by M. Stratton
In a quiet voice, Bender said, “Tell me again, what happened.”
“Honest, Dad, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. We were having a great time. She had to use the restroom, I know how women are, I gave her ten minutes before I started looking for some woman to take pity on me and try to get her a message. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. When the woman came out saying there was no one in there, I busted in. I checked the app on my phone. She was supposed to be in there. I found her bracelet on the back of the toilet. I tried the only other door but it wouldn’t budge, I called you as I raced out and tried to find mall security. They did what they could, but by that time, it had been almost twenty minutes. She was gone. I failed you both.”
“No, Son, no you didn’t. I did.” Bender gathered Donnie in his arms.
“How are we going to get her back?”
“You do what you’re best at, I’ll do what I’m good at.”
Donnie nodded and pulled away. “I’ll start with the surveillance video here. Then head back to The Night Club and go over the traffic cams, see what I can find.”
“I’m going to talk to people in the neighborhood. We’ll get the word out. If anyone has seen Stormy, we’ll know about it.”
“And Nutter?”
“I don’t understand it. He was at home, another airtight alibi.”
“Is there someone else from your past that could be targeting you through her?”
Bender ran his fingers through his hair. “Shit, there were so many that I put behind bars. We never even thought it could be anyone else but Nutter. And now there’s no time to go through and find out where everyone else is.”
“You can’t think like that. There is always time. Get the guys working that angle and we’ll do our part. Before you know it, we’ll have a lead.”
“God, I hope you right.”
“I have to be.” Donnie turned and walked back to the mall offices with a heavy heart. They had to get a lead and get one soon. Otherwise, his mother would be tortured and killed and it would be on his conscious.
Eighteen
Nutter could barely contain his excitement. Stormy was there, in his secret kill room, and Bender was nowhere near them. He knew he had to control himself before he walked through the door. He didn’t want to make a mistake now. They’d planned everything out. Taking a deep breath, he put his hand on the secret door and pushed.
There she was, his princess. His heart raced and his breath caught in his chest. She was just as beautiful as she was ten years ago. This time, she wasn’t tied to the bed naked; she still had her clothes on and she was tied to a chair. Her head was tipped back, resting on the wall and her eyes were closed. He liked to think she was dreaming of him.
“How long has she been out?” He asked his Kitten.
“A couple of hours now.”
His head whipped around to find her. “Are you sure it’s safe for her to out for so long?”
“Lover, do you forget what I do? I didn’t want her to wake up while I was getting her out of the mall, or transporting her through my house and the tunnel, not to mention while Doc Stupid was up there giving you your weekly therapy session.”
“You give the man too much credit. Lucky for him he isn’t worth my time or energy to kill.”
“She’s very pretty.”
“She is; I still remember the first time I saw her.” Nutter reached out with a trembling hand and touched Stormy’s cheek. “She was so different than anything I had ever coveted before. So pure. Part of me wanted to protect her, while the other part wanted her to beg to come to the dark side before I killed her.”
“Which is it now?”
“Now it feels like a fond memory. One of those you take out, every once in a while, dust off, and appreciate before tucking back away for later.” He picked up a lock of her hair and looked at it. “Your hair has more tones to it. Like your personality. You’re so much more than she is.”
“Then why do you continue down this path? Why can’t we leave now, before Bender breaks down the door and sends us both away?”
“Because I have to finish what I started.”
Nutter watched as Stormy’s eyelids began to flutter and her eyes tried to focus and figure out where she was. She saw him, his cock twitched in response to her beautiful eyes locking on his. He bit his lip, trying to stop the smile from spreading across his face. She was really here, right in front of him.
“Ahhhh…there’s my princess. Long time no see.”
Nineteen
“What?” Bender barked into the phone.
“Dad, it’s me. We have a line on a van that wasn’t one of the typical vendors seen at the mall. Someone came out with a cart, about eight minutes after Mom went into the restroom. There was no other unusual activity around the mall after that. If they had been hiding in the mall, until after the all-clear had been sounded, there is no way they wouldn’t have been found by now. Between the police and your equipment, no one could hide there. She had to be taken away in that van.”
“Did you get a look at the person?”
“No. They had a hat on and kept their face hidden. Hell, we can’t even tell if it’s a male or a female from the clothing the person wore. The cameras in the hallway outside the restroom were conveniently not working, while all this was going on.”
“Damnit.”
“I’m heading back to the club to start tracking the van using traffic cams.”
“Keep me updated.”
“Anything on your end?”
“No.”
That one word hung between them. They both knew, with every minute that passed, finding the woman they both loved alive was becoming less of a chance.
Twenty
“No,” Stormy whispered. This couldn’t be happening. After all the years and precautions, she ended up back in harm’s way, with Nutter holding the knife to her throat. Sweat dripped down the small of her back and she couldn’t stop the tremors from shaking her body, almost causing her muscles to cramp, they were so violent. Forcing herself to stop looking at Nutter, her eyes darted around the room. Bender had always taught her to look for a way out, and anything could be used as a weapon. Even tied up, there had to be a way out. She had to keep trying to find a way out and lose the panic that was building like a volcano inside of her, ready to erupt.
“What? You don’t like our hospitality?” Morgan said from where she sat on a stool.
“Why?” Stormy asked Morgan, trying to figure out how the woman who she had trusted could be in so deep with Nutter.
“Why? Because I wanted to say good-bye, my princess.” Nutter grabbed her face and made her look at him and not Morgan. “It’s been so long; did you miss me?” He licked the side of her face. Shuddering, he closed his eyes and Stormy’s stomach dry heaved.
“You cannot say I make you sick, Princess.” He backed away from her. “I thought we had a connection. One that would stand the test of time. But I see now, we don’t.”
“We were never meant to be together,” Stormy spat at him. She moved her legs and wrists, trying to loosen her bindings but only ended up irritating her skin.
“Oh, this I know. See that beautiful woman sitting over there? She is my one true love. She gets me, she allows me to be who I am. With no judgements. But first, I have some unfinished business to end.” He walked over to the workbench and picked up a knife. Slowly he turned back to her. “You see, Bender took something I held dear, and now it is time to return the favor. I’m going to kill you now.”
“No, please,” Stormy begged. Images of Bender, Donnie, and Henry flipped through her mind. She didn’t want to leave her boys.
“Oh, you can keep begging, it turns me on. Now, where to start?”
Twenty-One
“Anything?” Bender asked Donnie as soon as he walked through the door in the tech room of the club.
“I think so. This person is pretty freaking smart. Look, I was able to track the van to here. Then, five minutes later,
this van comes out, but the other one never does. It looks the same, but no decals. I had Williams continue watching the video from the building, but nothing ever came out. So I followed this one, aimlessly driving around before heading to this carwash. It goes in one color, and again, comes out looking different. Now it’s white. I’ve got Williams back on watching more video of the carwash to make sure I didn’t miss something.”
“You can’t get the surveillance from inside the carwash?”
“Nope, owned by a private company, besides, it’s typically too hot and humid in there to get any good video anyway.”
“Where did this van go?”
“I just discovered this before you came in. I’m tracking it again. I have no idea how long this is going to take. It all depends on how long they drive around. And we can only hope they continue to stay on camera and don’t go residential.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, it’s going to be a bitch tracking that.”
“Keep looking.”
“I’m not giving up.”
“That’s my boy.” Bender always had an elite team on his side, but now with Donnie there, his heart swelled with pride, at the same time as it was breaking, knowing why he was helping him. They had to find Stormy, they had to save her. He didn’t want to think about what it would do to his sons if they lost their mother to Nutter.
Twenty-Two
“Lover…” Morgan’s voice held a warning behind it.
Nutter turned toward her. “What?”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“No, Kitten, I’m righting a wrong.” He turned back to Stormy; his hand reached out and wrapped her hair around his fist, pulling her head back. Moving closer, he straddled her lap. “Ahhhh, Princess, it’s been far too long.”
Slowly he lowered himself to where he was sitting on her lap, rolling his hips, his hardened cock rubbing up against her belly. His lips captured the tight tendons of her neck. Using his tongue, he flicked her sensitive flesh while shivers ran down his own.
“We could have had everything,” he whispered in her ear. “You could have ruled the world by my side.”
“Never,” Stormy’s terrified voice quivered.
Nutter yanked back on her hair. “Then you could have died and been my masterpiece. But neither happened. Your Bender took my Mick away. Now I’m taking you from him.”
“He’ll come for you. He’ll kill you.” Stormy’s voice was firm with conviction. “There is no way he’ll allow you to live.”
“He’d have to find me first,” Nutter taunted.
“For all you know, he’s already on his way here,” Stormy tormented back.
“Then we’ll just have to make this quick, won’t we, Princess?” He roughly ripped her shirt open, buttons flying across the room. “Yes.” His eyes gleamed with lust. “God, you still make me hard.” He reached a hand behind him. “Kitten, my knife.”
“With pleasure,” Morgan answered.
While Nutter was expecting a knife to be placed in his hand; what he got was pain exploding from the back of his head.
Twenty-Three
“Dad?” Donnie’s voice sounded in the quiet room. “I think we have something.”
Bender was at his son’s side in a few seconds. “Tell me.”
“The van did end up going residential. We’ve checked the other ways out of the area and the van never reappears. I think we’ve narrowed it down.”
“Get me the area, I’ll go do my own search.”
“Dad, wait.”
“What? I don’t have time; I have to find your mother before Nutter kills her.”
“That’s the thing, this is Nutter’s neighborhood.”
“What the fuck?” Bender’s fist crashed down on the closest table. “Didn’t someone already check him out?”
“Yes, he hadn’t left, his therapist was there, he couldn’t have taken Mom.”
“Then someone is fucking working with him. I’m going over there.”
“Dad, you can’t. Remember he has that restraining order on you.”
“Do you think that matters to me?”
“No, let me go.” Donnie stood up to his father.
“Hell no! Don’t even think about it.”
“I already have, I’m the reason she was taken. I need to make this right. Besides, unlike you, he won’t see me a threat. I’m still a kid, there’s no way I could outsmart him. All I need is only a little piece of evidence to have the cops swarming all over him. He’ll be cocky with me, might let something slip.”
“And he might kill you. Do you think I can live with myself if you get yourself killed? Or if worst case: you and your mother are both killed? No. I can’t. I won’t.”
“Bender,” Williams’ voice came from across the room. “He has a point.”
Bender glared at him. “Don’t you start.”
“I will, and I’ll finish it. I was doing some additional research and found something very interesting.”
“Spill.”
“I was doing a random search of the area, looking to see if there was anything that jumped out at me that might tie back to Nutter.”
“And.”
“And I found a one, Morgan Maguire.”
“Why is that name familiar?” Bender tapped his foot.
“Because there was a Morgan that visited your wife at the bookstore a couple of times and helped her get away from the grocery store when she got the phone call. We couldn’t find out her last name. She didn’t use a credit card either time she was in Stormy’s bookstore, and she didn’t pay for her groceries that night she helped Stormy. We couldn’t find anything to go on.”
“This doesn’t sound good.”
“We were able to get a recent picture of Morgan Maguire. Here.” Williams pulled up her picture on the computer screen.
“That’s her, how does this tie back to Nutter?” Bender’s voice was sharp.
“We dug deeper. Morgan purchased that house five years ago. After Nutter was released from Elwood. Elwood, where she works as a clinical psychiatrist.”
“Mother fucker,” Bender hissed. “How close are their two houses?”
“You could practically see in each other’s windows if there weren’t any leaves on the trees.”
“Dad, let me go to Nutter’s, you check out Morgan’s. We’ll trap them.”
Bender looked at his son for a few precious seconds. There was no one he trusted more. “You do as I say.”
“Always.”
“Come on.” Bender’s heart was racing as they ran to their vehicles. He’d trained his own son and Stormy. If either one of them had a chance to stay safe; it would be them. He had faith in them. He just didn’t have any faith in Nutter, and now this unknown Morgan.
Twenty-Four
“You should have listened to me,” Morgan said, her chest heaving. Dropping the broken pieces of the ceramic bowl on the floor, she bent down and picked Nutter up, heaving him onto the bed. Quickly enough, she had his wrists and ankles secured to the bed. Stepping back to admire her handiwork, she felt like she could finally breathe.
“Please, please help me,” Stormy begged.
Slowly Morgan turned her head to her other captive. “Trust me, honey, I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for me.” She walked over to her phone and scrolled through, looking for the perfect song. Finding Grace’s, You Don’t Own Me, she turned it on and smiled as the first notes came through the speakers.
“What are you going to do to me?”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it. As soon as pretty boy here wakes up, we’ll be getting down to business.” Picking up a package of smelling salts, she broke it open and held it under his nose. Soon, he was waking up and she smiled as he winched in pain.
“That’s it, Lover, it’s time to wake up.”
“Kitten? What’s going on?”
“Shhh…” She placed the knife blade against his lips, pressing enough to make a small trickle of blood c
ome out. “You really don’t want to talk.”
“Kitten, I’m sure this is some kind of misunderstanding. Let me go.” His eyes pleaded with her.
“Oh no, there is no misunderstanding. I understand everything perfectly.” She started making long cuts across his abdomen, making sure not to puncture any of his internal organs. “I loved you. I loved you with all my heart and soul. Every ounce of my being was made for you. We were the perfect killing team, but you couldn’t let your obsession with Stormy go. No, every move was for you to have her. I truly wasn’t enough for you; you were still hung up on her.”
“No, it’s not like that,” Nutter hissed through his clenched teeth. “I do love you, no one else completes me like you do.”
“Then why are you still hung up on Mick, Stormy, and Bender!” she screamed. “What about me? My wants? My needs? Every fucking thing revolved around them, not me. Me! I’m more important than they are!”
“We were going to leave together,” he said. “Just the two of us, for the rest of our lives.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “After we killed Stormy. But I told you that wasn’t going to be good enough. Bender wouldn’t let go. Even Stormy told you the same thing, but you didn’t listen to her either. Bender was going to have to die too. That would be the only way we’d truly be free. But no, we couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t suffer enough. I can tell you one thing.” She leaned down and flicked her tongue over one of his nipples. “You are going to suffer for not putting me first.”
Reaching over, she grabbed another knife so she had one in each hand. “Sometimes my medical background really comes in handy.” Raising her hands above her head, she brought both knives down through the soft flesh between his shoulder joint and collarbones, pinning him to the bed.
