Claudia's Surrender

by S. J. Lewis

  He stood in front of her and pulled her upright by her hair. She knelt, looking up at him, her mouth half opened. She’d picked this particular spot on the floor for a reason. There was a full-length mirror on the inside of the closet door. She’d opened and positioned that door with great care. Out of the corner of her eye, she could just see herself and Sam. She shivered in anticipation. From the first time she’d seen a picture of a bound, naked, kneeling woman with a cock stuffed into her mouth, she’d been fascinated. Now she would get to see how she looked in that position.

  Sam stepped close to her. He was only half-erect, but she could fix that. She leaned forward, groping for him with her mouth and tongue. She took just the head of his cock into her mouth, holding him in her lips while her tongue caressed that very, very sensitive spot on the underside of the shaft. She heard Sam groan. She could feel him swelling, getting harder, and she took him in deeper, making wet little noises. She looked up. Sam was smiling. His eyes were closed, so she took a quick glance at the mirror. Sam was right…she looked beautiful this way. She moaned and closed her eyes. She began to suck him faster, using her tongue freely and expertly. From time to time, she would risk another quick look at the mirror. She began to drool.

  Sam put his hands on the top of her head. It was his signal that he was about to come. She kept sucking. When he first spurted into her mouth, she was looking into the mirror. She saw her eyes widen at the first hot burst and then Sam gripped her head and groaned. His hands blocked her view of the rest.

  Chapter Twelve

  She always traveled with an old-fashioned wind-up alarm clock. It was heavy and ugly and utterly reliable with the most nerve-jarring, unpleasant sound when it went off. It never failed to wake her up. Even better, as long as she had it she didn’t have to rely on wake-up calls or the local power supply.

  Turning the thing off wasn’t as easy as hitting a snooze button either. It was just elaborate enough an operation that by the time she managed it she was well and truly awake. She sat up in the bed, stretched her arms and yawned. The bedcovers fell away from her torso. She felt no chill. Sam must have turned the air conditioning back up before he left. She looked at the spot on the bed next to her. It still had Sam’s impression. She put her head on the pillow he’d used. It still held a little of his scent. She inhaled deeply and smiled. Then she flung the covers back and swung her legs out. The carpeting felt very plush against her bare feet. Last night, she’d been so intent on Sam that she hadn’t noticed. Well, enough of that. She had work to do. Time for a quick shower, a quick breakfast and then…she figured she’d stop by the city police station first, introduce herself, and see if she could scare up any new information. After that, well, it would depend on what she found out, if anything. She’d also have to stop by the county police sooner or later. The crime scene was in their jurisdiction. They might have something, but she was tempted to put that off as long as possible. She really didn’t want to run into that Pipes character again. If things were as bad around here as Sam seemed to think, it wouldn’t do her any good to file a complaint against him. It could make things worse, though. Cops tended to stick together, corrupt ones always did.

  This time when room service arrived she was dressed and ready. She really had been furious with Sam for scaring her so badly last night…for all of a few seconds, anyway. Still, the episode had reminded her to keep her guard up. She took a long look through the peephole in the door before she opened it.

  There was a very pretty young woman in a hotel uniform in the hallway. She was carrying a covered tray. Her skin was a light tan, her hair straight and black, parted in the middle. Could this be the Amparo Sam had mentioned? Claudia opened the door.

  “Good morning. I have brought your breakfast.” The young woman’s smile was dazzlingly bright. Her voice held only a hint of an accent.

  “Good morning,” Claudia responded, stepping aside to let her in. “Are you Amparo?”

  “Oh no, Ma’am, Amparo is my cousin. I am Felicia.” Felicia’s smile told Claudia that she was in on the joke too. Claudia felt her face redden as she realized that Felicia and Amparo had undoubtedly spoken to each other about Sam’s nighttime visit. She had a sudden urge to make the badly rumpled bed herself, rather than provide ammunition for further conversations. She let the urge pass. It was already too late. She just hoped that Amparo and Felicia could keep it between themselves. She was pretty sure neither one of them would guess what had actually happened last night.

  ***

  The city police were no help at all. As far as they were concerned, the whole thing was a county matter and no concern of theirs. She had a brief interview with the chief of police, a lean, balding man probably very near retirement. That hadn’t gone any better. He made it clear that he had a low opinion of private investigators, especially female ones. Before she left, he advised her to be careful not to interfere with any police investigations or he’d have her hauled in. She’d heard that kind of threat before, and she wasn’t impressed. He did seem unhappy to have her around, but he’d also seemed nervous about something.

  The county police were not much more helpful. The chief was even less happy to see her. He didn’t feel compelled to give her any dire warnings, though, and grudgingly agreed to her request to look over the files. A middle-aged officer with baggy eyes and baggier khaki pants brought her a manila folder on the case and pointed out a desk she could use. His desk was nearby, and the whole time she studied the contents of the envelope he sat slumped in his chair, unmoving, watching her. She thought at first that his stare was somehow intended to be intimidating. But, since his whole attitude was one of great and soul-crushing boredom, that seemed unlikely. She tuned him out and concentrated on the files. It was easy. He had all the presence of one of the old, scarred desks that were spotted around the office.

  There wasn’t much to go on. Once again, Claudia was struck with an impression of lazy, sloppy investigative work. Still, it provided a few useful details such as the fact that Anna Turco had phoned in the initial report. Well, that only made sense. She was the number two of the payroll operation. She read further to find that Timothy Pipes had been the first officer to arrive at the scene. Claudia frowned. Okay, maybe it was just possible that he’d been the closest one that morning. Anna had probably been less than thrilled by that. He’d called in his report and sealed off the area. The second car, with officers Danton and O’Reilly, had arrived five minutes later. They found Pipes sitting in his car, engine running and air-conditioner on, with a furious Anna occupying the back seat. Hmm...From the report of the two officers, Pipes had apparently not handcuffed her before stuffing her into the back seat, as per department regulations. Claudia shrugged. He might not have gotten far if he’d tried. Anna seemed to be a very strong woman.

  The rest of the file contained nothing new or useful. She made a few notes before returning it to Baggy Eyes, who hadn’t moved an inch all this time. She handed it to him with a smile and a “thank you”. He accepted all three with the same air of weary indifference with which he seemed to regard the world. She wished she’d had a donut with her. It would be interesting to see if waving one at him could rouse him out of his torpor. Oh, well. She might as well go to her office at Simonds Assurance.

  ***

  It wasn’t dark outside yet, but the shadows were getting pretty long. Claudia leaned back in her chair and sighed. There was so much about all of this…not just the case, but the whole situation…that bothered her. It was a lot like having a bad case of poison ivy where everything itched and scratching didn’t help. Well, at least when she’d called in to her own office back East everything had been all right.

  In her years on the force she’d come across corruption in one form or another. Some people were corrupted by power, some corrupted by lust, but most were corrupted by money. From what Sam had said, this place had grown so big so fast that there was plenty of money floating around…too much money. If the growth had been slower, there would have b
een time to put some checks on any spread of corruption, but it hadn’t happened that way. It was ridiculous to blame the money for the results. The old saw went that money was the root of all evil, but she knew that was a misquote. It was the love of money that was the root of all evil. Well, maybe lust would be a better word than love. She had been glad when Sam had told her he had no part in any of it…but that still left the matter of his missing friend. If he was as smart as Sam seemed to think, he would have had to know what was going on…and yet, he stayed. Had he stayed just so he could make a score of his own, or had there been some other reason? She would have to ask Sam about that.

  Another thing…how much would all that money weigh? How much room would it take up? If it was all in large bills, it could be relatively compact, but she was pretty sure it hadn’t all been in large bills. To get an answer on that subject, she’d have to ask Anna Turco. Well, sometimes you had to do unpleasant things to get the job done.

  That brought her to the job itself. Simonds Assurance didn’t seem to care if she got it done or not. When her time was up, that was it as far as they were concerned, whether she solved the case or not. Sam, on the other hand, very much wanted her to clear his friend, even if it meant finding him dead. She wasn’t sure she could do that, even if she had more time. Sloppy police work aside, the county sheriff’s conclusion was very plausible…Sam’s friend had taken the money and disappeared. Sam seemed to be the only person in the county who thought otherwise.

  And yet…there were too many gaps. No one had seen the missing Mr. Andersen arrive, thanks to the ineptitude of the two security guards. The entrance gate was manned only during normal working hours. After that, access was supposedly controlled by a machine. To get the gate to open, you had to insert an encoded card. Mr. Andersen’s card had been used the night he went missing, at about 8:00 PM. That proved nothing, except that the card had been used, and anybody could have used it. The machine kept no photographic record. For that matter, the gate itself was a joke. It would keep a car from getting in, but someone on foot could slip past it with only a little difficulty. It would be entirely possible for a perp to wait until Mr. Andersen had entered, sneak in behind him, make their way to the office…

  Yes, it could be done that way…maybe. Afterwards, all they’d have to do was haul everything away in Mr. Andersen’s car. The gate records showed that his card had been used to exit the place at 8:45. Plenty of time to load a body and all the cash into the trunk of the car and then drive off. Yes, it was plausible, but it was also a lot of work for just one person. There had also been no sign of a struggle inside the office, which meant either that Mr. Andersen had been taken by surprise, or he’d known and trusted the person who’d attacked him. Or possibly it meant something else entirely. She sighed.

  She got up out of her chair and began pacing. Whether it helped her to think or not, it at least gave her body something to do while her mind was busy. The one thing that really bothered her was that whoever had done it had picked the one night when both security guards had been neutralized. That was a little too convenient to be entirely coincidental. Tomorrow, she’d have to see if she could interview those two. She had their names and addresses off of the police reports.

  There was a knock at her office door. She stopped pacing. “Yes?”

  “Ms. Cole?” She recognized the voice. It was Esther. The door opened. Esther took a step into Claudia’s office. She was alone and the front office looked dark.

  “What is it?”

  “Ah…it’s well after five now, Ms. Cole. I was wondering if you’d still need me?”

  “Oh.” Claudia shrugged. “I suppose not.” Actually, she’d barely used Esther at all so far. She wasn’t used to having a secretary. “And just call me Claudia.”

  “All right,” Esther smiled and nodded. She paused. “How is it going?”

  Claudia sighed. “Too many questions, not enough answers. But it’s early yet.”

  “Ah…may I ask you something…Claudia?”

  “All right.”

  Esther looked behind her briefly before continuing. “I was just wondering…how do you know Mr. Pender?”

  “What do you mean?” The question put Claudia on her guard immediately.

  “Well,” Esther hesitated. “I’ve been working for this company for twenty years, and this all seems very irregular to me. I’ve heard that Mr. Pender pulled some strings to arrange this.” She shrugged. “It may well be true. He seems to be a very forceful man. I…was just curious as to why he insisted on the company hiring you for this job.”

  “Oh.” Claudia eyed Esther carefully. The older woman’s face was a mask of innocent curiosity. She let the silence drag on for a moment, until Esther began to look puzzled.

  “I don’t think that’s at all important, Esther.”

  “Oh.” Esther shrugged. “All right.” She acted as if it really wasn’t important, but Claudia was sure she’d seen a quick flash of anger in the other woman’s eyes. “May I go now?”

  “Of course.” Claudia nodded. “I might as well go myself. I have a lot of thinking to do, and I can do that pretty much anywhere.” She also didn’t want to be here alone after hours. This building had only a couple of video cameras for security, and that just wasn’t enough for her peace of mind.

  She waited while Esther locked the offices and rode down to the ground floor on the elevator with her. Esther seemed to have nothing to say now. Maybe it was due to hurt feelings, but Claudia rather doubted that. She was certain that the other woman was angry. Had she thought it would be easy to pump her for information? And if that had been what she was trying to do, who wanted that information?

  From as far back as she could remember, she’d always loved detective movies, especially the old black-and-white ones with the tough-guy characters and the snappy dialogue. There had been something almost romantic about them, with the lone hero setting out to right wrongs. Now she was in the middle of her very own film noir, and from this vantage point it wasn’t all that romantic. She felt edgy, maybe even a little nervous. It always seemed as if she was being watched. The constant tension had her more than a little aroused. She wondered if there was something wrong with her.

  As she and Esther went their separate ways to their cars, she reached up to pat her shirt pocket. Just being able to feel the small cellphone Sam had given her made her feel a little safer. She wanted very much to call him, if only to hear his voice, but he’d told her it was only for an emergency. She didn’t think that feeling lonely and horny would qualify.

  Once in her car, with the doors locked, she leaned back in the seat and thought about what she should do next. Well, she was hungry. Dinner was probably in order. The hotel had a restaurant and the food was pretty good, but she didn’t really feel like having a meal she could have anywhere in the world that the chain had built a hotel. She considered cruising around to find something more regional. The memory of the meal she’d shared with Anna made her reconsider.

  She started the car. To hell with it. She’d go back to the hotel and order room service. Maybe Sam would take the opportunity to sneak in and ravish her again. That thought distracted her just enough that she cruised through a yellow traffic light. Maybe she’d had enough room to come to a stop and maybe she hadn’t, but the flashing lights of a police car flamed on behind her almost immediately.

  “Damn,” she gritted through clenched teeth. She looked for a spot to pull over. A lot of the city seemed to shut down in the evening, but a little ways up ahead she could see lights and people. It looked like a street full of bars and restaurants. She flipped on the turn signal and slowed down. She wasn’t going to come to a stop until she was where lots of other people could see her.

  The trailing police car sounded its siren. People up ahead turned to look. Perfect. She came to a stop and sat quietly with both hands on the steering wheel. The police car stopped right behind her, light s still flashing. In her side view mirror, she saw an officer get out and approach. Wh
oever he was, he hadn’t been trained well. Instead of halting a little bit behind her, he stood right in front of the window and rapped on it.

  She looked up at him. Oh, great! It was Officer Timmy Pipes, still wearing his body armor and sunglasses. She rolled down the window. “Yes, Officer?” she asked. She would have smiled nicely for any other cop, but she just didn’t feel like smiling at this one.

  “License and registration, please.”

  “Of course.” She retrieved the rental papers from the center console and offered them, with her license. “Is there some problem, Officer?”

  Pipes made a big production out of looking over the documents. “You ran a red light back there,” he said at last.

  “I’m sure it was yellow, Officer.”

  “It was red.” He still held on to the papers.

  Claudia shrugged. “Then I suppose you’ll have to give me a citation, Officer.”

  “Wait here.” He stalked off back to his cruiser.

  Even with the sun almost set, it was too warm to sit in her car for any length of time. She was sure Pipes was going to take as much time as he could to make her sweat, both literally and figuratively. She didn’t plan on doing either one. She opened the door and got out. This way, she could get some air and lots of people would get a good look at her as well. She leaned against the fender and waited. It was funny. Years ago, she’d taught a women’s self-defense course as part of her police duties. She’d never expected to be resorting to some of the tactics she’d taught. She was certain of one thing: She wasn’t getting into the police car with Pipes, no matter what.

  There were a lot of young men coming out of or going into the shops, singly or in small groups. Some of them paused to look at the long-legged redhead lounging against her car. She smiled and nodded at them. One of the rules, make sure that you’re seen. Pipes stayed in his patrol car, probably wondering what to do next. She chuckled to herself. Now he was probably doing the sweating, but she was wondering what he’d do next as well. He was well out of his jurisdiction. If he tried to arrest her on any pretext at all, she was going to have the mother of all screaming fits. That would attract even more attention, and she was sure that attention was the last thing Pipes wanted.