She was lying, but about what I couldn’t tell just yet.
“What about the other girls?” I prompted, nearly drawing the ire of her security detail. I shrugged them off; I was no threat to them, they could have taken me out at any time by now. I knew how that shit worked, but it wasn’t going to stop me from finding out what I needed to know.
Veronica had this look like she really didn’t want to re-visit this mess any further, but she also knew that there was no other choice in the matter. “He came up with a system. Terrance always had several submissives at the same time. He picked the girl that was most compliant and started, well, brainwashing her. He was always controlling, and he became even more controlling after that. He moved her through progressive stages until she was ready to do anything for him. Then he moved her into the apartment. That was his idea, to make a little extra money. He told me the guys in Dallas loved that idea, loved his system. They were going to use it in other places.”
“And after he’d given them two girls they told him he owed them interest and had to work that off?” I guessed.
She huffed derisively. “Hardly; he asked them how much they’d pay per girl and he went into business. He used to brag about how he was the only real slave-master in Atlanta; that everyone else was just pretending.”
I nodded. I’d heard Aris say as much myself. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
She hadn’t met my eyes yet and now was not the exception. “I was an accomplice. Beyond that, he had pictures of me, videotapes. He could ruin my husband without ever once mentioning the girls and if he was arrested for that, he said he’d try to cut a deal and pin the blame on me. Besides, neither of us expected we’d live for long if it looked like we might testify against the men in Dallas. I have a lot of bad reasons.”
I nodded. I wasn’t particularly fond of her stance, but I’d had bad reasons for doing things in the past. I sympathized, but only to a degree. “People have died, Veronica; Terrance, a few of the girls that were in service to him, not to mention his latest slave as well. Someone made an attempt on my life and, of course, Selena must have told you about Torres.”
“Did you really shoot him?” she asked.
“Yeah, I shot him. I’ve got this thing about violence towards women in general and violence towards me in particular. He annoyed me, so I shot him,” I honestly told her. “There’s more like him, though. You’re going to have to say something, Veronica, testify in court. They’ve got to be put out of business.”
She shook her head. “I won’t do that. My husband is a decent man, an honest politician, and that’s saying a lot considering the craziness going on up there in DC, and this would destroy his career. If it was just my marriage, it would be one thing. Besides, they’d kill me. Look, I’ve told you everything I know. Just take that and go to the police. They can find the evidence they need.”
I shook my head. “Prostitution rings are broken when the police manage to turn one of the prostitutes and convince her to testify. You and Selena are the only two I know about, and neither one of you wants to testify.”
She flung the remains of her second cigarette on the grass next to her while she thought. “What if I hired you to put them out of business?”
Are you kidding me? This woman is hiring me to clean up a mess that I had nothing to do with, all to protect her pristine little marriage?
“Mrs. Emerson, before we follow this line of discussion any further I feel I need to remind you that soliciting someone to commit a crime is, in itself, a serious crime and that someone can be charged with soliciting a crime even if no crime is actually committed. Bearing that in mind, what were you thinking of?”
“I was thinking of something illegal,” she said in an irritated tone. “But since that’s not an option, what could you legally do to put these men out of business? Can’t you dig up something and give it to the police?”
“Like what?” I demanded. “Despite what you’ve seen on television, Mrs. Emerson, the police have far more resources they can apply to a case. I’ve got time and the ability to pursue methods unavailable to the police. The second is a pretty slim advantage and the first is expensive; particularly when I don’t have any idea of what to look for.”
“Money’s not a big problem,” she told me. “As for what to look for... Terrance said he had tapes, video recordings of all the girls, and some of his dealings with the men in Dallas. I’ll pay you to find those recordings. That would be evidence that could be used to put them out of business.”
Something didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. It felt like a plant was in the making, but I couldn’t prove it, and that really pissed me off.
“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll look for those recordings. I’ll fax you a contract later. How are you going to explain hiring me to your husband?”
She smiled thinly. “He doesn’t need to know. I want you to be very discrete with those tapes. Just give them to me and I’ll make certain the proper people get the evidence they need,” then she stood up and walked away.
The heavies, joined by a third man, escorted her into a waiting car which drove away, followed by the car that had brought me here.
Damn, not even a kiss before I get fucked over?
They could have at least dropped me off back at home or something?
I sighed and began to scroll the phone for a cab.
Before I got to a local listing, my cell phone rang.
“Law,” I answered gruffly, still a little angry at being left without a ride home.
“We found Jenna, Master,” Niki sweetly said in my ear. From the sound of it, she wasn’t at work at that particular moment. “Your bodyguards are bringing her to Your office within the hour.”
That was good news, definitely. But that still left the fact that I was still sweating and irritated in the middle of Piedmont Park.
“Good girl, I’ll be there, I just need to get a ride home first.”
“I’ve never felt so turned on in my life, considering I was, shall we say, forced to be in this position, I’ll give you that, Mr. Law,” I heard the voice cooing as I stepped into my office.
I found Jenna sitting in one of the rolling chairs that was facing my desk, with one of my bodyguards ‘making sure’ no harm comes to her, fawning over her like she was soon to become a prized trophy girlfriend.
Considering that she was about to become a material witness, it was a rather cavalier attitude that she possessed.
She wore a sundress, clogged heels, and her hair in a ponytail. She flirted her ass off with my guard like she didn’t have a care in the world.
It was not exactly the attire that I expected her to be in, considering all of the ‘pretty’ comments from Selena, Ariel, and Veronica. But I guess even the pretty ones are allowed to have their casual moments, too.
But she had that type of beauty that, makeup or not, a man would do a double take trying to get a second, and lasting, glance at her.
I guess that’s why my employee felt a little disturbed and somewhat disappointed that I needed Jenna isolated so that the interrogation could commence.
Jenna blew him a sweet kiss as if to say, we can pick up where we left off after I’m done.
“I’m guessing that someone is in a lot of trouble for you to go through all of this to find me,” she winked at me, almost as if she were waiting on me to come for her. “If you wanted me, you could have simply asked.”
The response to her rhetoric was a slap across the cheek, which sent her flying across the floor.
“So, now that we’ve gotten the foreplay out of the way,” I walked up to her while she was holding her cheek, “do you think that you can help me to fill in the blanks concerning the events surround the death of
Terrance Lloyd?”
“They told me you were good,” she remarked as she crossed her legs, still slightly nursing her cheek. “To be honest, I didn’t think you would have figured out that peaches killed her Master.”
&nb
sp; I tried to keep my emotions in check, but that statement hit me like a ton of bricks.
peaches killed Aris?!?!?!?!?
“Enlighten me, how did this all go down, Jenna?” I asked, retrieving a bottle of water from the refrigerator in the corner of my office. “Does Veronica know where you are?”
“Who do you think tipped off your boys to where I was?” she asked again, her lips curling up into a smirk. “I was on the way to her house when she dropped dime on me so that they could bring me here. The only reason she would have done that is if she was trying to finger me for the murder, too.”
This was becoming a bit too much. “Why would peaches kill her Master? she didn’t possess the will to do it,” I kept my wits about me; Jenna could be trying to cover her own ass, too.
“peaches is not as meek as you think, Detective,” she smugly told me, until I threw the photos of the crime scene where peaches was murdered in her face.
“You mean was not as meek, Jenna. peaches was murdered a week ago,” I locked eyes with her, watching the pure horror in her eyes as she began to realize that Veronica might have been pulling the strings on this whole thing.
Jenna’s eyes were still fixed upon the photos, almost as if she were envisioning her own scene if she said anything further without a lawyer present and police protection promised. “She’ll kill me, too, if I testify against her.”
She must have been born last night, because I honestly couldn’t believe that she didn’t count on hearing her voice saying the words, I didn’t think you would have figured out that peaches killed her Master, from the digital recorder that I had in my pocket.
Jenna took another sip of the water that I gave her, and as calmly as she could, she stated, “I’ll tell you what you need to know, but I’m not testifying in court to it. You’ll have to find another way to nail that bitch.”
She must have thought that she saw a monster by the way that my face contorted after hearing her voice her opinion and take that stance.
What the hell was the point of a confession if you couldn’t use it in court?
“I’m a dead woman if I talk,” she pleaded with me, her eyes looking up at me as if she would do anything, anything to keep from turning snitch.
At that point, Ramesses walked into the office. Jenna turned around and saw who was approaching her.
A few different curse words flew from her mouth.
Needless to say, my mentor was the last person she expected to see.
“Hello, safi,” Ramesses coldly greeted. “I see that you haven’t learned your lesson.”
Jenna shook where she sat, as if she was in the presence of the Grim Reaper or something. She kept rubbing her palms over and over again, and her right foot was tapping on the hardwood floor at a rapid pace.
Gone was the sensuality and swagger that she coldly and smugly showed when she thought she had the upper hand and I needed her.
Now, she looked like a teenager that was trying hard not to piss her daddy off with any more lies that would fly out of her mouth.
It was a very interesting sight to behold, honestly; I’d always known that Ramesses could have this
effect on submissives and slaves, but I’d never actually seen it in person before.
I guess reputations really could precede you, good, bad or legendary.
“m’Lord, i honestly had nothing to do with Aris’ murder, i swear,” she began to sing like her life depended on it at that point. “i mean, i was there, but i had no direct involvement. Please, m’Lord, You have to believe me.”
It then occurred to me…
safi?
The same safi that caused all that mess with Master Amenhotep?
I guess it would have never occurred to me because I never got a chance to find out what she looked like during that whole mess.
Damn. Why do all the fine ones have to come with a ‘drama’ tag?
“I am going to need to know everything you know, safi,” Ramesses kept his demeanor even-tempered as he stared deeply into Jenna’s eyes. “After that, you will disappear. I have a place on the west coast that you can start fresh from. No more nonsense, are we understood?”
“Yes, m’Lord,” she sheepishly replied. “i was only doing what i was told by Veronica. She used us to get back at Aris and the boys in Dallas.”
Jenna recounted every detail of the events of that night; the principal players involved, peaches, Selena, Veronica, herself; how she used a stun gun to immobilize him, and then Veronica commanding peaches and Selena, who had become devoted to her, to lift Aris onto the Cross; and finally, peaches literally putting the bag over her Master’s head and watching as Selena used the brands to get her final revenge as he took his last breath, and then replacing the plastic bag with the hood.
“she even had the nerve to kiss him after all the torture, like she really never intended for it to happen,” she tried to shake the whole scene from her memory. “m’Lord, i honestly thought that all they were going to do was teach him a lesson. But then they left him up there to crush under his own weight, and they promised me that i would suffer for telling anyone about the murder. Especially because my motive would be based on the fact that he left me to rot with them in Dallas.”
I believed her, and I think Ramesses did as well.
It was hard not to.
And considering that she and Ramesses had history, I was willing to go on a little faith.
“m’Lord, i kept my promise to You,” Jenna repeated with tears in her eyes. “You can ask the folks in Vegas. i received permission to meet them down in Dallas, but then i got ‘sold’, and it got really ugly from there. If a client hadn’t helped me escape…”
Ramesses nodded, as if he’d already done just that. “you have, little one, I already know this, or I wouldn’t be offering what I’m offering to you. I have a car waiting for you downstairs. In the car, you will find airline tickets to your destination. Don’t worry about your belongings, they will be sent to you once you are settled. you have your entrance interview for your new job a week from today, and you will be expected to begin work the following week. you will do this under the command that you do not set foot in Georgia again, or certain ‘persons’ will become privy to your false accusations from the past. Am I understood?”
“Yes, m’Lord, i will do as You command,” Jenna gathered her belongings and quietly left the office.
He could feel the questions flowing off of me.
“To answer your question, young’un, yes, we let her off the hook. Yes, we will not be able to pin this murder on either Selena or Veronica, so get over it, we don’t always get the bad guy,” Ramesses said, still
in complete control of his emotions as he answered me.
I wish I could say the same.
My temperature rose about ten degrees easily, and I was getting hotter by the second. “But we have them dead to rights, Sir. I can get Veronica to crack with this information, I know it.”
“And she will make a few calls and have us shut down by the end of the month,” Ramesses retorted, beginning to show signs of severe irritability now. “This isn’t the PD, Dom, there are other rules to follow, but there’s more than one way to skin a bitch.”
“So, what’s the move?” I asked.
“Dig up what you can on Aris,” he replied, stroking his goatee. “I’ve got to make a few calls of my own, and I might just have an ace for you to use on Mrs. Veronica Emerson.”
~Twenty-One~
It’s not particularly difficult to find out information about people, it’s just time consuming.
But with enough time and patience, you could find out anything about anyone. Add the resources and the best crack team money could fund, and the patience no longer needed to be as extensive as it needed to be.
I started with the Internet and then moved into credit reports and from there to bank information and from there to really personal stuff. Most of what I was doing was legal; some of it was even ethical. By the end of the day I
had a pretty good picture of whom and what Terrance Lloyd was: a son of a bitch.
I think we could all agree on this characterization.
He was pretty transparent, too. He hadn’t tried to hide his illicit income by burying it. Instead, he’d put everything out in the open.
Terrance was a website consultant in his vanilla life. He even had his own website offshoot, offering his services in helping web pornographers develop their sites. He called himself a ‘content specialist’. His bank account showed cash deposits that roughly matched the dates on the video footage from the Acquiescent Sluts website. There were also some other fairly sizeable payments that occurred at irregular intervals, two and three thousand dollar payments.
Niki could probably find out more information, but I had already decided that I wasn’t going to use her as a source. She was going to catch a lot of shit when our relationship saw the light of day and it was toss-up as to which was going to be worse, dating a ‘freak’ or dating a private investigator. And while it probably wouldn’t help public perception of her, I wasn’t going to add anything that hinted of inappropriate professional behavior to the list.
Which left me... where exactly? Let’s recount…
One dead client who had hired me to find her Dominant…
One ‘missing’ submissive who somehow ended up not missing comes in to implicate the dead client as one of the persons who killed the dead client’s Dominant… who now finds herself as a part of a kinkster ‘witness protection program’, only she’s not recounting what she witnessed to anyone that will be able to use the information to put the person responsible behind bars.
One dead Dominant who’d turned out to be a real bastard brainwashing selected submissives and selling them into prostitution.
One supposedly legitimate company in Houston that was apparently the front for a prostitution ring in Dallas… and the people that run that company, as well as the pimps in Dallas, I highly suspected would be the scapegoats in this murder.
Deviant Intent: OBSESSION Page 17
