Private Detective: BENNINGTON P.I.: A thrilling four-novel political murder mystery private detective series...

by D. W. Ulsterman

  Colin heard Bennington let out a long, slow sigh.

  “I tell you what Colin, I’ll promise you this will be the last time you have to do something like this, if you can promise me to not give up. You have a shitload of potential to go places here. Does that mean you won’t have to compromise something of yourself to get there? Hell no, you’re gonna find out you’re capable of doing things you never thought you would do. That’s the nature of this job. It’s not all do good, and do unto others you know. Most the time, it’s do to them before they can do to you. It’s about keeping your mouth shut about a congressman who most the time is a horrible piece of shit, because he’s the congressman, and every once in a while, his vote might actually help some people out. You got to take the good, and forget the bad, Colin.”

  Part of Colin appreciated Bennington’s attempted pep talk, while the rest of him quickly pushed it away as simply more bullshit.

  He ended the call.

  20.

  “What the hell is up with your clothes? Not even a little effort to look your best for me?”

  Kat could tell Congressman Latner was already drunk. A half empty bottle of scotch sat on a circular table in the small, but nicely furnished one bedroom suite of the Ritz Carlton. The walls were painted a soft tan color, with high end, off white Berber carpet throughout. The large windows at the far end of the room overlooked the slow moving Potomac River below, the lights of the various buildings in the area shining off of the river’s deep, dark waters.

  “It’s late. I figured why bother getting dressed up when all you wanted to do was see me undressed.”

  The congressman sat in one of the two large, dark upholstered chairs opposite the bed, his white dress shirt unbuttoned to the middle of his chest, his wallet, watch, and keys already placed on one of the two nightstands that bookended the king sized bed.

  “Oh, got it all figured out huh? You want a drink?”

  Kat shook her head, the fingers of her right hand nervously twirling the bottom end of her ponytail.

  “No thank you.”

  Congressman Latner’s mouth curled downward as his unblinking eyes stared at the much younger woman.

  “You don’t seem happy to see me. I’m paying you enough money. I’m paying more than enough for you to at least pretend to look like you missed me.”

  The congressman’s voice rose with each word he spoke, his eyes widening as his hands gripped the sides of the chair more tightly. Not wanting to see him lose his temper, Kat smiled back warmly.

  “I’m sorry. You’re right, I’m being rude. I’m a little tired is all.”

  Congressman Latner stood up and poured another drink for himself, and another one for Kat.

  “Here – drink it.”

  Kat took the glass, trying to appear outwardly comfortable, though she sensed the congressman’s mood was again moving toward darkness. She had rarely seen him drink before, and had never seen him drunk.

  “I said drink it, Kat. Are you purposely trying to piss me off?”

  Kat placed the glass to her lips and allowed a small amount of alcohol to make its way down her throat. She looked back at the congressman defiantly.

  “There – you happy? Now stop being such a grumpy old man.”

  Kat watched as the congressman’s right hand flinched and for a moment, she was certain he was going to strike her. He didn’t though, instead snorting a half smile as he now looked at her with the all too familiar hunger she had grown accustomed to seeing in his eyes when they were together.

  “Come here.”

  The demand was growled, and without conscious thought, Kat found herself moving into the congressman’s well defined arms. His right hand took hold of her pony tail and pulled her head back violently as his stuck his tongue into her mouth. She wanted to recoil from the taste of alcohol and whatever meal the congressman had consumed prior to her arrival. His breath was horrid.

  Again and again his tongue explored the inside of her mouth, acting out a gesture of rape more than a kiss, leaving Kat repulsed, and increasingly angry.

  “Stop.”

  The congressman’s hands moved to push up Kat’s sweatshirt as she in turned struggled to push away from him.

  “Wait – not yet.”

  Congressman Latner’s hands gripped Kat’s upper arms tightly as he shook her.

  “You don’t tell ME to wait. What the hell is wrong with you? Who’ve you been messing around with Kat? I paid a lot of money so you would wait until I called on you. You took that money, you spent that money, so now YOU OWE ME.”

  Kat wrenched herself free from the congressman’s grasp and backed away several feet.

  “You’re not the same. You’re drunk. You talk to me like…like you want to hurt me.”

  The congressman finished off his drink and began pouring another one. His hands trembled slightly as he directed the scotch into his glass.

  “I’m sorry, ok? I’m under a lot of pressure. This Mendez campaign, they got me under a damn microscope. My wife, her family…they’re already planning on what color curtains I’ll have in the White House.”

  Congressman Latner lifted his head to look back at Kat, the aggression in his eyes replaced by fatigue, and a hint of sadness.

  “Just tell me that you haven’t been with any other men, Kat. That you’ve honored our agreement, the money I’ve been spending to keep you from having to do that. I want you to be mine, ok? Just mine. Right now, in this room, at this moment, you’re the only thing that matters to me.”

  Katalina Brezhnev was all too familiar with the congressman’s sudden apologetic tone. Her father had beaten her severely for years, but apologized every time, blaming the alcohol, or Kat’s mother. Kat’s oldest brother Rolan raped her repeatedly after she turned twelve, but also apologized each time he finished doing so while promising it would be the last time. And now, so too did the congressman apologize in much the same way, with the look of sincerity, but the voice of falsehood. He wasn’t sorry. He would never be sorry. The congressman truly believed he owned Kat. He demanded she not be capable of having an opinion, or choice, regarding who did or didn’t sleep with her.

  And yet, there was her concern for Colin, who waited in the lobby below. Kat knew that to refuse the congressman would bring unwanted and potentially damaging scrutiny onto Colin, and she would be responsible for bringing that about. So, she made her choice, though intended to control that choice as much as possible.

  “Take off your clothes and lay on the bed, on your back.”

  The congressman put his drink down slowly and then unbuttoned his shirt and removed his pants more quickly, a faint smile peeking out from underneath his again lust filled eyes. Soon he stood naked in front of the bed, already showing signs of being ready for Kat’s particular talents.

  “I said get on your back, Congressman.”

  Congressman Latner, the smile now growing wider, as other parts of him continued to grow as well, moved onto the bed and lay down, his arms resting behind his head.

  Kat removed her own clothes and crawled atop the bed and eased herself slowly over the congressman’s body until her legs straddled his groin. She felt his desire moving to find her opening as his hands reached up to cup her small, upright breasts. Kat in turn grasped the congressman’s wrists and forced his hands back down to his sides as she moved her hips slowly, allowing him to gain entry.

  Kat’s slow, deliberate movement continued for several minutes, and each time the congressman attempted to lift his hands to touch Kat’s body, she would push them back down. Her eyes remained closed, not wanting to see his face, as the motion of her hips began increasing in both speed and intensity. She wanted the moment to be finished.

  The congressman did not.

  “Slow down.”

  Kat ignored Congressman Latner’s demand, instead moving even more quickly on top of him, sensing he was nearing his conclusion.

  Kat’s mouth curled into a snarl as she pushed down on the congressman’s hand
s with all her strength, her hips now pushing upward and downward rapidly. She had no intention of slowing down, as the sound of their naked bodies colliding filled the space of the small hotel suite.

  The back of the congressman’s head arched back into the soft white pillow beneath his neck as his mouth opened wide, the pleasure of his release temporarily overcoming his anger at Kat’s refusal to obey him. Kat in turn moved off of the bed and walked over to where he clothes lay on the floor, intending to put them back on.

  “What do you think you’re doing? We’re not done. Not even close.”

  Kat paused, holding her jeans in her hands.

  “Yes, you just finished.”

  Congressman Latner moved quickly off of the bed and ripped the clothes from Kat’s hands.

  “No, we’re not. Get into that bed.”

  Kat looked up at the congressman, unable to hide her fear from him.

  “I don’t think that is a good idea. You’re drunk, angry.”

  Congressman Joseph Latner, though nearly sixty years of age, remained a strong, athletically built man. Certainly strong enough to inflict terrible physical harm on a woman of Kat’s slight build. She knew the congressman was angry that night, emotionally unbalanced, perhaps even dangerous, but that knowing did not prepare her for his right fist slamming into her stomach, forcing the air from her lungs and causing her legs to buckle as her body toppled to the floor.

  She was unable to breath, unable to make a sound, as the congressman picked her up and flung her onto the bed, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of anticipation and madness. In that moment Kat realized he was less a man and more an animal, a cruel, sadistic, unfeeling animal.

  His left forearm slammed into the back of her neck, forcing her face into the plush, expensive, dark brown bed sheets. She tried to cry out, but the air had not yet returned to her lungs. The pressure on the back of her neck intensified as the congressman moved himself behind her, spreading her apart, his hands grasping the back of her legs roughly.

  When she managed to close her legs again, his right fist slammed into her lower back with so much force, she nearly passed out from the pain. A brief scream escaped her, but was soon muffled as her face was pushed down even further into the bed sheets, followed by another blow to her lower back.

  “Keep quiet you little bitch. You should count yourself privileged. I’m gonna be President of the United States someday!”

  Kat could feel herself losing consciousness, the sound of the congressman’s voice growing distant, the feel of his desire as it probed her from behind, fading as well. She knew he intended to rape her. Knew he was going to do so by unconventional means. He had just enjoyed her one way. Now he intended to do so again by another way.

  The pain of his forced entrance brought her back to consciousness. It was a cruel trick of her body to have done so. She would rather not have been aware of the act, felt the pain, heard the sounds of the congressman as he grunted and strained behind her. Kat closed her eyes and employed a trick she had learned as a girl during those times her brother would visit her, and do much the same to her then as the congressman did to her now.

  Her mind retreated to a safe place, closing itself away from the horror of the moment, whispering quietly to her that this too, would soon pass. She would survive this, just as she had survived so many other atrocities both great and small.

  And so long as she lived, revenge was always waiting. Just as she had finally taken a knife to Rolan before fleeing to America, plunging it repeatedly into his chest and leaving him to die on the kitchen floor of the small village apartment that had been her family home, she would bring justice to this man who now violated her.

  He likely believed his position as a congressman made him safe from such justice.

  He was wrong.

  21.

  The next morning after returning Kat to her home at Ivanka’s, Colin O’Shea found himself pondering what might have happened during her time with the congressman in Room 445 of the Ritz Carlton hotel. Kat said nothing during the early morning cab ride back to her home. Instead, she stared silently through the back windows of the vehicle, her right hand occasionally rubbing her stomach.

  Even when Colin walked her to the front door of Ivanka’s building and told her goodnight, her face remained devoid of emotion, her eyes distant. She simply nodded once and then went inside, leaving Colin standing alone outside.

  He now found himself sitting at his desk inside the congressman’s office looking at the wall, sensing something had gone horribly wrong last night, but struggling to convince himself that it was any of his business. Kat was, despite her youth, a grown woman with vastly more experience than himself.

  Then again, the way she had retreated far within herself during the cab ride home left Colin increasingly unsettled. He turned his eyes away from the wall near his desk and looked back at both Jolene and Tracy who were in fact already looking back at him.

  “You ok, Colin?”

  Jolene had made an effort to improve her own appearance in recent weeks. Like everyone else in the office, she too was excited at the prospect of being part of a national political campaign that could give all of them roles in a presidential administration. Gone were the blue jeans and oversized sweatshirts, head of unruly hair, and face lacking makeup. Colin was surprised in fact at how well she had “cleaned up”. She even went to the trouble of getting contact lenses, fully revealing a set of very attractive blue eyes. Today, Jolene’s hair was tied neatly back from her face, and she wore a white business shirt open at the collar tucked neatly into a pair of black dress slacks.

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  Both Jolene and Tracy paused, waiting for Colin to continue. They sensed he was holding something back.

  “Can I ask you two…what do you think of the congressman? I mean, on a personal level?”

  Jolene glanced at Tracy, her eyebrows rising slightly, waiting for him to begin. Tracy on the other hand, remained silent, simply shrugging back at Colin and then pretending to go back to whatever work he had been doing on his computer.

  “C’mon, Tracy this is your department. It’s your family who knows him. I’ve only met him, geez, maybe ten times. And all of those times were pretty brief, a couple meetings with Frank, there was that fundraising event last year, but that’s about it. Beyond how he votes, I hardly know the guy.”

  Tracy Wright sat back in his chair behind his small desk in the overly cramped staff office. His face clearly communicated his annoyance over Jolene wanting him to divulge how he felt about Congressman Latner.

  “I don’t know him much more than Jo. His wife Eunice knows my parents really well. I remember seeing him around the house sometimes when I was a kid. When I was getting ready to graduate college he told my dad there was a job waiting for me when I wanted it…and here I am. I wasn’t going to take it, but my mother insisted. She said I should get to know the congressman better. In fact, my dad told me a few months after I got here that it was actually all her idea. Guess she has dreams of me making it big in D.C. or something.”

  Colin folded his arms across his chest and looked up at the room’s ceiling, his mind trying to determine how far he should push the subject.

  “Would you consider Congressman Latner a good guy, on a human level?”

  Before responding, Jolene frowned slightly as she again looked over at Tracy.

  “He’s my boss. Well, Frank is my direct boss, but we all know that the congressman is the big deal around here. He’s the one we’re all working for. Is he a good guy? I don’t really know. I agree with his politics. He supports the LGBT community, at least on paper. He’s a Democrat, like me. Says he’s for public schools, helping the poor, women’s rights, immigration reform…a lot of the things I care about. So does that make him a good guy? I don’t know. I think it makes him a good congressman, and that’s why I’m here.”

  Colin stared at Tracy, wanting him to contribute more to the conversation. Tracy did so by simply asking his o
wn questions of Colin.

  “Why are you asking the question, Colin? Something happen? Is it related to that girl you are supposed to be watching over?”

  Colin O’Shea smiled faintly. Tracy had opened one of the doors he had hoped to have all three of them enter in the context of the discussion.

  “You mean the prostitute – the young woman who has been seeing the congressman?”

  It was Tracy’s turn to smile, realizing he had walked into the trap.