“Yes, Sheriff. We believe so. I am personally on my way. A group of agents should be arriving within the hour, and the state police have been notified. So that you know, Weiner was last seen driving a dark-navy-blue 2011 Honda Civic.”
“We’re on it, Investigator Pellot, and we’ll be waiting for you when you arrive,” Wyatt said then disconnected the call. Max stood still a moment, letting the seriousness of the situation kick in.
“I’ve got to get to Stacy and Eric. She’ll be safest at the ranch where the others can help me protect her,” Max stated.
“Yes, that would be best. We should also get ahold of Ron and Marie. I can have them stay at our place with Charlie and Ben on guard as well,” Wyatt suggested.
“Before you leave, let’s get a plan together and call in this description and make of the car Weiner is driving. He is to be arrested on site,” Wyatt stated, and Max agreed as they began to make the arrangements.
* * * *
The sun had set, and the street lights began to illuminate the town. All across Main Street, every store had its storefront decorated in patriotic lights and embellishments. It was like nothing Stacy had ever seen before. People called her by her first name and greeted her with kisses to the cheek and hugs hello. They congratulated her on winning first place in all the pie contests and now in the chili contest as well. Betsie Whinston ranted and raved about the contest being fixed and the judges being paid to vote for Stacy and not her. Stacy shook her head in disgust as she looked for Eric by the concession stand. He was going to grab a couple of beers and some popcorn for the fireworks display that would begin in an hour or so. She noticed the numerous people around them. Some were traditional couples with one man, one woman, and a few kids in the family, and others were one woman with two, three, four, and even five men along with children of their own. Instead of shocking her as it had done once before when she first found out about such relationships in town, this actually gave her peace of mind. Seeing the families, successful and enjoying normal activities with others, was a relief. Just maybe this relationship between herself, Eric, and Max would help.
She felt at peace and truly happy right now. The decorations, the live music from the country band that played, seeing men in military uniform visiting family and celebrating this country’s birthday was beautiful. She loved the town of Pearl and everything it stood for. She continued to try to find Eric, but now the streets were very crowded. She was practically shoulder to shoulder with everyone she passed. Although she bumped into people and people bumped into her, no one seemed angry or annoyed with the crowds. They just smiled, said “excuse me,” then continued on their way. She chuckled. This was nothing like the city streets of New York.
She saw a break in the crowd by Francine’s restaurant and the Sheriff’s department. Then she noticed the flashing lights and some sort of fuss going on near there. It all happened so quickly as she decided the best place to wait for Eric would be near the Sheriff’s department. Just as she made it onto the sidewalk, the crowd grew bigger. It appeared that someone was putting on a show. She wanted to see what they were doing. The roars from the crowd and the screams and laughter from children all indicated that it must be something amazing. She shuffled around the perimeter of the crowd but just couldn’t seem to get close enough to see. She saw some flashes of fire and heard the crowd exclaim excitement again, but she couldn’t get closer. Being on the short side made it difficult. She was frustrated and had just about given up when she felt someone move in behind her. They were very big, and at first, she thought it was Eric or Max, but then she felt the gun against her spine and the strong arm come around her waist. This wasn’t good.
“Come with me and don’t make a scene or I’ll unload this gun on the crowd,” he stated firmly in her ear, and she still wasn’t certain who it could be. Taking slow steps backward, no one seemed to notice anything. The performer, whatever he or she was doing, had them all mesmerized. In a few seconds, he had her behind the restaurant. In an instant, he threw something over her head so she couldn’t see as he dragged her along with him. She attempted to fight him, which landed her a blow to the stomach. She hunched over coughing, feeling the excruciating pain, and knew the man was very big. But who was it?
“Get up and walk,” he stated as he shoved her, causing her to fall to the ground and cut her knee. It stung, and she was still trying to recover from the punch to her stomach.
“What do you want? Who are you?” she cried, instantly fearing for her life. She couldn’t believe that this was happening.
“I’m your destiny, baby. Together we’re going to have some fun,” he stated then shoved her along, practically carrying her. She had no idea where they were or in which direction they were going. She had never been on the outskirts of the businesses in town. As a matter of fact, she didn’t even know what surrounded the restaurant, the Sheriff’s department, and the rest of town. She assumed it was just wide-open land, and her stomach clenched with fear. He was going to kill her. She just knew it.
* * * *
“Where is she, Eric?” Max yelled. He was immediately filled with concern and hoped that nothing happened to her already.
“I don’t know. She was with me one second, then a group of people from Francine’s were hugging her and congratulating her on her win in the chili contest, and that’s the last I saw her. She was going to use the bathroom then meet me right here. I was fucking fifteen feet away from her, Max. What the hell is going on?” Eric yelled back.
“He’s in town, Eric. Her boss is in town, and he’s made arrangements to take Stacy out of the country. He chartered a boat,” Max informed him.
“Son of a bitch! We have to find her, Max. The investigators don’t have anything more for you?” Eric asked as he headed toward the Sheriff’s department.
“Just that they found enough evidence to lock Weiner up for multiple counts of murder. He’s been watching Stacy for months. He is obsessed with her, Eric.”
“Oh God, Max, we can’t let anything happen to her. Fuck, I can’t believe this is happening,” Eric exclaimed.
“Just get over here now,” Max stated then disconnected the call.
They gathered around the front of the department and began to make everyone aware of the possible situation. The deputies and state police began to spread out and search for Stacy. Finally Eric met up with Max.
“We have to find her. They couldn’t have gotten far, Max, she was out of my sight for five minutes tops,” Eric stated.
“God help us, Eric. This guy is really bad news,” Max told him. Then they headed to his patrol car and to the location Eric had last seen Stacy in.
* * * *
Claire Weiner pulled up alongside the motel parking lot and loaded the gun. She knew that her husband was in there and that more than likely he was with Stacy Porter. She felt sick to her stomach, dirty, and used. Her husband was not the man she thought he was. She had turned a blind eye to him all these years. She had lain in the same bed with him knowing that only hours before he had sex with some strange woman or one of the many bimbos from Mercer. Her mother had gone through the same thing with her husband. Claire’s father was a cheater, a manipulator, and a man, first and foremost. He had the audacity to tell her, his own daughter, that she needed to be more open in the bedroom with her husband so that he wouldn’t stray from their marriage. Her own father! She allowed his stern speech to destroy her self-confidence and pride. She deserved better than a cheating husband. Yet she gave into his fantasy sex world and allowed Barry to tie her up and take her anally and whip her into submission. He hurt her. He abused her with his sex toys and even degraded her by whipping her until she cried in submission and fear. The look in Barry’s eyes was pure evil, and she knew she had to do something.
She checked the gun and made sure that the safety was off before she exited the vehicle. The private investigator she hired had been right on the money. He dug up so much stuff on her husband that the world would cheer her on w
hen he was found dead. She located the locked safe in the basement and his private man cave he insisted she was never allowed to enter. She did anyway. What she found had taken her breath away and caused her to run to the bathroom and vomit. He had pictures of that redhead Stacy Porter everywhere. He even altered pictures of her, placing her in bondage and chains the way he wanted. It was sick. But worst of all were the pictures of the other women. They were missing women and women who had claimed he sexually assaulted them but then went missing or dropped the charges. Her husband was a rapist and a killer. She should have killed him three days ago when he was shacked up in a hotel with Teressa Pierce, another bimbo from Mercer who spread her thighs to get in good with the company. The bitch probably screwed Claire’s father, too. They all deserved to die.
Claire exited the vehicle and hid the gun from any onlookers. Her husband was vain enough to pay for the two corner rooms in the back of the motel and away from the rest of the rooms. Even in this hick-town dive in Texas, Barry thought he was important and deserved the best. After tonight, he would be where he belonged. Dead and forgotten.
She slowly approached the door and took out the spare key the kid from the front desk gave her. Her little song and dance about surprising her boyfriend in his fantasy of fucking two women at once had the young kid drooling with envy. She fooled him. She stood and listened as she heard some sort of struggle going on inside. Her husband was chanting or yelling something as if he were about to come. What perfect timing.
Claire unlocked the door and walked into the room. It was dark, and only the bedside lamp illuminated the scene before her. Her husband was completely naked with his cock buried deep into a woman’s ass. The woman was tied to the bedposts spread-eagle, and there was blood all over the sheets. Claire pointed the gun as the shock of what had happened penetrated her mind. He killed her, and he was having sex with her corpse.
“You sick bastard!” Claire screamed, and Barry threw his head back as he roared and thrust his hips. His eyes locked onto her right as she pulled the trigger.
* * * *
It had been nearly an hour since Eric had last seen Stacy. He felt so sick to his stomach with fear, and his anger was getting the better of him. He gathered around the group of men. There were his cousins, Charlie, Wyatt, and Ben as well as Chuck, Charles, and Louis from the Triple C. They had begun to organize search parties after someone found Stacy’s earring near the fields behind Francine’s restaurant.
Everyone was on the lookout for Stacy and for Barry Weiner. Just as they were about to get on the four-wheel ATVs and search the miles of fields around them, Wyatt’s cell phone rang. He saw that it was Investigator Pellot.
“Wait a minute. I got the agent on the line. He was headed to the hotel Barry Weiner checked into.
“Hello,” Wyatt answered the phone as Max and Eric watched him closely. He covered his mouth, and his eyes darted to Max and then to Eric.
“What? What is it?” Eric yelled.
“Oh my God. That’s crazy,” Wyatt stated then continued speaking to Pellot. Max and Eric were antsy, and so were the others now. “Hold on one second, let me tell the guys,” he stated into the phone.
“Barry Weiner’s wife just killed him. She walked into the hotel room he was staying in and apparently found him having sex with a dead body. It was some redhead, not Stacy, thank God, but she was murdered. It’s a freaking major crime scene over there,” Wyatt stated then went back to talking on the phone.
“If Barry didn’t take her, then where the hell is she?” Eric asked.
“Who else would try to hurt her or take her away from you two?’ Charlie asked, and everyone was silent a moment. Then Eric and Max looked at each other and said at the same time, “Gutry.”
“Motherfucker, that asshole was after her since day one,” Max stated.
“And he hates our family. He’s probably pissed off that we fired him and that no one else would hire him around Pearl,” Charlie exclaimed.
“Could he be the one who committed the robberies and broke into Stacy’s cottage?” Eric asked.
* * * *
They were silent a moment as Max thought about the information they had so far and now Gutry’s involvement.
“He was on the list, but he disappeared and no one had seen him in a couple of weeks,” Max exclaimed, feeling like a fool for focusing on Barry Weiner so much. He allowed his personal feeling to affect his professional judgment.
“Well, he’s our number one suspect,” Kenny stated as he joined the conversation, dragging Smith Petry along with him.
“Tell them what you just told me, Smith,” Kenny stated as he held the man by his collar. Max knew that Smith Petry hung around with Gutry and that he was a loser. Max had personally arrested him for harassing a woman in town a month ago.
Smith looked dirty and mean. Max wasn’t sure he would trust anything the guy said.
“What’s in it for me? I don’t even like cops,” he stated, and before Max could do anything, Eric grabbed a hold of Smith by his throat and threw him on the ground. He held his knee against Smith’s chest as he yelled in his face.
“If you don’t tell me where my woman is, I’m going to kill you right here,” Eric stated.
“You can’t do that. There’s police all around you,” Smith stated in between coughing as Eric gripped his throat a little tighter.
“What cops?” Eric stated as Max, Wyatt, and Kenny turned their backs and looked the other way.
“He’ll kill me if I talk,” Smith yelled.
“I’ll kill ya if you don’t talk,” Eric replied then pressed his knee a little harder into Smith’s chest.
“I don’t know where he might be,” Smith cried out.
“Tell him what you told me about the robberies and the break-ins,” Kenny stated over his shoulder.
“It was Gutry who broke into your woman’s cottage. He’s been watching her for weeks. He’s been planning this since that day he saw her at the hardware store. It was all he’s been talking about,” Smith stated.
“Where is he staying? No one’s seen Gutry for a while,” Max asked.
“He has a few spots he hides out in. Hey, that hurts!” Smith yelled as Eric dug his knee deeper and gripped his neck tighter.
“Start fucking telling us the locations now. She’s been missing for an hour.” Eric growled, and Smith started naming a few places.
“You bring him to the jail and lock him up. We’ll deal with him later,” Wyatt told Kenny as he, Charlie, Ben, Max, and Eric jumped on the ATVs. They decided to look at one of the places while the others split up to look at the other places.
“Call us on the radio as soon as you check out the locations,” Wyatt said. Then the sound of motors roaring and the ATVs taking off into the night echoed through the air.
* * * *
Stacy struggled with the ropes around her wrists as she smelt a fire burning. Gutry kept the burlap sack around her head, and she had no idea where she was. The smell of the burlap and dirt filled her nostrils, and now the smoke from the fire was impeding her ability to take regular breaths. The moron was going to suffocate her to death. She was scared, but she was also pretty angry. Initially she thought her captor was Barry. He had been the one harassing her and threatening her, but now that Gutry revealed himself, things made sense. Barry hadn’t been in Texas and couldn’t have broken into her cottage or taken her garments. It was Gutry, and she was certain that he was responsible for the other robberies around town as well. She felt his hand on her ankle, and she jerked away from him.
“Get off of me,” she yelled at him. Immediately he pulled the sack from around her head with such force, causing her to bang it against the rock she leaned against. She cried out in pain and felt the stinging sensation next to her temple. Damn, that hurt.
He locked gazes with her, and she could see the anger and craziness in his dark eyes. He was out of control. He pulled her by her shoulders and shook her hard.
“You belong to me now! Don
’t fight me, Stacy, or I swear I will hurt you,” he yelled at her.
“Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?” she cried out, feeling terrified.
He didn’t respond. Instead he looked down at her thighs, which were now bare from the abrupt movement earlier. Her skirt lifted, and the upper part of her blouse hung lower, revealing some of her breast to his eyes.
He licked his lips then began to straddle her. He was heavy and reeked of smoke and sweat. “Please get off of me. Please don’t do this to me,” she cried. Then he began to pull her blouse from her shoulder, making her breast pop out. She struggled with the ropes that bound her hands together. She leaned back and shook her body, trying to get him off of her, but instead he grabbed her breast and groped the skin.
“Oh God, please stop! Stop it!” she screamed in terror, never seeing his forearm shoot up until it was too late and made contact with her face. Her head flung to the side, and she could have sworn that she saw darkness for a second. The move had her sliding lower as Gutry unzipped his pants. He lifted up and kneeled over her then reached into his underwear. “No!” she screamed then lifted her knee hard, nailing him in the balls.
He hollered, and she pulled herself up, her knees scratching against the dirt and pebbles around her. He tried to get up, and she threw all of her weight into him, using her elbow to nail him again in the balls.
“Fucking bitch!” he roared as he swung his arms at her with less strength than full force but enough to hurt her. She rolled across the ground, her cheekbone slamming against more rocks and dirt stinging her, but she continued to fight. She saw the moonlight coming from the cave entrance as she used her stomach muscles to try and get to her knees. With her wrists tied together tight behind her back, it was difficult to move around without losing her balance. She got to her knees, her vision blurred, her cheek and head hurt like hell, but she had to get out of there. She wouldn’t give up. She began to rise when she felt the blow to her back and Gutry grab her ankle, pulling her back toward him. She screamed then kicked him hard, not sure what she made contact with because she couldn’t turn to look with her hands tied. He yelled again, and she continued to kick until she heard his grunts and felt him release her ankles. She was hysterical now as she struggled to make her wobbly legs work. She shook so badly as she collided with the wall before running free from the cave.
Dwyer, Dixie Lynn - Stacy's Destiny [The Town of Pearl 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 24
