FIRST ONE DOWN: A Paul Sutton Novel

by R. J. Belle

  "Do not scream, Kali, I told you that I was going to punish you, and you know why, you know you deserve the punishment you are receiving, and I expect you to take it, quietly. Before this day is over, what I just did to you will be what you are begging for. Once you feel how much pain I can bring to you, you will beg for this, because this, what you are experiencing right now, will become pleasurable, the only relief you get. Do you understand, Kali?"

  It required a great deal of effort, but she was able to nod her head yes. Once she did so, he removed his hand from her mouth, and kissed her lips. Pushing his lips forcefully against hers, he took her bottom lip in his teeth and bit down; the taste of blood filled her mouth, and she fought against the tears that began to fill her eyes. It was in that moment that she knew he was going to kill her. That switch had flipped permanently and no amount of on-the-fly psychological manipulation that she could think up was going to save her. She took herself back to a sun filled sky in her mind, and this time she stared with both eyes wide open, straight into it.

  He stood up and one at a time removed the chains that bound her wrists. Lifting her up by the hips, he turned her over onto her stomach and secured the end of each chain back to a hook, screwed to a wood plank above her head. Her wrists were no longer racked with pain, they had grown numb, every part of her had - inside and outside. Lifting her hips again, he tucked her legs in, so she was on her knees, and then he backed away from her body.

  She heard the crack, twice this time, prior to feeling the leather slash against her skin. Her back became hot where the whip landed. She clamped her teeth together and kept her screams in, hearing them in her head, but preventing them from escaping from her mouth which was filing with the taste of her own blood. Then the cracking sound ended. She felt his hand come around to her mouth, a soft cloth pressing against her face, covering her mouth and nose; then the darkness returned. Then, nothing.

  CHAPTER 42

  Sutton got Olivia settled into a motel downtown, near the station, then set out to look for Ryan at the station promising her he would check in on her later that evening.

  When he got off the elevator on the third floor, he found Ryan sitting at his desk, talking on the phone. Sutton sat in his chair, and began looking through the stack of paper and messages that littered the top of his metal desk. He came across the profiler's updated report and began reading through it. As he expected, it contained nothing that he hadn't already put together. He opened the growing case file, and tucked the report inside just as Ryan was ending his call.

  "We got the warrant. Is your witness settled in?" Ryan grumbled his tone tense.

  "Ya, she's all taken care of, did you locate Ms. Hanson?" Sutton asked.

  "No, and the big guy caused us some red tape issues, I'm sure you'll hear all about it," Ryan said shaking his head in disbelief at what Andrew had done to the front door of Kali's condo, "You have any ideas on where to look for the girl?"

  "I do, I've been trying to put the growing number of pieces together all day, and the main renegade piece that we have is Megan James." He ran his hand through his thick hair, which was a wild, tangled mess from the long trip. "The girl has motive on multiple levels, and I did some digging on her and her family during my flight. She's quite a piece of work, herself. I would put her at a level similar to that of Nate Warner. She's the root cause of a lot of people's misery. I can't be sure the two of them are in collusion, but I am sure that Megan James has more to do with every bad thing going on around her than she would ever freely admit. Let's start there, with Megan James. Can you pull property records for both Megan James and the James family, including properties owned by the family's corporation? I'm going to call the big guy, and get him on a leash; we don't need to muddy the waters anymore than they already are on this one."

  "I'm on it, and Sutton," Ryan said, turning his chair all the way around so he was facing his partner, "good job on this one."

  "You can say that again when we get this one down," Sutton said returning his attention to the stack of papers on his desk. He didn't have much time for pacing.

  CHAPTER 43

  Not knowing where else to go or where to look, Andrew returned to Kali's condo. He intended to read through her journals in an attempt to try to understand the back story of her relationship with Nate Warner hoping that could point him in a direction, any direction, a place they frequented, something that might clue him in on where to start searching for her at.

  Doing nothing made Andrew feel helpless, useless, and thinking back to what Ryan had said about her journals holding the key to her current location, he figured it was worth a try.

  Pulling the stack of journals from her nightstand, he looked at the date on the first page of each journal. They went back for years and he could only identify one that seemed to be missing. He began with the most current and started reading his way backwards through Kali's life.

  The majority of the pages, including the recent entries, were filled with tales of hurtful memories and sleepless nights. Remembering how she had told him that her past few years had been 'tough' was an exaggeration on her part, he thought, and reading through her personal thoughts, he realized that she was emotionally tormented daily by her experiences with Nate Warner.

  As he continued reading on, the foreign sensation of hot tears filling his eyes forced him to stop. He couldn't bear learning any more of the intimate details of the memories that plagued this beautifully broken woman. A woman he had fallen in love with and a woman that he would give anything to protect.

  Shutting the black journal he placed it, along with the others, back into the nightstand next to Kali's bed and exited her bedroom. It made more sense now. That far away look that she held in her eyes frequently, and the way her thoughts seemed to randomly wander off mid conversation. She was trapped by the past, held there, suspended in time and unable to escape.

  Andrew said a silent prayer, a prayer for her freedom from the pain that held her hostage. A prayer that he would be fortunate enough to witness that release.

  CHAPTER 44

  Meg dialed Nate's number again. This time Nate answered, on the first ring.

  "Hello Megan, why are you calling?" he asked.

  "Where are you Nate?" Meg asked.

  "Questions? Are you supposed to ask me questions, Megan?"

  "Listen you sick fucker, I know you have Kali. I want to know where you are, and if you do anything to harm her I will kill you," Meg shouted.

  Nate began laughing, low and deep, "Megan, poor, little rich girl, are you jealous? Do you wish it were you here with me?"

  "Are you being serious, Nate, where the fuck is Kali?" Meg asked again, screaming this time.

  "Mmmm...Kali, she is here with me, but she is sleeping peacefully at the moment. She's had a rather, hmmm, a rather painful evening; you remember how exhausting that can be, don't you, Megan?" Nate said, as a horse outside of the barn whinnied loudly, he immediately hung up the phone.

  Meg looked down at the display on her phone indicating that the call ended, but she had what she needed. She knew precisely where he was. She had taken him there on multiple occasions because it was the one place she knew of where nobody could hear you scream. She went into her expansive, walk in closet, stood on her tippy toes, and reached up to pull down a small black box from the top shelf. After retrieving it, she slid the combination lock to the correct sequence of numbers and the box opened. A feeling of power came over her as she held the .44 Magnum in her hand. It was heavy and the barrel was long, but her father had told her that she wanted a gun that she could point, shoot and kill, period. She didn't like having a gun in her house, and she had initially argued against it. Today, she was glad that he had won that argument.

  When she was five minutes away from the vacant stable building, at the farthest back corner of her father's fifteen-acre Rancho Santa Fe horse property, she dialed Sutton's cell number and put her phone on speaker.

  "Sutton here."

  "Hello detect
ive this is Meg James, and I am at twenty-two hundred Galloping Horse Canyon Drive, in Rancho Santa Fe. I'm at the small stable building on the back northeast corner of the property," her voice was slow, controlled and eerily calm, "and detective, I just shot Nate Warner, please send someone out."

  "Megan, are you okay?" Sutton asked, jumping up from his desk, and motioning Ryan to follow him.

  "Yes, I'm fine, and I found Kali Hanson. Please send someone detective," Meg said, and ended the call

  Before she turned her cell phone off and threw it under the passenger side seat, she sent one more text. After she hit send, tears filled her eyes. She had betrayed the one person she truly loved and the only person in her whole life that had ever loved her, just for her, for who she was, and for who she wasn't. Kali meant everything to her, and she couldn't live with what she had done. She couldn't bear the weight of having hurt her best friend so deeply. She knew what she had to do, it was time to end Nate Warner's game. It was time to send the entire kingdom down, crashing it to the dirty, evil ground from which it was created.

  Knowing that what she was about to do would have the ability to ruin her family's name did little to dissuade her impulsive plan. But, as she walked towards the stable, she committed one last act of loyalty for her father and added a little twist to her last minute planning. Although, the call she had just placed to Detective Sutton might foil her efforts, it was worth a shot.

  CHAPTER 45

  Sutton called the Sheriff's department and had units and emergency services dispatched to the James property. He and Ryan took off speeding towards the Rancho Santa Fe property, lights and sirens on. Once they were en route, Sutton dialed Andrew's number on his phone, intending to keep the promise he had made to the big guy.

  "Did you find her?" Andrew asked his voice wrought with concern.

  "Yes, we're en route to her confirmed location now," Sutton exhaled sharply, pausing briefly while contemplating what he was about to do, "if you did an internet search for the James family's horse property, you might find what you're looking for Mr. Carmichael." Hanging up Sutton displayed a brief, small smile. He hoped it wasn't too late.

  Ryan looked over at him and shook his head, "You are one crazy old man, Sutton, but you're a damn good detective."

  "You can go ahead and talk me up now partner, we just got our first one down," Sutton said, turning to Ryan, his smile widening.

  CHAPTER 46

  Nate sat at the opening of the hay-lined stall, watching Kali, as she struggled to come to. He gazed upon her soft pale skinned back, now marred with imperfection, slightly arched and her long, slender arms pulled out in front of her, bound by the metal chains that were secured slightly above her head. Her arms looked as if they were reaching out, begging for more, her dark, matted, mess of hair falling down around her face, strands laying over her neck and along her back...like a dark goddess, so perfect, so willing to pleasure her Master, and so willing to absorb the pain. She was truly perfect.

  Waiting longer than expected, he wondered if he may have put too much ether on the cloth this time. She had been out for too long. He wanted her awake. He was just getting started. He brought the wooden leg spreader in from the truck and, as he sat and sharpened the silver blade of his hunting knife, he fantasized about what her final screams would sound like and it was in those moments, listening to the sharp sound of the knife blade scraping against the sharpening stone that he realized that he had become what he loathed most. He had become a monster able to take away a life, and able to do so brutally and without regret or remorse. He sat there lost in thought, letting the visualization of that inevitable moment soak in, savoring the thought of it and creating a new, dark fantasy. Suddenly his ears filled with the ringing sound of a gunshot, then he felt a quick piercing pain at the side of his head then, the darkness grew. Then, nothing.

  CHAPTER 47

  Megan James set the .44 down on the hay and quickly removed her clothing. Picking up the sharpened knife that had fallen from Nate's hand, she sliced wildly at her own body, opening her flesh in multiple areas.

  She walked with buckling knees toward Kali's battered body. She felt her heart shatter in a million pieces upon witnessing the sight of her best friend, and what she imagined Kali must have been forced to endure before fading away. In that moment, Meg wished she hadn't acted so hastily, wished she had kept Nate alive long enough to force the same level of pain upon him.

  She walked slowly, her blood dripping onto the stable floor, along the way back to Nate's body. She swung her arms around, knocking over every item within her reach, creating a scene of chaos.

  Picking up the .44 again, she sat near Nate's lifeless body, held his hands in hers, assisting them to hold onto the gun, as she fired multiple shots into an empty area of the stable.

  Then, in one final act of her version of loyalty, this time to her best friend, she lifted the .44 up with her own hands, opened her mouth and fired one last shot.

  CHAPTER 48

  When the first responders arrived, they found a man deceased from an apparent gunshot wound to the head, and a young woman slumped over next to him, also deceased, also from an apparent gunshot wound. As the scene was being secured, one of the officers stumbled upon a woman brutally beaten and bound by chains in a horse stall at the very back of the small stable building.

  "Send the medic in," he yelled to his partner, as he attempted to free her wrists from the chains that bound them.

  As Andrew Carmichael pulled up to the scene, his heart stopped. Law enforcement and emergency vehicles littered the large, dirt area surrounding the stable building. He slammed the rental into park and took off at a full sprint into the stable. Making his way past law enforcement personnel, he saw her body, lifeless.

  "What the hell, oh my God!" Andrew screamed out, upon seeing Kali, strung up in the stall, her nude body bruised and bleeding. He ran over, breaking free from the grip one of the officers had on him; tearing off his jacket he placed it over her body while the other officer continued to try to free her. Once her arms were free, two officers held Andrew back as the medics looked her over. An oxygen mask was placed over her face and the last thing Andrew remembered hearing was one of the medic's voices, "She's breathing!"

  Sutton and Ryan, with the help of one of the officers on scene, secured Andrew in the back of the Crown Vic. By that time, the scene was crawling with emergency medical personnel, officers from multiple departments, local investigators - it was a cluster.

  Kali was rushed to a nearby hospital, and Andrew was taken to the station in San Diego. Sutton stayed on to oversee the investigation, and worked the scene until late in the night. All of the pieces of the puzzle were strewn about the floor, but the difference this time was that Sutton knew where they all fit. All except for one. Megan James.

  In the interest of allowing peace to be restored to those involved and still among the living, this was a puzzle Sutton would leave partially unsolved.

  CHAPTER 49

  December 24, 2011

  Carlsbad, CA

  It's been almost four weeks since I lost my best friend. My heart still hurts, and I imagine it always will. I admire her courage for coming out to rescue me, knowing it meant putting her own life at risk. But, I think she knew what she was going to do before she pulled that trigger; I think she knew what she was going to do when she sent me that last text message. I wish I could have been there, to tell her it was okay and that I forgave her. If I had been, she might still be here.

  The James family has the right to continue to believe a prettier version of this story. The heroic light cast on their only child is an ill-gotten gift, but one that I would never steal from them by exposing the truth.

  Meg would want me to find the good in this tragic situation, that's what she would do. I search, daily, for that light - like the light that Meg cast on everyone around her. I talk to Olivia about her, a lot. You would think she'd get tired of hearing about Meg all the time, but she doesn't, not ever. She even
encourages me by asking about Meg frequently, and I tell her stories from our childhood. About funny things we did and happy times we had. I tell Olivia the bad too, like how certain parts of Meg's life really were, and how I hated to see that light in her fade little by little, over the years.

  It's ironic, Olivia and I, and the friendship we've formed. They say that out of every tragedy a chance for something beautiful is born, and I suppose that something beautiful would be Olivia and I. And the fact that Olivia has a family now, mine. She fits right in with my wacky little family. Mom say's she's like the sister I never had, and it always makes Olivia get this huge, sweet smile on her face. Her smile reminds me so much of Meg's smile. I don't know if I created that resemblance in my mind, trying to soothe my own grief, and I don't really care. Being with Olivia makes me feel closer somehow to Meg, as if we are still connected, and that feels good.

  Andrew left yesterday for Virginia. We agreed to keep in touch, but we both realize that we have healing to do and that can't be done together. We both have hurts that a few months, or years aren’t going to heal. I'm so thankful he was here with me during all that transpired over these past few months. I learned a lot from our time together. I learned that being broken doesn't mean you can't ever be put back together again. I also learned that my heart is capable of loving another man, and I do love Andrew. The most important thing that I learned is that Nate Warner didn't ruin me and that I'm not damaged beyond repair. The man who will someday be in my life will look at that part of me without judgment. He will see my patched up pieces as a sign of strength, and beauty, and a part of my past that made me who I am today. And, he will love me for all of my past. The good and the ugly.