“Too soon to tell if we have a serial, or even a group of murderers. Quick perusal isn’t going to work unless we have better search parameters. Easy answer is yes, both states have murders like this, but that doesn’t mean they’re a match. I need more details, but both my friends are willing to help if we can get them info to narrow the search. So we’ve got a long way to go before we can even think of asking, unless we want a repeat of what we got when searching our own databases.”
The conference room door opened and in walked three cadets.
“Oh my God. Captain has got to be kidding me.” Sam was pissed, but I wasn’t that surprised. We needed help with paperwork and all we really needed were warm bodies to look through the vast amounts of paper our search had generated.
“It’s better than nothing, Sam. You know it’s not going to be brain surgery. No offense guys, we’re just under a lot of stress right now.” Alexi had to make sure they weren’t insulted. It was so like him, but Sam nodded too. It really was early in our investigation. We also couldn’t know what these guys were capable of. We’d all been cadets once. That seemed like so long ago, but we’d all been through it.
“No offense taken, Detective. We get that a lot, to be honest. To answer your unspoken question, yes, we are here to help. What you don’t know about us though is that all three of us served in the military and have more experience than you think. Bryson Matthews and Noah Turner here are killer with tactics and patterns. I’m Scott Warren. I’m good with computers, better than good, Sir. There’s nothing I can’t… find.”
The smile on Cadet Warren’s face let us know he didn’t mind going wherever, doing whatever, to get the information we needed. I looked at Alexi and Sam, raising my eyebrows just a little. This might not be as bad as we thought.
“Okay, then let’s get started. We don’t have a lot of time and we have a meeting at noon. We need as much as we can get before we go in.”
*************
Alexi
The cadets turned out to be a big surprise. They’d jumped in feet first once Lucas told them the case details and our undercover plan. We’d narrowed down the parameters to a workable list. Scott hadn’t been lying about his skills. We were working at a fast clip when the conference room door opened up and the Captain walked in, closely followed by Aaron.
“I see the boys I picked are working well, I thought they might. They’re thought of very highly in their class. Here are the reports Doc Zuckerberg sent over. Five cases he himself has handled that are possible matches over the last six months. I’ve got feelers out all over the state to make sure we don’t miss any possibilities. I have a bad feeling this is just going to get bigger. To allocate the money this case is obviously going to need, I’m on my way to see my superiors. This is going to have to go all the way to the top. The Governor will most likely know before supper time. I’ll be asking for more people, but there won’t be anyone else until I get it through all the red tape. Keep me in the loop so I can give them the reasons why we need to allocate all these resources. Also, the FBI has contacted me directly. I can’t say that they trust us to handle this big a case on our own, but they’re willing to hold off for right now. Don’t give them a reason to step in people. I don’t want that headache, and you’d best believe you don’t want that either. If I get that headache… well, let's just say, shit runs downhill.” We were quiet for a moment as the Captain left the room. Waiting until he was far enough away not to hear, we all cracked up. It was just as much from what the Captain said, as it was a release from the stress we were all under.
“Is he always like that?”
Aaron had waited until the laughing had died down to ask, shaking his head and smirking as he sat down at the table. We gave him a rundown on everything we’d done before he came in, before we looked in the files from the Doc. As I opened the one on top, I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped me, which of course brought Lucas and Aaron to sit next to me.
“Wow. This is so beyond overkill. Doc has a massive list of injuries here. I’ve never seen this many pages for one victim. This isn’t something that happened in one night. There’s no telling how long this asshole kept him.”
All I could do was shake my head and pass the report on, opening the next. It was like a carbon copy of the first one. I quickly went through all the reports to see that all of them were almost exact replicas of each other.
“They’re almost identical, from their coloring and age, down to what was done to them. They’re like copies of each other. From what we have here we can see exactly what he’s looking for and what he does. He has a very unique pattern, and it shouldn’t be too hard to look for his other victims.” .
I was completely disgusted with this case, but I knew I would still be going in. It just seemed to get worse and worse.
“Your Doc wasn’t wrong that we should look for more bodies. This perp has a routine down. Knows what to do, and when, to keep the victim alive until he’s done with them. I don’t think death is the point. Yes, it’s how the game ends, but this is for maximum suffering before they’re ‘put down’. This is a practiced MO. No hesitation marks and every cut exact and precise. The depths and lengths of the cuts are so precise he’s either trying to relive a first kill, or he’s trying to make these last longer than that first kill. He has a pattern like you said Alexi. This is well thought out and planned down to the last detail.
“This is a compulsion he can’t deviate from or it ruins the gratification. These don’t scream overtly sexual, but we can’t rule it out either. I don’t like to jump to conclusions this fast, but if pressed I’d say this is about the torture, making the victim feel each burn and cut.
“They’re still running the toxicology reports and I’ll be interested to see what’s on it. All of these marks are to cause pain. Obviously, the massive blows to the head are what killed them. The kill was immediate, like the victim was no longer needed.”
“So we’re definitely looking at a serial killer? Oh My God. How the hell was this overlooked? That nobody even had a clue this was going on? I’ve got to call my contacts in Alabama and Georgia. This needs to go over the wire to all police departments, there’s no telling how many people have been killed.” I couldn’t help the tremor in my voice.
Lucas stood up and put a possessive hand on my shoulder. Just that little bit of human contact reassured me that we could do this, together.
“Go ahead and put this over the wire and get in touch with your contacts. I’ll do what I can from my side. I have to call my boss. He needs to start the FBI machine. Together we can find out more, even though we have our own contacts. The thing I want to know, though… Lucas… Are you sure this is smart? Going undercover is hard enough, but add a killer? Alexi, I really don’t like this.”
“Aaron, I think this may be the only way to end both this Osiris Circle and the killing. I can’t stand the idea of Alexi being in danger either, and if we had any other way I’d be all for it. But you know as well as I do that someone else is going to die if we don’t. I can’t live with that. We have one chance to stop this, all of it, and we don’t have a lot of time to come up with another plan. We play the chips we’ve got. We have an in with Andrew Duggins, and I think it’s our best option. Alexi, what do you think?”
I couldn’t help seeing the pictures of the tortured boys, their mutilated bodies burned into my brain. We only knew of five so far, but that was five too many.
“I’m with you, Lucas. This has to stop as quickly as possible, and the killer may already have another boy. We haven’t had the time to study all the details, the timeline this killer is working on. There is so much we don’t know, but Aaron, you do your thing, we’ll do ours.
“Like you said Lucas, we don’t have time to come up with another plan. I’m nervous, I won’t lie, but this is what we’ve got and it’s only an hour till the lunch meeting. I don’t think we have any other choice but to go forward with it.”
“Alright, then let’s get you
every bit of info we can.”
As Aaron turned towards his chair and laptop, one of the Cadets cleared his throat.
“Uhm… I’m good with computers, like hacker good. If you get me a list of names I can… find just about anything. Facebook, Myspace, their porn spank bank, whatever they’ve got. It might help you know what you’re dealing with. Of course, you won’t be able to use it in court, and I will have to deny any knowledge, but I can get it if you want.”
The embarrassed look on his face made me smile, and Aaron gave the guy a raised eyebrow look. The guy was blushing all the way to the tips of his ears, his pale skin bright pink now.
“It’s why I went into the military. When I was a juvenile I got caught uhm… hacking. The judge told me it was either the military or jail. I’ve always been good with computers. It’s just a suggestion, sir.”
I couldn’t help my laugh. The guy was so cute in his embarrassment.
“Well, we can use all the help we can get, just don’t tell me how you get it. Okay?” I took pity on the guy, he was trying to help us here.
“Yeah, we can just pretend you never said any of that. We don’t have a complete list of names yet, but here are the suspected members for now. Once Alexi and I are able to get you more names, we will. Hop to it guys, we need to put a rush on this. We have to leave in forty five minutes to make the lunch meeting.” I could see the amusement in Lucas’s eyes as he shook his head.
CHAPTER 9
Lucas
“You do everything I say, Boy. Do not give me a reason to punish you in front of these people. You stay silent. You stay where I tell you to. Do you understand, Boy?”
Helping Alexi from the car in front of Five O'Clock, the bar Andrew Duggins owned, I was nervous. The idea that we may be having lunch with a serial killer crossed my mind again, sending shivers down my spine like ice.
“Yes, Patron.”
Alexi looked in my eyes for a brief moment before dropping them. The trust in his eyes made me question this again. I hated even having him here, I wanted to turn around and go home. But the trust I saw there also gave me the confidence to straighten my shoulders and walk into the lion’s den.
We were able to create a profile on Andrew, he didn’t seem to be the killer type, but we couldn’t count on that. No one thought Ted Bundy was a killer, until it was too late.
Opening the door and ushering Alexi into the bar, I kept my hand pressed to his back. Looking around, I saw Andrew beckoning us to the table he was sitting at. Walking over, I took in the small room. This building wasn’t very wide, but from the specs we had received from the courthouse, it was much bigger than it seemed. This had to be a front for a club, a door by the bathrooms could lead to the large area in the back that could be anything.
I sat at the table leaving Alexi to stand next to my chair, eyes down and at parade rest. We had anticipated some kind of trick. By me not allowing Alexi to sit, I had apparently done the right thing in Andrew’s eyes. His smile and the comfortable way he ran his eyes over Alexi made it clear I had passed the test.
“So, we both know we aren’t really here for lunch. We apparently have some of the same… proclivities. There’s a special group here that you might be interested in. We enjoy things a little too taboo for most clubs.”
He was watching me, looking for my reaction. I raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to explain himself.
“We’re a small group. A few are from different states, but most of us are local. The Osiris Circle is a group of… true Doms. We are in complete control of our subs, absolute control, and you seem to be just the type of Dom we’re looking for. If you’re interested we can discuss membership. Or I can show you one of our clubs. It’s here, I’m sure you’ve figured out the fact that this bar is just a front. I’d be happy to show you around a bit, but I have a question for you first.
“Have you spoken with Mason again? I might be interested in… re-acquiring him. It’s so hard to properly train a sub and a lot of work went into perfecting his behavior. I truly hate to lose him, but maybe that’s not the best way forward. I can see that he might cause problems.”
Andrew had a very aloof demeanor. He obviously felt safe with me after I’d discarded Mason’s statement the way I said I did. He still had to feel me out. To make sure I reacted the way he expected so he could feel like he could trust me. I knew I had to tread carefully even if I wanted to push him about everything that happened in the Circle. The best thing I could do was act unaffected and bored.
“If he’s bitching now, your best bet would be to steer clear. I’ve met with him again and told him that it was a ‘he said, he said’ case. That he’d been on a BDSM site, so what did he expect. He knows the case is going nowhere, so he’ll shut up. He has police protection to make him feel safe, like we’re doing something, but that’s all he’s going to get. The only real reason for the protection is because we don’t need him going to the papers saying we didn’t protect him. Police headquarters has enough bad press as it is.”
I reached out without turning my head and pinched Alexi hard, causing him to gasp.
“What did I tell you, Boy? You are embarrassing me. Disobeying me earns you what?” Slowly turning my face to glare at Alexi, I watched fear growing in his eyes and hated it, even though I knew Alexi was playing it up.
“Punishment, Patron. I’m so… so sorry, Patron.”
The tremor in his voice hurt, but I covered it with a low growl.
“Eyes down, and do not move again, Boy!”
I heard Andrew chuckle and knew we were in.
“Why wait for the punishment? We have everything you could possibly want in the back. Why don’t you follow me and you can decide if this group of friends we have is something you might be interested in. A few of the members are back there already, you can meet them and see my club for yourself.”
I tipped my head to the side in agreement, not wanting to seem too interested.
We passed through the bar, the front a facade to cover for the real club in back rooms. The building was thin, stuck between a bank and a store. Walking down the short hallway, I realized the true magnitude of all the stuff that happened in the back.
Doors opened on one side of the hall showed all kinds of toys. Sex swings, a St. Andrew’s Cross, there was everything you would expect with a BDSM club. I walked farther back, I saw the toys got darker. Racks, pillories, posts, sex benches in every size and position. The chains, whips and canes you’d expect to find in any BDSM club. As well as blades, needles and rods of the more exotic toy variety in this devil’s playground.
As we entered a bigger room in the very back, I had Alexi stand by the door. I snapped my fingers and ordered him to stay as if he was a dog, growling at him to not disappoint me or he would regret it.
Andrew introduced me to the few members present. I memorized their names and faces as best I could in the semi dark room.
Edward Tennant was the owner of a club I’d heard bad things about, called Fly on the Wall. He was a tall blonde Adonis with a lecherous smirk on his face. I could practically read his mind as his eyes looked over at Alexi. I wanted to growl, but controlled myself.
Olivia Payne was a dichotomy. She was a beautiful woman, on the smaller side, both delicate and ultra feminine. She could be considered a blond bombshell, but the look in her eyes was more than disturbing. I could almost see the evil in them, a hard and brutal blue. She owned a club called Demon’s Payne. I’d never heard of it, but found out it was a secret, members only place.
Now, Rogue Griffin was almost laughable. He was a twink trying way too hard to be a badass Dom. Small and extremely effeminate looking, he was dressed all in black, but his boots had heels on them. He was trying his best to look taller, bigger, but failing miserably. His small, almost elfish looking face was screwed up into what I supposed was his “Strong face”. I gave Andrew a look when he introduced us but he just smiled and shook his head. I guess they took in all kinds. As we walked away from Rogue
he spoke softly in my ear.
“His real name is Timothy Stevens. He lives in his Mother’s basement but keeps his subs in a converted garage. He’s funny that’s for sure, but you don’t want to get on that little man’s bad side.”
Laughing again, he walked me over to a circle of couches. Rogue followed behind, and giving me a searching look.
“So, what do you think?” Andrew was watching my face, expecting something and looking a little put out by my lack of reaction.
“Looks like you have a little of everything here. I might have a few things you don’t. I have my own... proclivities as you called them.”
I jacked one side of my mouth in near derision. I watched both irritation and curiosity cross Andrew’s face.
Out of the Ashes (Trust Book 2) Page 14