Maxine figured anyone referred to the group, knew about this “life” or what was going on already and could easily answer these, but she had no idea what to even say. She would have to be as evasive as possible without letting on that she didn’t know a thing.
If she wanted to find out what had all of a sudden changed Lisa, she would have to do this:
Your age and month you were born:
30 / July
Brief description of yourself?
36chest, small waist, hippy, thick legs, size 9 feet with dark caramel skin
What were your reasons for joining our group?
Want a new experience. Something different in my life. Something new.
What do you hope to expect from our group?
To be accepted as I am
Last time you received a physical? Results?
Two weeks ago. Healthy as a horse.
Would you consider yourself socially active or a homebody?
Homebody
What are your experiences with men? (Great, Good, Bad, Terrible)
Good
What are your preferences with men, when it comes to color?
No preference
Would you be willing to fly out of town on a moments notice or with some prior notice for the group?
Sometimes, depending on the day of the week and the frequency needed.
Name up to five things that you do as rewards for yourself.
Eat white chocolate covered strawberries, get a pedicure or my hair done
Name up to five things you hate to do
Wash dishes, scrub anything
What do you treasure most of all?
Nothing
The highest level of college you completed.
BA in commercial design
Are your parents alive or dead?
Dead
How many siblings do you have?
None
The closest person in your life?
No one
Are you married or involved with someone?
Neither
When did you lose your virginity?
Twenty
Would you rate yourself a beginner, intermediate, or advance lover?
Intermediate
Who referred you to this group?
Lisa
It was almost depressing to answer the questions, especially when it asked about family or closest person. They would think she was a pathetic lonely fool. Although she had lied about when she had lost her virginity, too embarrassed about when she had really done it. Despite the real age when she had lost her virginity, when it came to love making she still felt she was a beginner. Maxine had never been a real lover to anyone except Gerald, but he usually told her what he wanted. Imagination in the bedroom wasn’t Maxine’s forte. Even in her younger days, she had sex partners not really lovers.
Maxine was very aware of the difference from the stories Lisa would tell about being with men. Maxine couldn’t even imagine doing those kinds of things to a man or even with a man. Lying on her back and spreading her legs was her only experience, not all the other stuff women had to do in the bedroom.
Taking a deep breath, she typed in all her contact information, hit send and checked the time. She still had an hour to go before the due time.
Her supervisor poked his head in. “Good morning, Maxine.”
She smiled meekly. “Good morning.”
“Lisa called this morning on my machine and let me know some emergency family business was taking her out of town for a few weeks. I approved it. Was there anything pressing that she had?”
Telling her suspicions to her supervisor about Lisa’s strange behavior yesterday seemed pointless. He was all about work and could care less about personal problems. “Umm, no sir. I was actually just finishing up our last assignment to clear our plates for Mr. Biachi’s new accounts. He said he would email me next week.”
“Will you be alright with the accounts on your own?”
“Yes, sir. Please don’t worry about. I.T. installed software so I can access the files at home too from this computer.”
“Well, I’ll understand if you over sleep a couple of days every now and then, just check in with me at least once a day through email or something so I know you’re alright. Thanks for taking up the slack.”
Maxine really didn’t mind. Lots of time, Lisa was out partying all night and could barely see straight at work, but Maxine always came through for both of them when it came to work.
Through the morning, Maxine looked occasionally at Lisa’s desk worriedly. Lisa never had any pressing business with family. She couldn’t stand her family because they had turned their backs on her a long time ago when she was with her ex-husband.
Lisa was covering something up!
Getting on the city’s website, Maxine pulled up the finance assessment page where she knew she could get information about the owner of any building in the city. Typing in the address, she wrote down the owner’s name in her notes from yesterday. Devon Walkins.
On her lunch, she went to the police station nearby and was directed to speak with an investigator.
They sent her to the back and a tall dark skinned black man, who was very handsome, greeted her. Dark eyes, thick lips, and a face that was too cute for words with a sensual smile.
“Lieutenant Sheriff Heart, ma’am, can I help you?” he said.
It was an odd name, but hell he was a good-looking man. His name could be shit and he’d still look good at it.
“Maxine Moore. I need to speak to someone about my co-worker, Lisa Tate. I think she’s involved in some kind of cult in the city and that someone should investigate it.”
She started in on all she had learned and even showed him the questionnaire. She explained everything that had happened yesterday as well.
When she was done, she waited for his reaction or response. He picked up the paper full of questions. Of course Maxine had omitted that she had answered them this morning. She was worried that he might want to know her answers.
“And you think that this is just some sick weird cult in the city of Detroit?” he asked.
“Yes, Lieutenant Heart. I think Lisa is in real trouble.”
He looked over the paper at her, those dark eyes seeming to go even darker. “Are you lovers?”
“No!” she asked offended. “Lisa is just a close friend of mine. A co-worker.”
He raised a black brow. “And you’re no relationship to each other? Just close friends?”
“Yes,” she said exasperated.
Handing the paper back to her, he said, “There’s nothing I can do for you, Ms. Moore. There’s no crime. She’s a grown woman and the fact that you saw her last night means I can’t list her as a missing person, plus she called her boss this morning and left you a note. I’d say she’s gotten caught in up some silly sex stuff or drugs, and she wants to immerse herself into the life for a while.”
Maxine couldn’t believe this. Incredulously, she asked, “So you’re not going to do anything?”
Sheriff sighed heavily. “To be honest, this isn’t my gig. We’re short men because of recent layoffs and I’m working the precincts desk and vice tonight together. Any other person would have told you to get out and wouldn’t have listened to you blather on about your friend, but I did and I’m telling you that there’s nothing the Detroit Police Department can do.”
“You’re not even going to make a report? Call someone to check out that building? They tried to kill me?”
“You were entering on property that you weren’t invited on. You better be glad they didn’t press charges or shoot you for trespassing. In my opinion, they’d be in their rights.”
Angrily, she shot out of her chair. “So will you call me a fool when Lisa’s body shows up on the street dead? If she isn’t already there?” Maxine started to stomp out, but he called her name in a very commanding voice.
Sheriff approached her and handed her some forms. “By law, I should at leas
t make an information report. You write it up and I’ll do just that and if anything comes up - hopefully not - at least we’ll have something to go on, okay?”
Maxine smiled cryptically. “Thank you Lieutenant.”
“And I’ll advise you not to involve yourself in this anymore. Let us do our job. No more snooping.”
“Yes, sir.”
CHAPTER 5
Getting back to the office, Maxine felt a lot better and was able to get a lot of work done clearing up all the accounts and then sending Mr. Bianchi a short email to let him know she was ready for new assignments once the supervisor signed off all the old accounts.
She went over to Lisa’s computer and signed on. There was nothing in the company’s email system to give Maxine any indication that Lisa was a part of some weird cult thing.
Checking the history on the Internet, the only thing that Maxine saw strange was a file picture download called Darke. Clicking on it, the picture of the strange man again.
Unable to stop herself, she touched the screen and wondered did he really look that handsome in real life. Was this man even real or was it just one of those photos people sent to deceive others about themselves. He could be some Auckland Male Model and Lisa could be part of some deceitful online catfishing scheme.
“Maxine,” her supervisor startled her out of her daydream.
“Yes, sir?” she stood up to block the screen from him.
“I submitted Lisa’s work you turned in for her to the client and they were very pleased. Thanks for getting her work to them on time. They were very surprised she met the deadline and the rendition because they said they were very unimpressed with the samples she sent in.”
Maxine bit back the fact that she had done all of Lisa’s work. The designs Lisa had come up with had been rejected by the client according to their email and Maxine couldn’t find any other renditions to turn in, so she produced her own. It had been a long arduous task, but Maxine really didn’t want Lisa to get fired and she couldn’t tell her boss that she had done Lisa’s work.
“No problem, sir,” she said.
“The client was so impressed with the contribution, he’s going to nominate our Marketing campaign for a national impressive award. Mr. Bianchi, was very satisfied with this news,” the supervisor stated. “All because of Lisa’s great work, our department is going to finally receive the recognition we deserve.”
It was right on the tip of her tongue to say the work had been hers and not Lisa’s, but she bit down hard and only nodded in confirmation.
“I finished signing off on all the rest of Lisa and your work that you submitted, but when I spoke to Mr. Bianchi and he said he probably won’t be sending the files over until Tuesday. He’ll be in Chicago until then. Would you like to have a long weekend?”
“Sure,” she said feeling very stiff.
He winked at her before he left out.
Sitting back in her chair in relief, she sat back down and downloaded the file from Lisa’s computer.
Getting to her desk, Maxine put the flashdrive in her purse and checked her email before she left for the day. Just as a fluke, she checked her bogus email and was surprised to see an electronic invitation.
Clicking on the email, she was directed to a site that had her name on it.
Maxine Moore, You are cordially invited to attend a private orientation into the Dark Masquerade tonight. You’ll receive a package today. DO NOT OPEN IT! You’ll wear ONLY a dark colored plain dress that must go past your knees and four inch black open toe shoes. With your package, you’ll drive your car to the below address and be there no later than six p.m. Wait until a large black van with dark tinted windows pull up. You will be blind folded after you give your personal items to the driver and do as you are instructed. Get in and DO NOT SPEAK to anyone. Once you get out of the van, someone will guide you into a building and your blindfold will be taken off. Do not move and do not speak. Keep your eyes faced forward no matter what and hold your package in your arms at all time until further instructed. Be expected to be gone all weekend, but do not bring anything with you other than your ID, keys, and the box. Do not print this Evite off. You must memorize these instructions and once you respond that you will be attending there is no other way to get this information. Disobey any one of these instructions and you will be uninvited.
It was all very strange, but curiosity was killing her. Plus a chance to see if Lisa was really apart of all this interested her very much.
Yet, Lieutenant Heart had instructed her not to involve herself with this. Maybe she should take this too him?
No! He’ll just think she was still crazy and it would mean absolutely nothing. With all the red tape in the city government, Lieutenant Heart probably couldn’t act on any of this. Not in time to get in like she could.
Still she did try to print the screen, but there was a security lock that she couldn’t get around. She also tried to copy the screen, but even that was prevented by some very high tech software.
Getting her digital camera, she took a picture and then she read the instructions three more times committing it to memory before replying to the Evite to let them know she was coming.
When Maxine got home, there was a black box in front of her apartment door. To get into her apartment building should have been very difficult and usually packages were left at the front desk or the office.
So how did someone get all the way inside of her building to be able to leave a package?
She looked around warily, but there was no one else on the floor except her. Picking it up, she remembered the instructions told her not to open it, but it never said anything about shaking it.
Nothing moved, but whatever was in there was very light.
Quickly, she took out her ID and keys from her purse and then put her purse high in the back of her hall closet. Taking a long shower, she pulled her hair back in a simple ponytail and put on makeup and some earrings. She found a simple dark gray dress, but she had to dig around for a pair of shoes with a high-heeled shoes.
Just as she was about to put on a bra and panties, she stopped herself. The Evite had said only a black dress. That is what she did and left out her home by five thirty to arrive at the address in the Evite, which turned out to be a gas station with a large parking lot beside it. She parked her car and waited. There were seven other cars there, plus some women waited on the sidewalk dressed just like Maxine and carrying a black box. None of them spoke to each other and tried their best not to stare at each other.
A black van pulled up at six o’clock exactly and a tall skinny white man got out dressed in Khaki’s and a plaid shirt. The van seated fifteen people and as each woman lined up to get in, they handed him their personal items, which he put in a box after verifying their identification. Afterwards, he took their black box and pulled out a gold key and a blindfold to hand back to the girl before re-securing their package.
When it was Maxine’s turn, she made sure she memorized his face and prayed this wasn’t the last face she saw.
He took her box and opened it so only he could see what was inside. Unlike the other ones he paused and his eyes grew wide at what was in her box. He doubled looked at her with his eyes narrowed suspiciously, but then reached in the box and took out her gold key and blindfold.
Her gold key was like an ordinary key, but it had a number. Seventy-five.
He handed her the package back with that suspicious look still in his eyes.
The girl behind her was not allowed in because the guy knew the box had been tampered with instantly when she handed it to him. By the end, another girl was not allowed because she did not have on open toe shoes.
When he got in the passenger side, he turned around in his seat after starting up the van.
“Put your keys and boxes in your lap and put your blindfolds on,” he ordered.
Everyone obeyed. The blindfolds had Velcro backing so they easily attached without hassle. They began to drive and Maxine nervously listened f
or anything, but the van’s air was on and soft music played. The drive was very smooth considering Detroit was famous for having the roughest potholes in the nation.
Partially through the ride, she heard one girl whisper, “Does anyone know where we’re going?”
No one answered her.
When the van stopped, they were guided out carefully one by one.
Maxine stood in front of another girl and waited for further instructions. Suddenly the girl in front of her was yanked out the line.
“You disobeyed,” the driver sneered.
“No, I didn’t!” the girl pleaded.
“You spoke in the van. I heard you!” the driver sneered.
“No!” she cried. “It was someone else. It was someone else.” Her voice had started to sound far away. “No! No! It wasn’t me! It was someone else.”
The same voice that had whispered in the van, now whispered near Maxine’s ear. “Stupid.”
Biting her lip, Maxine couldn’t believe that this girl would let someone else take the blame for her disobedience.
“Put your right hand on the woman’s shoulder in front of you and walk with them until you are told to stop,” the driver instructed.
Since the driver was still there, Maxine determined there were others around who was now helping the driver. Her senses were heightened even more and she wanted to rip the blindfold off and look around.
Maxine did as she was told and then felt a heavy handed woman behind her touch her shoulder.
They walked into somewhere. She could smell food and remembered that she had not eaten, even at lunch time today.
They stopped in a very quiet room, but she could tell that the room was big by the echo of their footsteps.
Dark Facade (Book One) (Dark Facade Series) Page 3
