by Bob Moats
I said I’d be careful.
The smoke had finally cleared, and we ventured back into the kitchen. I picked up one of Penny’s attempts at cookies and found I couldn’t even break it in half. She started laughing while looking at her mess.
I said she could clean it up tomorrow. I had a few frustrations that needed tending to since I didn’t get any action at the club. She asked if I still had the handcuffs handy. I said I did, but this time she got to wear them.
*
Chapter Eleven
I set my alarm extra early that morning. I wanted to get into the office early to get set up for Elma. Penny was still asleep and still handcuffed to the bed. I smiled. I got myself ready and then kissed Penny as she stretched awake, asking me to get the damn cuffs off her. I said I might just leave her like that. She glared at me so I let her loose. She got herself ready to go conquer the baking guests on her show. I asked if she was going to take one of her cookie creations with her. She gave me the one finger salute.
With clothes properly in place and our props in hand, we kissed on our way out the door. She drove off as I was getting my car started. I sat for a minute thinking about what was going to happen that day. I would be crushing a woman who had a decent marriage and sex till now, but I might be saving her the heartache of his unfaithfulness and maybe even her death at his hands. If Ralph was actually a murderer. I was beginning to doubt it since he was so stupid.
I arrived at my office around 8:30 and found Buck plopped out on the lobby chairs. I kicked his feet again, and he came to life.
“Did you sleep here all night?” I asked.
He grinned and said, “Nope, got here about a half hour ago. I like to start my day bright and early.”
I opened the door, and he went for the client chair and plopped there. I sat at my desk and checked my machine. I still used an answering machine instead of voice mail. I liked the control better with the machine. I warmed up my computer and brought up the video editing software then proceeded to make a DVD copy of the video that Buck recorded for me the day before. I was going to give Elma a copy and put one away for safe keeping along with the original.
My phone rang, and I checked the caller ID. It was Benson. “Hello,” I answered.
“Jim, Dave Weston was let out this morning, cleared of charges of murder. Lincoln wasn’t happy, but there was nothing he could do about it. Prosecutors talked extensively with Marylou Martin early this morning and got her statement on record, so she should be safe for now. The media has already been hounding Weston, but we managed to keep Martin in the background. Her husband is still out of town, but she’ll have some explaining to do when he returns. There’s still the death of Noreen Weston. Police are looking into the dominatrix angle. They weren’t happy with the mess at her office. I told them that’s the way you found it. I still need your statement on record as to finding Martin. Get it to me as soon as you can.” He finally paused and took a breath.
“I’ll write up my entire procedures for my investigations and have them to you this afternoon. I’m getting ready for my cheating husband report. She’s coming in this morning, and I’m bracing for it,” I said.
“Good luck on that. Let my office know if she wants to proceed with divorce. We’ll schedule an appointment for her. About the Weston case, submit your bill and I’ll have a check cut for you today. You did good work. I’ll definitely be using you again,” he said, then said good-bye and hung up.
I looked at Buck who was watching me on the phone. “Weston was cut loose, charges cleared and so far all is well with Martin. They still have to find the murderer of Weston’s wife. He or she is still out there.”
Buck smiled and said, “They should put us on the case. We’d find them fast.”
“I like your enthusiasm, but let’s get through with Elma first.” It was 9 a.m., and there was a knock at the door. Buck went to open it and found Elma standing there looking apprehensive. Buck was respectful towards Elma and quietly told her to come in. I got up, came around my desk, and pulled the client chair out for her. Buck went and sat at one on the chairs by the door. I sat at my desk, and I could see Elma wanted to say something.
“Elma, let me say this is never easy to give reports on spouses who wander.” I hoped that broke the ice with her. She looked at me with eyes that said she knew. “We did some investigating of your husband, and I’m going to show you a video and some pictures that I hope you can brace yourself for.” She nodded. “As you can already imagine we did find that your husband has been cheating on his vows. He freely admitted to me and Buck about his activities with a bondage club in Pontiac that fronts for a sex club. There was no other one woman involved, just his dalliances at the sex club. I think that would be enough, and our video and photos prove it. This is also evidence that you can use to proceed with divorce if you decide to go that far. Are you ready to see what we have?”
She nodded her head and quietly said, “Go ahead.”
I turned the TV towards her and put the DVD in. It started up, and she sat quietly as the screen came to life showing Ralph and me at the pool store talking at the window. It ran, then ended. She was silent. I told her that we followed Ralph to the bondage club in Pontiac, and he had invited us in to watch during which time I secretly photographed Ralph with one of the dominatrixes. I took out the photo file and said I was going to show her only two, the rest were basically more of the same so no sense in dwelling on them. She said she wanted to see them all, and I handed the folder to her. She sat going through each and every one at least twice.
“Son of a bitch! The Bastard! I knew he was dicking somewhere else. I wasn’t good enough for him! Couldn’t get enough fucking at home, had to go get some stray pussy and bring home their diseases to me. I’ll fry his tight little ass for this!” she spewed. I could see even Buck was a bit shocked by her outburst. Elma went on swearing for another minute then calmed down. She looked at me and blushed, saying she was sorry for the outburst.
I told her it was perfectly understandable.
“Elma, I have something else to cover with you, something important you may need to know. I had a friend of mine in the local police do a background check, and it seems your husband was married twice before. Did you know about this?” I asked.
She looked at me blankly and said, “He never mentioned any other wives, I was a bit surprised when he said that in the video. I assumed he was just making it up.”
“No, he wasn’t. You told me you had money. I assume you are well off?” She said she was. “Ralph’s two prior wives were also wealthy, but after Ralph ran the money down, the wives mysteriously died. One by car accident and the other by suicide. My police friend says they suspected he was involved with the murders, but he came up with alibis to cover his ass. I’m not sure how Ralph is going to take to finding out you know about his running around. I would suggest finding a place to stay and tell him by phone that you know. I don’t want anything to happen to you like what happened to his other wives. If he thinks you are going to divorce him he may act on it to prevent you from taking the money away. You may need protection.” I looked at Buck and could sense he knew what I was thinking.
Elma looked at me for a minute and asked if I did protection work, I looked at Buck and he got up and pulled his chair over to us.
“Ma’am, if you’d like, I can provide you with protection till this whole thing goes away. My pleasure to help such a nice lady.” He emoted such sweetness I could feel new cavities in my teeth growing.
She giggled. I knew she liked Buck from the first time they met at my door. She nodded and said, “Mr. Buck, I would love to have you provide protection for me. I will pay you well. Just keep that lying son of a bitch away from me.”
Buck grinned and said, “Let’s go confront the lying son of a bitch so you can tell him what you think of him.”
She giggled again. “I’d like that very much.” She looked to me and said, “Please have your bill ready for me, and I’ll see you get pa
id right away. Thank you so much for your efforts.”
Buck helped her up and asked her to wait out in the hall for him, that he’d be right out after he conferred with me. She went out and he closed the door.
“Buck, don’t go getting her pregnant now,” I joked.
“Shit, I have no intentions of getting anywhere near a bed with her, but she is a nice lady and I’ll help her for a few days,” Buck said.
“Just don’t go getting yourself or Ralph killed. Call me if you have any trouble you can’t handle, which is a dumb thing to say. You can handle yourself.” I grinned.
He smiled and left. I just hoped she didn’t kill him with kindness.
I sat back at my desk as the door opened again and a foxy brunette with a rack to die for stepped in and asked where the travel agency was. Damn. I told her, and she went out. I was going to have to go up there and see what the attraction was. It sure wasn’t in my office.
*
Chapter Twelve
I opened up my diary on the computer, the one I have written in for over six years now. I may have missed a number of days, but it was pretty complete. If I needed to remember something, I could do a search and find the day it happened fairly fast. Most men would call it a journal, not a diary, too female sounding. I didn’t care as long as I documented my day’s activities. Since I was now over 60 and closer to senility, I needed to have something to help remember my past. I laughed. I wrote in what happened with Elma in detail and then shut it down.
I heard some noise behind me and turned to the window to see the weather had fouled, and it was storming out. Living in Michigan, you have to get used to changes in weather at any minute. It was pouring rain, and I was glad I had nowhere to go at the moment. The traffic in the street hadn’t slowed with the puddles forming. Rain or snow, they ignored the mess. Michigan drivers like to push the edge when it comes to driving. They don’t care who or what is in their way, just get there. I sometimes wanted to bitch-slap drivers who rode my ass trying to get somewhere, and then they would find an opening and whiz around me and down the road. I would have to laugh when I would get to the next light and there they sat, no further ahead, jerks.
Since it was becoming a day to stay indoors, I sat writing up my report for Benson, planning to drop it off later that day and pick up my pay.
About a half hour later, I turned to my door as it opened. In came Dave Weston. I was a bit surprised, and told him to have a seat, pointing to my client chair.
“Dave, what can I do for you?” I said.
“Well, first, I want to thank you for getting me off by finding Marylou or Cindy, whatever her name was.” Sounded like he hadn’t talked to her after they let him out. “I also want to ask a favor.”
I nodded to him, and he continued. “I did love my wife, even if I was an insensitive bastard when it came to whoring around. Noreen was a good woman, despite her unusual occupation. She provided a need, and someone wasn’t happy that she did. I think it was a city official, being protected by the police or at least one of them. I want to hire you to find out who murdered her.”
He went quiet and looked distressed.
“I’m sure the police will do that for free,” I said.
“Not if they’re covering their asses, they won’t. I want an independent investigation to get to the real culprit,” he said. “My wife and I had a good deal of cash put away. It’s all legal, and I can pay you whatever your fee to do this job - please.” He looked like a man on the edge.
“If I agree to help you, you’re going to have to be absolutely straight with me. I don’t like being kept in the dark. That agreeable to you?”
He said it was, and then he took an envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to me. I opened it and found a thousand dollars in large bills. He said it was an advance. I told him he had just hired a P.I. and shook his hand.
“OK, may as well begin at the beginning. What got your wife into such a business?”
“Noreen was always into strange activities, Wicca, bondage, new age stuff. She felt she could save the world one person at a time. She got referrals through the local new age stores and then started to build up a clientele through personal referrals and word of mouth. She opened the office about a year ago, and it started slow but built up so fast that she had to limit her customers. She never got into sex. It was just a way for men mostly - a few women - to get rid of their frustrations from having to be the bad guy at work. In her office through the bondage, they were the underling, the bug that she could step on. They wanted the release of pressure from the weight of responsibility, and Noreen provided that.” He went silent for a moment. I wasn’t going to rush him. “Lately Noreen was acting strange, well… stranger than usual, and she was wanting more money for her work. I said she’d get too greedy and put herself out of business. She wanted more, and she wanted the power she was starting to feel over her clients.”
I said, “Someone didn’t like her pushing, you think?”
“Yeah, someone. I know Noreen kept a list with all her clients’ names in it. I don’t know where she kept it. She wouldn’t tell me, said it was privileged information. She wasn’t a registered therapist so that info wasn’t really privileged, but she kept it hidden. She said to protect herself. She also kept videos of her sessions. She had a camera hidden on her back room that recorded them.”
“I didn’t see any camera when I was checking the place,” I said.
“It’s very well hidden, and the recorder is above it, over the ceiling tile.”
“Can we go there and take a look at the set-up? With you there, it may make things easier.”
He agreed, and we went out. The weather had changed again, and it was getting sunny out. We took my car, and I went by Benson’s office first to drop off the statement and get my check. Then I drove over to Noreen’s office. Dave was fairly silent the whole way over. We pulled up in front of the novelty store and went in to see Willy. He greeted Dave like an old long lost friend. Willy said he heard about Dave beating the rap, and Dave said that I was the one who got him off. Willy thanked me for helping. Dave asked Willy for the extra key since the police had his. Willy said that they went through the place, but he didn’t think they found anything. He gave Dave the extra key, and we went down to the office and in.
“The camera is a tiny thing. She had it well hidden in the ceiling by a smoke detector.”
We went into the back room, and he pointed to the smoke detector. I got up on a chair and looked closer at it. There was a small lens peeking out from the side of the thing. I asked where the recorder was, and he said to move the ceiling panel next to the lens. I did and found the small VHS recorder tucked in a hole in the wall. I went to pop out any tape in the thing but nothing came out. I flipped open the cartridge door. It was empty.
“Noreen or someone took the tape out. Do you know where she may have kept her collection of tapes?”
“I have no idea,” was all he said.
“I don’t suppose she told anyone about the recordings,” I said.
“Hell, I didn’t know she was doing it till I came in one day and found her up there changing tapes. She was pissed that I found out.”
“Sounds like she was into more than just attitude adjustments. Maybe starting to blackmail some of her wealthier clients.”
“Well, that would have gotten her killed easy enough.” He grimaced.
I got down and continued, “We have to look more around your home to see if she may have a secret stash there. You mind?”
“No, let’s go now. The cops have finished there, too, I hope.”
We took the key back to Willy, and he said there were two more months left in the rent. Dave said after that he was finished with the place. We left and went to Dave and Noreen’s modest little home in Roseville. We drove down Wallace Street, a quiet little road, just off Little Mack. The house was about one third down on the left. We parked and we went in. The place looked like it had been searched. Police are not know
n to clean up after themselves.
“Is there a particular room that Noreen spent time in more than others?”
“When she first started out, she used a small office in the basement, but the neighbors started to complain about the traffic coming and going to the house, so she got the office on Gratiot. The room is still down there, but the police pretty much wiped it out.”
I was thinking that Lincoln probably enjoyed himself rummaging through that room. We went down to the room and as Dave said, I couldn’t find much to go on. I walked around the basement examining the floor joists overhead looking for hidden panels. I checked the other small side rooms and the laundry room but really didn’t see anything suspicious. I knew the water table in the area was fairly high and I asked if Dave had a sump pump. He led me back to the laundry room and pointed to the corner. There was a round hole in the floor about two feet across, and it had water in it. The sump pump was just at water level and was ready in case of flooding. I got out my pocket flashlight and looked into the murky water. Just behind the pump I saw a string attached to the side, going down into the water. I reached over, pulled it up, and out of the water came a small plastic container. I brought it out into the other room and set it on a workbench. Dave was amazed that it was there. I said my grandfather used to hide his chewing tobacco from my grandmother in the sump hole water in an old mason jar. That’s why I looked. I examined the plastic container and said it looked like it was recently opened, the way it was still clean and not slimy from the water. I carefully opened the top. We looked in and found a key.
