by Keith Trimm
“Hey, can I trust you with something?” Bob asked.
“Sure, what is it?’ Mark asked.
“This isn’t some small thing, this is huge, I need to know if I can trust you.”
Mark sat for a second and was a little offended. They hadn’t been friends since childhood, but they were good enough friends that they could share a secret or two. “What, are you going to tell me you have Cathy tied up in your basement?” Mark asked as a joke.
Bob didn’t answer, he took a sip of his drink and thought whether or not he should follow through with his plan. “We need to discuss this alone, not in the club.”
“Where do you want to go?” Mark asked.
“We can drive around and talk,” Bob said and the two left the club without saying goodbye to anyone.
Once in Bob’s car, they took off heading towards Bob’s place. No one spoke for a while, the tension was too great. Then Mark spoke up and asked, “What’s going on Bob?”
Bob kept his eyes on the road and replied in a very low serious tone, “I have her.”
“Cathy?” Mark asked.
“Yes, I didn’t take her home that night, I took her to my place and have her locked up.”
“Why do I think you’re telling me the truth?” Mark asked.
“I have no reason to lie, you confessed what you did, I confessed what I did.”
“Oh my God, I told you I fucked a model, you kidnapped a stripper, that’s not even in the same playing field!”
“She’s fine, I didn’t kill her, I just have her locked up.”
“Why? What are you going to do with her?” Mark asked.
“I don’t know, keep her for a while, that’s for sure.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
“So you have her in your basement?” Mark asked.
“Not exactly, I have her locked up in a bunker, underground.”
“You live on an old hog farm right?”
“Yes,” Bob replied.
“Is this some place they kept hogs?”
“No, I built it last year.”
“So you’ve been planning on kidnapping her for a year?”
Bob stopped talking for a while as they crossed the tracks leading out of town into the country. The road went from asphalt to gravel and dust filled the air behind them. “I have more than one girl.”
“Jesus, how many do you have?” Mark asked.
“Four, including Cathy.”
“Where did you get them all?”
“Various places, all cheating lying whores.”
“And you keep them locked up? Are they in cages?”
“Fuck no, I built a real nice place, each has its own heating, air and plumbing. They’re like mini apartments.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Mark asked.
“Because I need help with them, my mother helps take care of them while I’m at work and I need someone I can trust when she’s not around. She’s a little unstable herself.”
“What makes you think you can trust me?” Mark asked.
“I know you, I know how you think, you’re like me,” Bob replied.
“You think so? I don’t keep girls locked underground. I usually take photographs.”
“I mean how you think. You don’t like whores any more than I do.”
“I know, but there is a line between kidnapping and being a misogynist. I can hate them from afar. Why would you want to have them close to you in the first place if you hate them so much?’
“So I can punish them,” Bob replied. “The bitches need to learn.”
“You want to drag me into this and punish them too? I wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone punish another human. These girls get their own punishments from the lives they lead. They make things hard on themselves, I don’t need to make it any harder.”
“You mean Karma?” Bob asked.
“Yes, I suppose.”
“I am Karma,” Bob said laughing.
Just then Mark saw a figure zip by on the side of the road, he was sure it was a girl in her underwear. It was Linda, she got lost on the side road and walked back to the main that headed back into town.
Bob hit his brakes and slid his car to a sideways halt. He saw her too and was freaking out.
“What are you doing? And who was that?” Mark yelled.
Bob put the car in reverse and made room, he then put the car into drive and took off after the girl he saw a few moments ago.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Mark yelled again.
“You’ll see soon enough,” Bob yelled back. The car sped down the road and in the distance the two men could see the white t shirt and panties bouncing up and down as Linda ran towards town. It didn’t take long until they pulled up behind her and Bob got out of the car. He took off running and caught up with Linda who was now winded and ready to throw up.
Mark came up behind the two and stopped. “Who is she?” Mark asked.
“Help me get her back to the car! ”Bob snapped.
Mark did what Bob said and took and arm and forced Linda back to the car. She was screaming and fighting so Bob smacked her in the face and told her to shut up. Mark was horrified but continued to help.
Once back at the car, the two men tossed Linda in the backseat. Bob got in the driver’s seat and Mark stayed in the back restraining her with his arms. Bob started put the car in drive and spun around heading back to his place.
The ride was quick and Bob pulled into his driveway and hid the car behind a wind block. The tall evergreen trees made a great hiding place from anyone driving down the road. Bob opened the back door and dragged Linda out followed by Mark who was still in shock.
“What are you going to do with her?” Mark asked.
“Help me get her to the house, no fuck it, follow me over to the door over there.”
Bob pulled and Linda and Mark pushed from behind. At the door Bob clicked in a code and opened the door and let the other two in. Down the steps they went to another door that was locked with a padlock and chain. Bob closed the outer door and scrambled down and unlocked the next door, they all stepped through and again Bob locked the door behind him. It was then he saw Linda’s cell door wide open and the back door to the house as well.
Bob let go of Linda and ran to her cell where he saw his mother lying on her back on the bed. She wasn’t moving, she looked dead.
“Mom!” Bob yelled running to the bedside. It was obvious now, she was grey and lifeless.
Mark stood in the walkway with Linda, he didn’t know what to say.
Bob stood and looked down at his mother for a while and then walked back out of the cell to Mark and Linda. “What happened?” Bob asked.
Linda looked at the floor and didn’t respond.
“Put her back in the empty cell at the end, and lock it. “Bob said.
Mark pushed Linda back down the walkway to her cell and opened the door. She stepped inside and Mark closed the door and locked it. “What now?” he asked turning back to Bob.
“Are you in this with me?” Bob asked.
Mark stood silent.
“I need to know if I can trust you.”
“I can’t answer that right now, I have to absorb what’s going on,” Mark replied.
“What’s there to absorb? These are whores, and that one’s a murderer,” Bob said pointing to Linda’s cell.
Mark was hesitant to reply. He knew what he was going to say wasn’t going to go over well with Bob. He took a few deep breaths and said, “She was doing what she felt she needed to do, you can’t keep them held up in cages like dogs and not want to escape.”
“You’re on the bitch’s side?” Bob asked.
“I didn’t say that, I know how I’d feel if I were in the same position.”
Bob paused a moment. “You are making the assumption that you and they are the same. These sluts gave up their rights to be human a long time ago. They are less than dogs.”
“Yeah, it is, plus it’s cheap. While you’re thinking about the moral issues here, can you help me with my mother, I can’t leave her down here.”
“What are you going to do?” Mark asked.
“I got to bury her somewhere,” Bob replied.
“You can’t just bury someone, people will ask questions, and the cops will come out looking around. The door to this thing is out in the open, did you think of that when you built it?”
“What do you suggest?” Bob asked.
“You need to dump her somewhere else off the property, so they won’t think to come looking here,” Mark replied.
“They would still come out here to talk to me, doesn’t fix the problem.”
“Is there anything you can do to the door to make it not so obvious you have your own prison down here?”
“I could tell them it’s my tornado shelter.”
“If they had a search warrant, they wouldn’t give a shit what you called it. You need to hide the door.”
“So that means burying her and then reworking the front entrance, that’s going to take some time.”
“Who all knows she’s out here?” Mark asked.
“Enough,” Bob replied.
“Enough to make a stink if she wasn’t seen for a while?”
“She usually stays at home, I won’t let her drive my car.”
“Does she have a job?”
“No,”
“How long could she be missing before anyone noticed?”
Bob thought for a moment. “Two weeks maybe. But how do I get around the missing persons report? The cops will want to know why I didn’t report her missing right away.”
“Tell them she got pissed and left, you didn’t know where she went.”
“On foot?” Bob asked. “That’s a stretch.”
“What else can you do?” Mark asked.
“I’ll have to think of something later, for now we need to get her out of here.”
“What are you going to do with her body?”
“I have two backhoes, and an Earth mover. I can put her six feet under and scrape the ground so it looks like no one touched it. I do dirt work for a living. I have plenty of places out back to bury her, we have a few dirt piles and some crushed rock. I’m an artist when it comes to pushing dirt.”
Chapter 8
The Package
Three days later, Mark is at home when his wife Amanda brings him a box she found on the front porch. It was delivered by UPS and had no return address. Mark took the box and said thanks. It was small, about large enough to hold a soda can and weighed very little.
“Were you expecting something?” Amanda asked.
“No,” Mark replied. He tore the box open and found a typed note on top of a pair of lacy pink panties.
Amanda freaked and grabbed the note and box and ran into the living room.
“What’s wrong?” Mark asked following her.
Amanda sat on the couch and read the note, then broke into tears.
“Amanda, tell me what’s going on.”
She handed the note to Mark keeping her eyes on the floor. Mark took the note, it read. “Your skank wife left these in my husband’s truck, you might want to keep a shorter leash on your fucking whore. If I ever see her near me or my family again, there will be hell to pay.”
Mark lowered the note and looked at his wife. “What’s this?” he asked.
Now sobbing, Amanda managed to say, “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Sorry for what? What did you do?” Mark asked.
“I’ve been cheating on you,” she replied.
“With who?” Mark asked.
“One of the guys from work,” she replied.
“Again? Who now?”
“Justin,” she replied.
“What the fuck?” Mark asked. “How long have you been cheating on me this time?”
“Two months.”
“When? Where was I when this was happening?” Mark asked.
Amanda didn’t want to answer, she looked away and tried to stop crying. “After work mostly,” she replied. “And when you’d go on photo shoots.”
“So all those times you told me that you had things to stay late for, you were fucking him?” Mark asked.
Amanda nodded yes.
“How many times?”
“I don’t know.”
“Guess!” Mark yelled.
“Maybe a few dozen,” she replied.
“A few dozen? No wonder you quit putting out, Jesus fucking Christ!”
Amanda got up and walked into the kitchen, the pressure was too great.
“Were you fucking in this house?” Mark asked.
“Yes,”
“In our bedroom?”
“A few times,” she replied.
Mark stood dumbstruck, he didn’t know how to handle this information, it was like being hit by a truck, how did she manage to hide this from him so well? Other than her cutting him off for the last two months, things seemed to be reasonably normal.
“When was the last time you two hooked up?” Mark asked.
“Last night after work,” Amanda replied.
“You fucking whore,” Mark said flat.
Amanda didn’t reply, she knew this was coming and that she deserved it.
“I can’t believe you did this to me again, after two years you go out and fuck some other guy? This wasn’t some one night stand, or drunken mistake, this was a conspiracy against me and our marriage.”
“I said I was sorry.”
Mark stepped in close, he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled up tight. “I should beat the fuck out of you right here and now. You deserve whatever comes to you.”
“That would be just like you.” Amanda snapped back.
“What? Are you saying I’m a wife beater? I’ve never raised a hand to you ever. And you’ve deserved to be beaten more than once.”
“You’re an asshole,” she said.
“You are in no position to be pissing me off Amanda,” Mark said with his jaw clenched.
“I’m leaving you,” Amanda snapped back.
Mark let go and stepped back. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. First he finds out his wife of eight years has been cheating on him for the fifth time, and now she’s leaving him. An hour ago everything was fine. His world was now shattered. Mark looked up at her and said, “No, I don’t think so,” and attacked her beating her senseless to unconsciousness.
Once on the ground, he picked her up and carried her out to his car. He didn’t look to see if anyone was looking, and he didn’t care. He then put her in the passenger’s seat and strapped her in and took off to Bob’s place out in the country hoping she wouldn’t come around too soon.
On the way to Bob’s, Mike called him and told him about what happened and that he needed to meet him at his place. Once there, Mike took his wife from the passenger’s seat and took her into the bunker and placed her in the last empty cell and locked it. She lie on the bed, but was coming around.
A quick spray from the hose and Amada was wide awake and screaming. Mark turned off the hose and set it down on the walkway. He peered at his wife through the bars. She sat up and looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings.
“Welcome to your new home,” Mark said with a smile.
“Where am I?” Amada asked.
“Someplace Justin will never find you, or anyone else for that matter.”
Amanda stood up and let the water drain from her clothes.
“There are towels over by the shower in the laundry basket,” Mark said.
Shivering in the cold, Amanda dried off and wrapped herself in a dry towel over her clothes.
“I asked you what this place is, now tell me!” Amanda demanded.
“You, my whore wife, are in no position to make demands of me. I’ll tell you when I’m ready. For now, get used to it, this w
ill be the last place you ever live.”
“You think I’m your prisoner?” Amanda laughed out loud. “I’ll be out of here soon enough.”
“What makes you think that?” Mark asked.
“Justin was on his way over to our house to talk to you. We planned on telling you that I was leaving you before the package ever arrived.”
Stunned, Mark stood shaking his head. “We’re not home,” he replied.
“No, but the gps on my phone still works, and he’s going to follow it right to where ever this shit hole is.”
“Where is your phone?” Mark asked.
Realizing she let the cat out of the bag too soon, Amanda shut up.
Mark unlocked the door to her cell and walked in. He grabbed her and felt her pockets and found the phone in her right front. Quickly he pulled the phone and threw it against the wall smashing it into shards of metal and plastic. “There, let him find that,” Mark said.
Amanda struck out at Mark and scratched his neck with her claw like fingernails. She tried again and this time Mark grabbed her by the wrist and held tight. In a fury of anger, he shoved her back towards the bed, tripping her and sending her to the cement floor. He stepped over and picked her up by the arm and shoved her into the concrete wall. She banged her head hard and for a moment lost her sense of direction and balance.
“What did I ever do to deserve this?” Mark asked. “Why cheat?”
“Justin was there for me, he made me feel special.”
“Justin is a dumb kid with a truck and a wife.”
“You’re a stupid photographer who used to have a wife.”
Mark slapped Amanda across the face, and then again. “You stupid cunt, and you thought you’d get away with it?”
“I am getting away with it,” Amanda replied.
“No, you’re locked inside a concrete cell with bars on the door and Justin is somewhere in his truck fucking his dog.”
