Out of the Ashes (Trust Book 2)

by A M Raulerson

  I had no idea that one simple decision could change me. How much one person could change me. The playfulness was still there in my heart, a small spot bubbling with feelings, but we needed to get ready for work, and Alexi needed something special to remind him who he belonged to. I’d grant him some leeway, it was his job after all, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little fun.

  Standing right in front of him, I was close enough to feel his breath quicken.

  “Turn around, Boy. Lean on the counter, legs apart, and don’t move.”

  I smacked his ass, taking him by surprise, making him jump a bit. Slapping his ass again, a harder corrective slap was met with no jump. He leaned quietly as I poured lube on his crack and used my finger to massage his hole and push in firmly. In and out until he was ready for my little surprise. When I deemed him ready, I pushed the egg inside him, laughing as he gasped. Now he knew what he’d be distracted by today. I waited a moment, then pushed in the second bead. Each bead had a ball inside. Whenever Alexi moved they would vibrate, reminding him who he belonged to. I had a special plug made just for Alexi in the hope I would one day have him to myself. Now I had him and the bright red stone on the end glittered from its place in his hole. Smiling, I patted his ass again and left to get his clothes. When I returned he was still in position.

  “Good Boy. Thank you for listening to me. Stand up now and see what I have for you to wear today.”

  Placing the pile of clothes on the counter, I watched the way he warily looked at the clothes. I heard a huge sigh when he realized it was work appropriate.

  “Ah, I see. You thought I might make you wear your leather shorts? I do realize that would be inappropriate. You’ll look the same as always, well clothing wise but this is for underneath your clothes, Boy. It’ll maybe help with the precum issue you’ll have throughout the day,” I said as I laid a jockstrap on top of his clothes. As I did, I pressed the button on a small remote. The look on his face when the eggs started to shake a bit was priceless.

  “I had a conversation with Dom David a while ago. He’s the one that mentioned a different form of this. A large electric plug he had made in the shape of his own cock. Very interesting conversation. But these will keep you in line today, won’t they my Boy? And nobody will know. That is, if you can control yourself.”

  Chuckling, I turned them off. This was going to be so much fun.

  Heading to the kitchen to start breakfast, I was startled when the phone rang. I was confused as to who would be calling this early. No phone call during the night or early morning was good.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s Sam… uhm... Detective Baker. I’m calling about the case, just about the case.”

  He sounded so nervous I took pity on him. Telling him to wait a moment until Alexi could hear also. I hollered for Alexi to hurry up. I watched as he tried to run down the stairs and button his shirt at the same time. Putting the phone on speaker I continued to make breakfast, pouring us both a cup of coffee. I wasn’t usually a big breakfast eater, but now I have Alexi here and he must have been starving after last night.

  “Alexi’s here, Sam. Go ahead with the news that can’t wait an hour till we get to the office.” I was a little annoyed he’d called and the roll of Alexi’s eyes told me he thought it was funny too.

  “Sorry, but I was told to tell you, immediately. They found a body. Not one hundred percent sure if it’s involved, but there were definite signs of torture. The Captain wants you down at the morgue ASAP. That’s all the info I have, no wallet, no nothing. The Medical Examiner will, of course, take prints, but as of now we have a John Doe.”

  Putting the breakfast stuff back in the fridge, I turned to Alexi. Playtime was definitely over.

  “Alright Sam. I’m sorry if I was a little short. We just had a tough night last night with Mason. Leaving the house in five, we’ll call you from the ME’s office.” Hanging up the phone, I looked at Alexi one more time.

  “Come on, we got to go. Glad we hadn’t had time for breakfast yet. Never a good idea to go to the ME with a full stomach.”

  The giggle I was hoping for brought a small smile to Alexi’s face, and that was exactly what I was looking for.

  “Well, what are you waiting for Boy? Go finish dressing. How long could it possibly take to get dressed? I was dressed and ready to go by the time you finished brushing your teeth.”

  Slapping his ass to get him to move, I filled two travel cups of coffee. I would never get tired of slapping that firm bubble butt. It had just the right amount of jiggle to it. Thinking back to where we were going, I knew this was going to be a long day.

  Travel mugs in hand we walked out the door. I put them on the roof of the car and opened Alexi’s door. Putting his seatbelt on I snuck a quick kiss. Watching the corners of his mouth rise, I handed him the coffees and got in on my side. Driving to meet with the ME, I felt the tension rise up again. Reaching over the console I grabbed Alexi’s knee.

  “What is it, Boy? What’s wrong? I can’t fix it if I don’t know what it is.”

  “I don’t want you to go. I don’t want you to see this and think of…”

  “You were going to say ‘think of Jamie’ weren’t you? It’s okay, Alexi. I appreciate your concern. It means a lot that you’re thinking of me. I’ll be alright. I can handle this. I’ve seen other dead bodies since his. Some really bad ones that reminded me of Jamie, but I knew they weren’t Jamie. I can help them find justice, but that means seeing their bodies. I have to know what happened to them, and I have to fight for them. Thank you, my Boy, for your concern.”

  Smiling at him, I laced our fingers together and squeezed. It warmed me that he was thinking about me like that, that he wanted to protect me. I shouldn’t have been surprised, it was just how he was. Pulling up in front of the ME’s office, I squeezed Alexi’s hand when he almost tried to get out on his own.

  “No Boy, remember the rules. But that’s not the only reason I stopped you. Are you going to be okay? After Mason last night I can go in by myself and tell you about it after.”

  “No, Patron. I can do this. It’s not my first dead body, either. I remember each one. I can do this. If you can so can I, right?” With him smiling that mischievous smile at me, I couldn’t do anything but get out and release him from the car.

  We walked through the door and the smell hit us. Always there, no matter the industrial strength cleaners they used. Of course you could smell the bleach and other chemicals, but underneath all that there was a smell. Once you smelled it you knew what it was. Death.

  Going through the doors to the morgue, we were given the go ahead by the guard on duty who recognized us both. We waited for Dr. Zuckerberg to finish whatever report he was writing and turn around. The doctor was a short man, and had a happy personality that didn’t really feel right in a morgue, but I’d much rather deal with him than a scary type. The ones that seemed to be one step away from lying on the tables themselves gave me the creeps.

  “Detectives, I wish I could see you under different circumstances for once. You both seem to get the worst ones, and I’m afraid this one is pretty bad. Right then, let’s get started. Follow me please.”

  As we followed the doctor across the room, I wondered if I over estimated my ability to do this. I knew I had to. Not because I said I could in a macho way, no, I needed to do this for the victim. Taking a swift breath I waited for the Doctor to lift the sheet covering what looked to be a child almost.

  “I do believe we have a Rent Boy. The classic symptoms are there, under all the bruises, of course. Malnutrition, meth sores, long term rectal tearing. This boy was used hard even before this beating started. He hasn’t had a very happy life I’m afraid. As you can see, multiple blows to the head are what killed him. If I had to guess… I’d say it was most likely some kind of club. I won’t know much more than that till I do the autopsy. What I can tell you is, this boy suffered for a long time before he died. The good news is his pain is over, the bad news is that
I don’t think this is a first kill. I’ll have to look back at my files, but I think there’s at least one other John Doe that looked pretty similar. Whoever did this is a sadist. Cuts and burns cover most of his back, and burns on both the tops and bottoms of his feet. And look at these slices around the ribcage. Methodical cuts and slices over the bones. Almost like they’re tracing them, or trying to reveal them. I don’t know what to make of those yet.

  “Gentlemen, I’d be looking at other cases, maybe even different states. I’ll look through my records and call a few other ME’s. I’ll give you a call when this boy’s autopsy is over and when I have more news.”

  “Thanks Doc. We think we might have a notion on who’s doing this, or at least a way to find out who it is. Let us, or Detective Baker, know if you find anything and if you can ask your ME buddies, I’d appreciate it. The more eyes looking at it the better, but ask them to do it quietly. We want as few people to know about this as possible. Just the doctors you trust to keep quiet.”

  Nodding at the doctor we walked back to the car, I helped Alexi in then went round to my side. We were both silent, with our own thoughts. I couldn’t help thinking this was in retaliation for losing Mason. Had losing his toy driven Andrew Duggins to kill?

  “We need to call Aaron. As much as I don’t want the FBI involved, he needs to know about this. We may be dealing with a serial killer, and if we are, I don’t want him to slip away while we’re busy with a pissing match. I’ll contact a few Detectives I know in Georgia and Alabama. They owe me a few favors and can look through their databases. That way we don’t have all the red tape.” Alexi didn’t sound any happier that I felt

  “Good idea. Once we get back to the office you contact your people, I’ll get in touch with Aaron. Go ahead and call Sam back, let him know what’s going on. He can start with the Florida database. All John Does, ages what, fifteen to thirty? It’s a wide range, but I’d rather look through more reports than risk missing one.”

  “I agree, better safe than sorry. Plus we need to look into claimed bodies too. Maybe once their fingerprints went through, and a positive ID made, the bodies could have been claimed. So, not just John Does. What about females, too? God that’s going to be a lot of paperwork.” Alexi groaned, laying his head on the headrest for a minute before pulling out his phone, calling Sam and putting it on speaker.

  “Detective Baker”

  “Hey, Sam, it’s Alexi. We’re going to need a hell of a lot of paperwork, dude. We need to find any cases that look anything like this one. This might be serial. Doc Zuckerberg thinks he knows of at least one more case like this. I’ve got some friends in Georgia and Alabama I’m going to call for cases in their states. Can you start compiling cases for any male or female bodies found like this one? Ages fifteen to, let’s say thirty.”

  “Aw Shit! That’s a hell of a lot. Alright, I’m on it. When are you guys going to get here? The Captain wants to talk to you when you do. Hit him up for a few more people to help with this. It’s getting bigger by the moment. I should have a stack of cases for you when you get here. There should be tons of dead bodies to look through.”

  “Alright that sounds ominous, but we’re in the parking lot now. Soon as we stop by the Captain’s office we’ll meet you in the conference room.” Hanging up, Alexi looked me in the eyes as I helped him out of the car.

  “I don’t like the way this is starting to sound. I’m almost afraid to know what’s changed since yesterday.”

  “I know the feeling. Well, let’s go. It isn’t going to go away if we ignore it.”

  Placing my hand on Alexi’s lower back I escorted him inside and to the Captain’s office. Knocking, I waited until I heard him holler.

  “There you are, where the hell have you been?”

  “Sorry Captain. When Detective Baker called he told us you wanted us to go to the ME’s office first. What’s going on?”

  “Someone tried to get to Mason at six this morning. I suppose they thought they could get him during the shift change. The perp got on the floor, but was caught before he got anywhere near Mason, so don’t worry. Mason doesn’t need to know a thing about this either. In as bad a shape as he’s in, he doesn’t need any more stress.

  “We have the man in holding, but I don’t think it’s going to matter what you ask him. He’s a mumbling mess, only half coherent at best. He keeps saying he needs to give the hot shot. A syringe was taken from him and forensics has it. They’ll test it and let you know. I told them to expedite it. We need to know, like yesterday, what’s in that syringe.

  “So, that is what the hell’s happening, Detectives. I’ve got a bad feeling this is going to blow up in our faces. What did Doc say?”

  I looked at Alexi before turning back to the Captain.

  “Captain, I hate to say it, but you might just be right. Doc thinks this might be serial. He remembers at least one more body coming to him in roughly the same state. He told us we might want to start looking into other deaths. He thinks we need to check other states, too. Said this didn’t look like a first kill. We’re going to need some more man power, Captain.”

  Alexi cleared his throat and spoke up. “Captain, I have some Detective buddies in Georgia and Alabama I’m going to call, try to skip the red tape. Plus, we’re going to call our FBI contact. But we’re going to need help. This is going to be a lot of work and there’s no way we can go through all of this by ourselves.”

  “Alright, I hear you. I’ll get you a few more bodies to help out. I just pray it’s not all for nothing. You’re dismissed.”

  The Captain turned to his phone, hopefully to get the men we’d requested. We showed ourselves out and headed for the SVU conference room. Opening the door, I saw Sam hard at work, and a printer working even harder beside him.

  “What did the Captain say?”

  “What, no hello? He told us someone tried to get to Mason this morning during the shift change. Some doper who isn’t coherent and just keeps saying he has to give a hot shot. Thing I want to know is, if he’s barely coherent, how did he even get to Mason’s floor? How would he know which room and which direction to go in once off the elevator? He’s either a real good faker or someone was with him. I think we need to see the security tapes for all the other floors. He couldn’t have done this on his own. Someone paid him or threatened him into doing this. He had to have been coached.” I had a bad feeling about this. If what the Captain said was true, and I had no doubt it was, this guy couldn’t be the brains behind the attempt. But who would be stupid enough to send someone like that to do their dirty work for them? How did they think this doper would get past all the security?

  “Did the Captain say anything about extra people to work this? I’m using keywords and a lot of these cases are going to be wrong. We need eyes to look them over and weed out the no’s. So what’s the plan?”

  “I’m going to call Aaron and see what help the FBI can be. Alexi has some friends in Alabama and Georgia to call. We need to find out exactly what we are dealing with. I don’t want to go into this halfcocked if we are dealing with a serial killer. I don’t even want to think that term until we know what we have.” I sat down pulling a pen and legal pad towards me, from the stack in the middle of the table.

  Quickly pulling up Aaron’s number on my cell, I started writing everything that happened since I’d been assigned to this case. I knew that Alexi would do the same. Having a physical copy of what you knew sometimes raised different questions or patterns you might have missed otherwise.

  “Detective, what can I do for you?” Aaron sounded chipper. I hated to bust his bubble, but I had no choice. I informed him of the recent happenings, and as expected the first thing he asked about was Mason.

  “I’m glad he’s safe. Okay, next question. Do you think we need to get involved? I have more resources than you do, just saying. I know that we sometimes take over…”

  “Sometimes?” I asked sarcastically, and Aaron chuckled.

  “You’re right, the F
BI tends to be more of a bulldozer than a garden spade, but we can work together. I have a few friends I can call to help us out low key, but I still have to tell my supervisor. I can make him understand that we want to keep this as quiet as possible. We can work on a small scale so no one’s toes get crunched. How does that sound?”

  “Honestly, we can use all the help we can get. We were prepared for maybe a few kidnappings over state lines, some abuse, yes. But a possible serial murderer? We need the help, and I am grateful for the fact that you’re willing to work ‘on a small scale’ with us. I’m not one hundred percent sure how our Captain is going to take this, but I think he’s just going to be happy for the help… I hope.” Aaron chuckled with me then hung up to call his own boss.

  Turning to Alexi, I saw he was just getting off his own phone call, saying his goodbyes and the ‘you still owe me’s’. As he set down his phone, I started with what Aaron had said to get it out of the way. I wanted to know if Alexi had gotten anything. He hadn’t had much time so I doubted it. We needed all the help possible. Alexi and I had a lunch date with Andrew today. I didn’t want to go in there without at least some of the right information.