A Real Page Turner

by Rita Lawless

  “There’s always that what if,” Threadway said. He looked as if he were going to say something else, but decided against it. Finally, he said, “Just remember that if you find something, call me.”

  “I will.” She took another drink of her coffee and made a face.

  “Not the best in the world,” he said with a laugh. “Sorry about that.”

  “That’s okay.” She stood, acutely aware of the captured images in her pocket. She wanted to rush out and read them immediately, to see what they’d found on Virginia’s computer. She’d never done anything like it before, and she felt a wave of guilt as she stuck out her hand for Threadway to shake.

  He stood and took it, his grip firm. “Keep in touch, April.”

  “I will,” she said. “Thanks for the coffee.”

  April hurried away before he could answer. The law-abiding citizen in her said for her to delete the images as soon as she got to the car. But the curious part of her won. She didn’t dare read it in front of the police station. Instead, she drove a few blocks to a café where she could get a decent cup of coffee.

  She went inside and, as she waited for her order to be filled, she pulled out her phone. The first part of the report was technical, about how someone had tried to wipe out everything, except for the file by T. G. Red.

  But, the report said, good techies could find out what had been deleted. They’d recovered files that showed her work as DeeDee Martin, stories about spankings and sexual BDSM written under the name D. Mathews, and outlines for several other stories.

  She’d just started to read about Virginia’s Internet browsing history when the barista called her name. She picked up her coffee and made her way to one of the few open tables.

  The report started with emails. There were the usual ones from businesses, several from Titan Graves, which made April feel another wave of guilt. She’d left Titan in her bed, and he was probably awake right now, wondering where she was and pissed as hell.

  The pages didn’t show the actual emails, just gave a summary that they were about writing, and a scene in a book that the author was having trouble finishing.

  It was on the third page that April’s eyes widened. Virginia had been visiting a site called Spank-A-Lot, which April had never heard of. The tech said the site was a place for people into the spanking scene to meet. Virginia’s online name was Nia, and she had an ongoing conversation with a man who called himself Heavy-Handed.

  Once again, the conversations were not listed in full, but the tech summarized the talk, saying that Heavy-Handed wanted to whip Nia’s ass until she couldn’t sit for a month. She had begged him to meet her and do just that.

  April’s heart lodged in her chest as she saw their meeting place… Charlie’s, on the night April had seen Virginia there.

  “It’s the man I saw,” April said. She was just taking a sip of her coffee when the images on her screen disappeared and Titan’s name took their place. The phone rang three times before she decided to accept the call.

  “Where are you?” he asked without a greeting.

  “Getting some coffee,” she said. “Would you like me to bring you some?”

  “You left the house at the crack of dawn for coffee?” he asked. She could tell he was not happy.

  “Yes.”

  “I call bull,” he replied. “You have a very expensive machine in your kitchen that does everything but pay your bills for you. Try another excuse.”

  April thought about lying to him, but decided against it. She told him about her early morning visit to Threadway.

  “April.” She imagined him in her house, probably sitting on her bed.

  “He doesn’t think we’re suspects anymore,” she said.

  “Really?” he asked, sarcastically. “And you believe him because…”

  She thought about the report she’d lifted from his desk. “I did a bad thing,” she said. It didn’t take her long to explain how she’d photographed the report.

  “I’ve heard of Spank-A-Lot,” he told her. “It’s a local thing. I’ve never gone there, because I really think it’s a bunch of vanilla people who want to play at being bad.”

  “Look it up on my computer,” she told him. She gave him her password when he asked. The tapping of keys filled the silence as she waited.

  “It’s basically a dating site for people into spanking,” he said. “You have to register, but those things can be faked, you know.”

  “What else does it say?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “I wasn’t finished with it when you called.”

  There was a slight pause. “Bring it here so we can read it together.”

  Before she hung up, he told her to order him a drink. She did so, and as she waited for it to be prepared, she wondered about what she’d done, and why. It gave her information about Virginia, sure, but what could it do, really? To find that out she’d have to finish reading. But she wouldn’t do that until she was at home. It was bad enough that she’d left Titan at home and done what he’d expressly forbidden.

  As she drove to the house, she tried to tell herself that didn’t really matter. Their relationship was in its infancy, and she didn’t have to follow his instructions in all things, did she?

  April hadn’t made a decision on that thought before she arrived. She went inside and found him sitting on the couch, her laptop on his knees. He was tapping keys.

  “Did you create an account?” she asked.

  “I did.” He actually smiled at her. “I’m The Belted One.” April bit back a laugh as he continued. “I’ve already had several women ask me to come over and redden their asses.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “That my calendar was filled for a month,” he informed her. “I’ve looked through the want ads, and there is nobody known as Heavy-Handed on there right now.”

  “Did you see Nia?” she offered him his coffee.

  He took a sip before he said, “Nope.” He took a longer drink before he said, “The site is advertising a spanking event, though, this weekend.”

  “Spanking event?” April sat down next to him, happy that he didn’t seem to be angry with her.

  “Yup. Admission is one hundred fifty dollars a person, or one seventy-five per couple, at a private ranch outside town. You can come and spank, or be spanked, whichever you prefer. But you have to pass an interview beforehand if you want to attend.”

  April reached into her pocket for her phone. She called up the files she’d lifted from Threadway and showed them to Titan. She sat quietly while he read through.

  “It says here that Virginia had already marked her calendar to attend the party.”

  He handed her the phone and she finished reading. “She’d planned on meeting Heavy-Handed there.”

  “Yup.” Titan tapped a few more keys. “What do you want your user name to be? I’ll set up your account, and then we can go through the process and attend the party.”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  He was typing again. “You’re going to be Spank Me Harder and Longer.”

  “Are you kidding me?” She tried to grab the laptop but he pushed her hand away.

  “I was going to make you Miss Red Ass, but it’s already taken.”

  April giggled, then she put her hand on his crotch. “Are you mad at me?”

  “Yes.” He tapped a few more keys, and then put the computer on the table in front of them.

  “Undo my belt. I’m going to give you thirty strokes with it, as punishment, and then you can blow me.”

  “You know, spankings aren’t punishment for me,” she said with a laugh.

  “I know,” he confirmed. “But you’re going to feel it all day. Tonight, I’ll think of something that is real punishment, something you’re not going to like, at all.”

  Chapter Ten

  April’s ass hurt something fierce. Titan’s spanking had been different, mainly because she hadn’t been aroused before, or during, the event. She
supposed it was the first time she’d ever been spanked for punishment, and realized that she didn’t like it. It was not an episode she’d like to repeat.

  It was close to four, after a particularly dead afternoon, when a customer came into the store. It was a woman about April’s age, looking for a few Regency romance novels.

  “Any author in particular?” April asked, wondering if she should ask the woman if she wanted to read a few tales written by April’s lover. The thought rattled her, and for a minute she was flustered, thinking about Titan and wondering if he would work their sex scenes into one of his books. Would he consider the time they spent together research? Or would he try new things out on her? And if he did, would he tell her about it? She needed to discuss these things with him, to see if there was a certain protocol that needed to be followed.

  April asked the young woman if she’d read T. G. Red. The woman said she had, but only a few of the newer ones, and she wanted to know if April had any of the older books.

  They were loading up a sack when the door opened and Threadway entered. He nodded at her before he made his way to one of the chairs and sat down. April’s palms started to sweat as she thought about the pilfered images on her phone.

  The woman said goodbye and April turned her attention to the detective. “How are you?” she asked.

  “Confused,” he replied. ‘Trying to decide if I should charge you, or spank you. But since I can’t really spank you, because my captain would frown upon it, you should know the first option is weighing pretty heavily on my mind.”

  April opened her mouth to protest, but closed it immediately. There was no sense denying what she’d done, since he obviously knew.

  “How did you know?” she asked. “You weren’t in the room.”

  “You were in a room full of cops,” he said as if she should know better.

  “There weren’t that many,” she objected.

  “All it takes is one,” he said with a laugh. “What am I gonna do with you, April?”

  “Charge me,” she said.

  “Too much paperwork,” he countered. “Instead, I’m going to torture you once again and ask if you remember anything, and I mean anything, out of the ordinary during the few days before, or after, Virginia died.”

  April screeched in frustration. “I told you, there’s nothing.”

  “Nothing,” he repeated. “Think about your customers over those days. Anybody stand out?”

  This time April laughed. “My customer base is fairly small lately. I had regulars and one woman looking for war books for her husband’s birthday, and another man looking for Regency romances for his mother, who is in a nursing home. There were a few more shoppers, but those were the only two looking for something specific.”

  She shrugged. “At least I think so. They were the only two that stood out.”

  “Why did they stand out?”

  “Because they were looking for gifts,” she said. “For some reason that struck me. A lot of people don’t think of books as gifts, unfortunately.”

  Threadway stretched his legs out in front of him. “It didn’t strike you as odd that a man was looking for romance novels?”

  April sighed, and repeated the reason the man wanted the books. “Plus, lots of men read romance novels, believe it or not.”

  “What did he look like?”

  ‘Thirties, blond hair, normal build, average height.” She held up her hands. “He was just a customer.”

  Threadway stood. He moved toward the door. Before he reached it, he turned to her. “You got a security camera?”

  “No.” She hoped her look didn’t convey what she thought. She’d spend more money on the security system than she would on lost stock. And money was locked away in a hidden safe before it was deposited.

  “Okay.” He put his hand on the door handle. “April, don’t take this the wrong way, but don’t come down to the station any more and mess around my desk because, paperwork or no, next time I’ll arrest you.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said. She was pretty sure she was lucky he wasn’t slapping the cuffs on her right now.

  Before he could open the door, she called his name. “Do you know if there’s a service for Virginia?”

  “Her parents are taking her to Montana, where she’s from,” he said. “There is a memorial in a couple of days, but there isn’t anything scheduled here.”

  April thanked him. She went to the window and watched. She thought he’d go to his car, but instead he went to the gun shop next door. She wanted to follow him, to see what he was asking Rick, the owner.

  Time to play nosy neighbor, April decided. She stood at the window for about twenty minutes, wondering what was happening. Finally, Threadway exited the store and got into his car. When he’d driven off, April went to the phone and dialed the gun shop’s number.

  “Hey April,” Rick greeted her. She got right to the point and asked what the detective had wanted. Rick said he’d asked about security tapes. Rick had provided him with digital copies of the past two weeks, and the detective had left.

  After April had hung up, she wondered exactly what Threadway hoped to find. She tried to tell herself that it wasn’t her problem to solve. She’d been lucky that Threadway didn’t charge her for messing around on his desk that morning. She needed to behave, despite her desire to stick her nose in the middle of things and find out what happened to Virginia.

  April tried to concentrate on things like alphabetizing books, since people tended to get them out of order while they were browsing. Still she couldn’t help but wonder what Threadway saw on the tapes.

  It didn’t take much for her to decide that he’d seen Virginia and her murderer having a conversation outside the door, which she knew wasn’t true. An image of a blond man holding up a sign that said, “I did it,” flashed through her mind just before Titan arrived.

  He looked especially sexy tonight, wearing jeans and a sweater. April went a little weak at the knees when she saw him, and her bottom, still sore from the last spanking he’d given her, seemed to beg for his attention when he came into the room.

  “I hope you’re ready to be spanked tonight,” he said, leaning against the bookshelf she’d just finished straightening.

  “I’m always ready for it,” she said. “Well, usually. I thought we might skip tonight, considering the last one I got.”

  “Too bad,” he said, a mock pout on his face. “We have our interview for the spanking event tonight.”

  April glanced around, nervous that someone had overheard them. Then she remembered that no one had been in the store since Threadway left.

  “What is the name of this spanking event?” she asked.

  “They’re calling it Belt One, Slap Two,” he said with a laugh.

  April couldn’t help but smile. “Creative,” she said. “And you’re serious about us going?”

  “Very.” He went around her and started to put books in order. “I’ve already paid our money, and our trial spanking, is at eight tonight.”

  The book in April’s hand almost dropped to the ground. “Trial spanking?”

  “Yup.” He straightened a few more titles before he said, “They’re worried about people coming in and causing trouble; you know, calling it abuse and the like. And there are those who think it’s a sex party and they want to crash the orgy. Which is off limits on the premises.”

  “What’s off limits?” she asked.

  “Sex. We have to wait until later for that. No sex allowed. Just spanking.”

  That seemed logical, since it was supposed to be that way at Charlie’s, although April was pretty sure a lot of people broke the rules.

  “So this man wants to watch you spank me tonight.”

  “Yup.” He took a step back. “And to explain the rules, to make sure we know what’s happening. His name is—don’t laugh now—Poindexter.”

  April giggled. “Are you serious?”

  “It could be fake, but that’s what he told me. We’re meeti
ng him at my house tonight.”

  This was a first. April hadn’t been to Titan’s house, and she’d wondered what it looked like, and where it was located. She was about to ask him why he’d set it up there when he supplied the answer for her.

  “I didn’t want him to know where you live, since you’re a single female. I put my address down for both of us on the registration.”

  April pushed a book into place. She grabbed another one, then turned to Titan. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.” She told him about Threadway’s visit, how he’d threatened to throw her in jail if she continued to mess in his investigation.

  “We’re not messing, we’re spanking,” Titan said. He took the book she held and put it in its place on the shelf. “Besides, he won’t even know we’re there.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. “He’ll be there. It’ll be like the police going to the funeral of a murdered person to see if they can find the killer. Virginia planned on attending, so they’ll be going.”

  Titan chuckled, and she stared at him, wondering if he’d understood what she’d just said. “They won’t know we’re there,” he said. “Those attending have the option of wearing masks. We’re going shopping for ours tomorrow.”

  ***

  They hadn’t had much of a chance to talk about masks, because at that moment the bell above the door rang and a customer came in, followed by two more. April was thrilled to have the business, and she tried to push away the idea of going to a party that centered around spankings. She’d never thought that she’d attend an event of that sort. It was hard enough for her to drive to Charlie’s once a month for a spanking.

  But that had all changed since she’d met Titan. For the first time since the whole thing had started, she wondered how Tom felt about her new relationship. He’d been the one to set it up, but it had to be a little hard on his ego that she’d rejected him for months, and practically fallen into bed with Titan.

  Tom was single, and she knew he had other women in his life. Maybe that was why she’d turned him down. Or maybe the right spark wasn’t there. April wasn’t sure.

  They say there’s a match for everyone, she thought after they’d closed the store and Titan drove his car into the Belcaro suburb. At first, she didn’t say anything as they drove through the pricy neighborhood. “Your writing must pay well,” she finally said. “You certainly didn’t buy this house on a teacher’s salary.”