s sudden stiffness towards him, Alex tried to play it off by reaching for the pictures but soon had his hands knocked off aggressively.

  “You really need to leave!” Sean yelled with his hand pointed towards the door.

  Having no choice but to succumb to the man’s demands, he headed for the door, rather confused and in some form of regrets for coming forth to the man for assistance.

  “You’re just a selfish fuck like the rest of the police”, he swore at Sean before disappearing through the door.

  Slamming the door shut behind Alex and returning to the kitchen where he had his mind wandering and wondering about what he might just have discovered, there remained too many questions to which he needed answers. Luke was dead, his ex-wife for whom he had come to find out who murdered her was apparently having an affair with Luke and also seemed to be a prostitute too.

  Having himself faced with so many questions and just one possible means to have an answer, he reached for his cellphone, and placed a call through to the one person he was sure should have answers.

  “Son of a bitch”, he mumbled while waiting for the phone to get picked on the other end.

  “Hello… who is this?” the grumbling tone of a man obviously unhappy with being woken up from his sleep spoke.

  Sucking in good amount of breath into his lungs, Sean replied, “Hammon, you son of a bitch! What was Susan really into down here in New York?”

  He would take nothing but the right answer.

  Chapter Nine

  C

  rawling up in between her thighs and aligning himself perfectly just before her glory hole, Jake took another look into her eyes with her head tilted backwards and her fingers clenched into the sheets as she moaned aloud for the umpteenth time.

  “Fuck me!” she shrieked, in demand, reaching for his waist and leading him closer and into her.

  Sheathing himself inside of her, while her hand guided his hips in slow but perfect oscillatory movement, their subtle moans and groans soon filled the air as their bodies joined in the hips in mesh of sweat and shared sensual feeling.

  “Faster! Faster!’ she demanded.

  Holding her left leg to his shoulder and leaving her exposed enough to his wanting cock, he drove in hard and deep, leaving the lady groping and gasping for air as she leaned closer to plant warm kisses on his nipple. Jake pounded her hard and in good mix of fast and slow motion until she reached her peak and her body began shuddering aggressively.

  Gasping for air while she dragged Jake closer to her body as they lay side by side, she whispered, ‘Last night into this morning was crazy or what would you think?”

  Jake wasn’t sure he recalled anything in specificity about the night before after they had left the restaurant but he wouldn’t deny the awesome feeling that came with sharing Sarah’s bed through the night.

  “I bet your place will be more comfortable”, she smiled and gently laid her head atop his chest.

  Picturing his house and how messy things would be back there, he shrugged and planted a kiss atop her lips. “My place might be overly exaggerated, trust me”.

  Sarah laughed off his humility and ran her finger along his chest before planting a kiss on his chest and rolling out of bed immediately.

  “Give me a minute… I’ve got to clean up some bit”, she said, excusing herself.

  Nodding his head while she walked away, before falling back into the pillow and taking in some refreshing breath as he regaled his mind of the events of the night into the morning, Jake sat back up and took a good look at the room he had woken up in. Noting the clean house, moderately furniture but obviously expensive piqued his interest as he slowly slithered out from beneath the sheets and headed towards the window.

  The morning sun had just begun to rear its beautiful head, while the sight outside the house was beautiful to stare out until something rather striking soon caught his eye. Parked outside the house was a van he was sure he had seen just the night before while heading to the restaurant where they were meant to meet.

  Bearing striking features of a badly chipped bumper, cracked windscreen and worn out grey color, Jake pondered on how much of a coincidence it could be that the same van that almost rammed hard into his car from behind was now parked across the street from Sarah’s house.

  “You’re overthinking things Jake”, he warned himself. “It might just be a coincidence and not even the van”.

  As well as he hoped to believe his own words, it just wasn’t good enough to keep him from getting bothered. From the “smiley” left behind for him to see in his house, to his personal memorabilia being carted off by someone he could term to be a stalker and one who knew his secrets about being a serial killer, there seemed to be just too much at stake.

  Slowly pulling the blinds into place and returning to the bed, the hammering sound from a rather angry speaking Sarah caught his attention.

  “I have it figured out!” she yelled for the umpteenth time. “I need you to trust me darn it!”

  Jake got within a short distance o
f Sarah who had her back to him and paced around the living room in a rather troubled manner. She swore and cursed at whoever was on the other end of the line before turning around in thought that she had heard something move behind her. Jake stepped out of the light and into the darkness just by the room door.

  Slowly retreating into the room and almost stumbling over a bin by the makeup table, he hurried back to bed, snuck himself underneath the sheets and watched a baffled looking Sarah walk back in.

  Donning a rather calm expression, Jake inquired in a concerned tone, “Is everything alright?”

  Sarah smiled and replied, “It’s my mom… same old same old family drama”.

  Jake nodded and waved at her to come over to bed. Momentarily pausing and staring at her cellphone before waddling her way over, and gently laying the phone to rest on the bedside stool.

  “Are you sure you’re alright?” Jake asked again in concern.

  Panting a kiss atop his cheek and running her hand over his chest as she made countless beelines with her finger, she nodded. “I’ve never been better”.

  Sharing a lengthy kiss with her, while she snuggled up tightly with him and continued to melt away her lips against his chest, Jake couldn’t ignore the feelings of butterflies swarming around in his stomach. More so, there was the odd van parked outside the house which he had noticed earlier.

  “I have to use the loo”, he pleaded, gently easing himself from within her grasp and heading for the bathroom immediately.

  Up until he slammed the door shot behind him, he could swear he felt her eyes trailing him bizarrely towards the bathroom. Breathing a loud sigh in relief and noticing the large sized bathroom with a flat screen attached to the wall opposite of the tub, he couldn’t help but feel further impressed by how well she seemed to be doing financially.

  “I can barely get my mortgage paid”, he mumbled before standing before the bathroom mirror.

  Taking a deep stare into the reflection in the mirror, he broke his gaze off and headed for the window once again. Still sighting the van sitting out there and further sending him the bothersome shivers, he retreated from the window and knocked off the bin, spilling its content immediately. Momentarily ignorant of what he had done, he turned away and heard something crack underneath his foot.

  Pausing and slowly going on a knee to view the items he had spilled, something red and stick-like caught his eye immediately.

  “This is curious”, he pondered, before picking it up.

  Examining the discarded but still barely used lipstick without its cover crushed partly beneath his foot, Jake had no idea what to assume or what to wrap his mind on. Something about the entire situation seemed fishy for him or at least it had begun getting pretty uncomfortable.

  “What have I gotten myself into?” he queried himself.

  Trying to keep his breath steady while sweat had begun forming across his forehead, Jake weighed all the possible scenarios across his mind and slowly examined the lipstick once again.

  “Jake! Are you okay in there?” Sarah’s voice called out.

  In fright she might walk in at any point in time, he immediately slid the lipstick into a roll of toilet roll and hid it underneath his shirt immediately. He had to make it out of there as soon as possible.

  “Can you get me a cup of coffee please?” Jake asked before slipping into bed and keeping away the lipstick in his hand.

  “Black or with cream?” she asked.

  Taking a second to decide, he replied, “Black and strong”.

  Sarah slid out of bed and headed out the room immediately. Seconds past her exit, the cellphone on the night stand began vibrating. Reaching for the cellphone and noting the number sprawled across the screen, Jake returned the cellphone immediately and leaned back into bed as Sarah appeared with a hot cup of black coffee.

  “No sugar as you asked”, she smiled.

  Jake pointed in the direction of the cellphone. “I think you have a call”.

  Hurrying over to the cellphone and yanking at it protectively, she walked away with the phone placed to her ear and her fingers toying with the window drapes as she stared outside of it momentarily.

  “For the umpteenth time, I’m fine and I will call you back!” she snarled.

  Jake took a sip off his cup and looked uninterested by whatever was getting her rather disturbed.

  “I might need to leave soon… I have a lot to do at home before resuming work this morning”, Jake attempted to excuse himself. “More so, there is a lot to get considering… “.

  Sarah nodded and helped complete his statement. “The Captain’s death”.

  Jake nodded and slowly began getting himself dressed. Sarah remained silent, watching him intensely and barely breaking her gaze the entire time through.

  “Jake”, she called out.

  Jake looked up slowly at the lady standing by the window.

  Approaching with her robe partly opened and doing well to reveal her breasts, Sarah found herself a sitting spot by his side and her arm rounding his shoulder. “Have you gotten any news from the forensics about the Captain’s death?”

  Jake weighed is response before giving it. “I should get something in a few days but there wasn’t really anything suspicious in the house… the killer was pretty careful this time around”.

  She seemed to let out a soft sigh but he wasn’t sure as he finished with his pants and tied his shoes.

  ***

  It’s been three days since Alex came crawling up his fire escape and feeling his backside threatened to stiffen as he sat in wait for the one man who apparently could grant him answers to the questions that plagued him, Sean stared at his watch for the umpteenth time.

  “You better not be playing me Mark!” he fumed underneath his breath.

  Sean recognized the room he had been ushered into by Mark’s secretary; the black room. The room where everything they said was under abject secrecy and nobody outside the walls could ever hear or at least where no recordings or technology of sorts could work. He had brought up the idea of having such rooms built with jammers and anti-communication rooms within the CIA.

  Watching the door open slowly and the black suited man walk in with the most uncomfortable grin across his face told Sean how much of a shocker he was about to get.

  “I’m really sorry Sean”, were the first words Mark let out from his mouth.

  He wasn’t one for apologies but hearing one from him meant he had messed up big and Sean braced himself to find out just by how much.

  Pulling out a seat for himself, Mark rested his hands on the table and sighed. “Two years ago, during your marital issues, Susan came up to me seeking a way out… in fact, with a presumable way out for her”.

  Silent and willing to take it all in without missing a single word, Sean couldn’t believe how calm he was as the man rambled on about his discrepancies in action.

  “In fact, she found a way out already when she came in here to tell me”, he continued. “She found a cold case and one with the potential of having a serial killer’s hands all over it”.

  “A cold case? What cold case?” he asked.

  Mark rested into his chair and rubbed his temple. “One about a serial killer going after prostitutes which the police didn’t really link until she found out her cousin had been abducted working in the red district zone”.

  The words smacked him right hard in the face and sent him jetting up from his seat in disbelief. “You sent Susan undercover into a possible serial killer case when you know how she can get with commitments she gets herself into?”

  Recalling just how much of a workaholic Susan would be when chasing a lead on any case, he would have turned her away from the particular case or even gagged her with an order had he been Mark and she came running to him.

  “I felt Luke would watch out for her… he was meant to keep her in line if she was getting herself too worked up or getting too deep in the case and obsessive about
it”, Mark replied. “All I know is, he kept telling me everything was fine and that she was perfect”.

  Snorting derisively and shaking his head, Sean rammed his fist into the chair. “Of course… he was sleeping with her, why wouldn’t everything be fucking peachy?”

  Seemingly flabbergasted by the news, Mark continued to stare at Sean.

  Noting the look of ignorance on the man’s face, Sean couldn’t help himself laughing in mock. “He pulled one over your eyes didn’t he?”

  It wasn’t a good feeling and it definitely didn’t breed a lot of trust between two friends working in such organization built around trust and respect. Mark rubbed his temple and began to sweat uncomfortably. He rubbed his eyes next and lowered his head while trying to avoid eye contact with Sean.

  “I never knew”, Mark confessed. “That sly bastard!”

  Sean smiled and quickly wiped the expression off of his face immediately.

  “I… I will help you… “, Mark got up from his seat looking dejected.

  Sean rested into his seat and sighed aloud.

  “I will help you with whatever you need to solve this case”, Mark tried to assure him.

  Sean felt there was more to everything than they were looking at. All he needed was the right angel and he felt things were bound to fall into line for sure. The problem associated with such cases was getting a break and he couldn’t help but wonder what sort of break his wife had caught that made her get killed. The same issue might have gotten Luke killed as well and it sickened his stomach deeply as he sat to recount his thoughts.

  Mark sighed, looked away and began scratching his head. His mood soon became restless and he could barely cast a definite gaze upon Sean.

  “Well, this is what happens when you guys decide to carry out things behind my back”, Sean got to his feet and walked towards the door.

  Mark raised his hand and upped himself from the seat, “I swear it to you that we never knew what was going on… she asked for the assignment and we obliged and she seemed happy the entire time through and even sent some bunch of cool and unrelated pictures”.