Twisted Hunger

by Marilyn Campbell

  She closed her eyes, as though that might spare her, but it only earned her more cruelty as he pinched her nipple to regain her attention. She didn’t dare take her eyes off him again.

  And then it happened. With one powerful shove, he rammed that monstrous weapon deep inside her, and for a moment, she thought he truly had pushed past her capacity. But the pain only lasted a heartbeat, and then the pleasure began again.

  She didn’t want to enjoy it. It was wrong, so wrong. But it was also so good. Better than anything Abraham could ever do for her. Better than anything she could ever do for herself. Minutes later, it was also one of the best climaxes she had ever had.

  She thought it was finally over, and he would either leave or kill her, but she was wrong again. He was still hard, smoothly sliding in and out of her well-lubricated body, just waiting for her chest to stop heaving so he could humiliate her again. How could he be so cruel?

  He held out until she peaked a third time, then he let out a roar of triumph and collapsed on top of her. The next moment he lifted his head and pulled off the ski mask. As gently as possible, he removed the tape from her mouth and kissed her firmly.

  When he finally gave her freedom to speak, she laughingly exclaimed, “Theodore Roosevelt Jones! That was very, very naughty. Whatever made you think of such a wicked adventure?”

  He grinned down at her. “Who knows where inspiration comes from, my love? I’m just glad you enjoyed it.”

  “I must admit to enjoying it myself,” Abraham said, as he came out from behind the dressing screen. He was completely nude and fully aroused.

  Vivian was stunned. “Abraham? What a lovely surprise! I thought you said our games bored you.”

  “That was the old Abraham,” he said, motioning Teddy to get off his wife. “The new, improved Abraham is considerably more open-minded, particularly in the area of sexuality.”

  To prove his point, he enthusiastically filled the vacancy left by his brother.

  Chapter 19

  By Sunday morning, Ellery had changed her mind a dozen times about whether or not to call Luke.

  Diane had awakened her with a very early call to see if she wanted to go shopping, but she put her off with an excuse about work she’d brought home. She wished she could talk it out with her new friend, but there was no way she could tell her enough of the story for her to offer any advice.

  When the phone rang again, she thought it might be Luke calling her, and she picked it up to put an end to her indecision.

  “Is this Ellery Winters?” an unfamiliar female voice asked.

  “Who’s calling please?”

  “I work for Nate Davison, Brandon Ross’ agent. We’re calling all of Brandon’s close friends to see if anyone knows where he might be.”

  “Excuse me? I don’t understand.”

  “Brandon has an extremely important appointment at the studio this morning. Something he would not intentionally miss.”

  “Yes, he mentioned something about that to me when he called the other day… Friday afternoon. He was very excited about it. But I haven’t heard from him since. Maybe he’s just sleeping in.”

  “He hasn’t been home since yesterday. His housekeeper said he left the house yesterday afternoon saying he had a big meeting but he’d be back for dinner. She was fairly sure a call he’d gotten was connected to the meeting because he sent his guests home immediately afterward, even though he had originally said the girls would be spending the night.”

  Ellery took the woman’s number and promised to have Brandon call her immediately if he happened to call her first. Normally, hearing that Brandon was missing in action for less than a day would have had no effect on her whatsoever. Under the current circumstances, however, her antennae were tuned in to anything even slightly out of the ordinary.

  She was about to make the dreaded call to Luke when she got another call. This one alerted her that Brevowski needed to see her outside.

  The instant he slipped into the passenger seat of her car he said, “I have bad news. I tried to get in touch with Detective Harris this morning. I thought it was time for us to start comparing notes again. Unfortunately, it looks like The Eye Doctor may have gotten to him before I did.”

  Ellery’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “He’s alive. Did you hear about the big fire in Glendale yesterday?”

  She shook her head. “Yesterday was a nightmare from start to finish. I never turned on the radio or television. What happened?”

  “They’re calling it an accidental electrical fire. There was an explosion, and Harris’ house was burned to the ground. Somehow he ended up outside, but he’s in critical condition. An elderly woman who lived next door was trapped inside and died before the fire department could get her out.”

  “Dear God. I wonder if Luke knows.”

  “The more serious question is whether or not The Eye Doctor knows that Harris survived. If he was behind the fire, he’ll undoubtedly try again.”

  “How could he—” She cut herself off. “Of course. They all went down to Santa Monica to visit Vivian’s parents Friday night. If he’s cold-blooded enough to cut out someone’s eyes, surely he could set a fire to eliminate someone who might have been getting too close to the truth.” Suddenly she put the various assumptions together. “If Abraham Jones is The Eye Doctor, and if he knew Harris was looking at him as a suspect, then it’s possible that he might be suspicious of Luke by now. I have to warn him. Maybe if we went to the police with what we have so far…” She turned on the car engine. “Was that all?”

  “No. Before you decide to do the right thing, you should know something I found out this morning. After I talked to you last night I listened again to those telephone conversations I mentioned, where Senator Jones and Sheriff Patterson talked about the Neuman murder. Although they didn’t sound at all strange the first time around, listening to what Jones said from a different perspective gave me the impression that he had a personal interest in the case.”

  “So, basically, he’s had a direct line to the homicide investigation every step of the way. Any chance Patterson knows more than it appears?”

  “Highly doubtful. He has a very clean record.”

  “So does the senator.” She let out a soft whistle. “Couldn’t all that be used as additional evidence?”

  He shook his head. “Illegal wiretap. Inadmissible. The reason I mention it at all is because it was during one of those conversations that I had heard the name Henry Levitt—the man whose phone number was in Jones’ wallet, which, as you know, we also obtained in a less than straightforward manner.

  “It turns out that Levitt was the witness who described the cross-dresser to the police artist. Jones would have no need to know the man’s name, but he asked for it and also learned enough to track down where Levitt was going to lay low. With a little help from an old associate, I was able to do the same thing.”

  When he paused, Ellery guessed Levitt’s fate by the expression on Brevowski’s face. “He’s dead now too, isn’t he?”

  He nodded slowly. “Not like you think, though. He committed suicide sometime before dawn Friday morning. He was dying of AIDS anyway, but the post-mortem exam turned up cyanide in his system. The family is cremating the body tomorrow. He left a completely believable note.”

  “Then his death wasn’t caused by The Eye Doctor, it was just convenient.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. He had been very willing to testify if it became necessary, but he’s not the first person who took the easy way out of a terminal disease when an opportunity arrived. I doubt if we’ll ever find out where he got the cyanide but the bottom line is, he’s no longer around to personally identify someone in a courtroom.”

  “So you’re suggesting that if I go to the police with what I think I know, Jones might hear about it even before I leave the station. Then he’d kill me too. That goes along with what Luke said about his friend being killed. He believed someone in the Sheriff’s Department told The Eye Doctor th
at there was a witness. The senator once told me that he and Sheriff Patterson have been friends for over twenty years. Only what they didn’t know back then was that the kid was lying. Luke was the real witness. Geez, this is a terrible mess.”

  Brevowski frowned. “You aren’t still thinking of going to the police, are you?”

  She shook her head. “Not yet anyway. What I am going to do is get myself invited to Jones’ home in Sausalito and find something that you’ll consider admissible evidence. As long as I’m invited in, it’s not trespassing, right? So if I happen to see something and tell you about it, you could get a search warrant and confiscate it legally. Is that correct?”

  “Close enough. Are you absolutely certain you want to do that?”

  “No. I’m not absolutely certain about anything. But it stands to reason that if my mother saw something in that house that ultimately brought an end to her life, I might be able to see it too. And if the senator is responsible in any way for her death, I want to make sure his plans for the future are put to an end as well.”

  “I was hoping that would be your attitude. Just keep me posted.” He opened her car door then turned back to her. “I think you should call Madigan. You know what they say about two heads being better than one.”

  She made a face at him. “I already intended to do that.”

  As he stepped out of her car, he added, “If it looks like Madigan wants to play hero, it will be up to you to stop him. Tell him whatever you have to, but we can’t let him blow this thing up before we’re ready to move. The people I work for don’t look kindly on anyone who disrupts their plans. By the way, I’m sorry about his friend. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to contact him.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  Instead of going back upstairs to her apartment, she drove straight to Conley’s Motel.

  * * *

  The look on Luke’s face when he opened the door was worth surprising him. Ellery was certain he didn’t know whether to be overjoyed or run for cover.

  “Ellery! I’ve been going nuts waiting—” He stepped aside. “Please come in… or I can come out, whichever you’d like.”

  With a shake of her head, she walked past him and into his room. “My coming here is an act of consideration, not to be mistaken as forgiveness. I’m still furious with you.”

  “You have every right to be. Would it help if I let you pluck out my nose hairs? I believe that was your punishment of choice the other night.”

  She almost smiled but caught herself. “Actually, I was thinking along the lines of giving you a bikini wax, but that’s not what I came here for either. I have some information that you want. I also have some very bad news.”

  His eyes narrowed. “What kind of bad news?”

  She bit her bottom lip. It had seemed simpler on the way there. “Let’s sit down.” He followed her lead to the table and two chairs in the corner. “I went through everything you gave me.”

  He leaned forward. “And? What did you think?”

  “I checked on the senator’s business trips. I found correlations for New Orleans and Atlanta. I also know that he was in Los Angeles on May 17.”

  His fist slammed on the table. “Damn! I knew it. It’s him. Theodore Jones is the fucking Eye Doctor.” He lurched out of the chair, strode across the room and came back. “Do you believe me now?”

  “Sit down, Luke. There’s a lot more I have to tell you. What I’m about to tell you is highly confidential. You can’t repeat it to anyone. But if I don’t confide in you, you’re liable to go off half-cocked and get yourself killed.”

  Ellery began with her mother’s heart attack in Jones’ home and, with the exception of telling him about Detective Harris, she brought Luke up through today’s conversation with Brevowski. She told him about her undercover assignment and everything she knew about the senator, as well as her assumption of his guilt, then went on to tell him about Henry Levitt.

  The more Luke heard, the more deeply he frowned. For several seconds after she finished, Luke simply stared at her. Finally, he let out a huff, shook his head and sat back in his chair. “And here I was feeling guilty for keeping secrets from you. I’d be furious, but I’m too relieved to finally have someone believe me. Obviously, I’m in agreement with your conclusions about The Eye Doctor being behind both your mother’s and Levitt’s deaths. I’m also open to the possibility that it could be the senator rather than his brother.”

  “I just want to make one thing perfectly clear. My withholding my assignment from you was nothing like your lying to me or pretending to fall in love with me just so you could use me for your ulterior motives. I wanted nothing from you. I needed nothing from you. I would never have even spoken to you if you hadn’t been sooo… pushy.”

  “You’re right about that. I was pushy. I wanted your undivided attention and I was going to do whatever was required to get it. And maybe my lies about what I was doing in Sacramento seem less honorable than your omissions of the truth. But I did not pretend to fall in love with you for some ulterior motive. I am in love with you.”

  She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Stop saying that.”

  “Stop accusing me of lying about it and I’ll stop having to defend myself with the truth.”

  She stuck her knuckle in her mouth and bit on it until the urge to argue with him went away. “I came here to fill you in so that you would not continue with this investigation on your own. Not only could you get yourself killed without accomplishing anything, you could jeopardize what chance there is of stopping him.”

  “Stopping him from getting in office or stopping his killing spree?”

  “It’s the same thing.”

  “Is it?” he asked, leaning toward her again. “It sounds to me like your man Brevowski doesn’t care about The Eye Doctor’s victims as long as Jones is kept out of the White House.”

  “Well, you’re wrong. It just so happens that Brevowski was the FBI agent who collected most of the information you have on The Eye Doctor.”

  Luke blinked at her. “Really? Why didn’t you say that to begin with? Then he must know Terrell. He told me about an agent, but he didn’t mention his name.”

  Ellery took a calming breath. “Wait. There’s something else I haven’t told you yet, and I don’t want to blurt it out. It’s just that you always get me so…”

  “Flustered?” he suggested, looking innocent.

  “Yes, dammit, now stop it. What I have to tell you is— It’s serious, and it’s going to upset you, and I hate the fact that I have to be the one to tell you.”

  His expression sobered immediately. “What is it?”

  “Your friend, Terrell… he’s alive… but he’s in bad shape.” She related what Brevowski told her about the fire.

  Frustration had him out of his chair and pacing again. “You don’t believe it was an accident, do you?”

  She shook her head. “And neither does Brevowski.”

  “That sonofabitch! I don’t know how he did it, but I know he did.” He grabbed her hand. “Come on. We’re going to Los Angeles.”

  She rose but pulled her hand away. “I understand that you’re worried about your friend. If you need to go see him, go, but there’s no reason for me to go too. Besides, I have to be at my desk first thing tomorrow morning as though nothing is wrong. I’m still working… on both jobs.”

  “Not a problem. We’ll catch a shuttle flight down, check on Terrell tonight, pay a visit to Sheriff Patterson—”

  “Whoa! The sheriff is the one who’s been passing on inside information to Jones.”

  “I’m sure it was unintentional. Why wouldn’t he tell the senator anything he wanted to know? Once he’s given all the facts—”

  “Brevowski explained to me very clearly why we cannot go to the police. We don’t have enough hard evidence—”

  “I know that. Terrell was also very clear about it. Assuming The Eye Doctor was behind the fire, I want to make sure the sheriff does something to protect Terrell,
that’s all. I’m not worried about him being hurt. Terrell’s body is very familiar with that condition. He’s been shot, stabbed and beaten to a pulp, but he always pulls through. He has a very strong will to live, but he needs the opportunity to recuperate. That won’t happen if Jones can get to him while he’s vulnerable.”

  “But why do I have to go?”

  “For my peace of mind. If you’re with me, I don’t have to worry about whether or not you’re safe.”

  “I don’t need you to protect me.”

  “Fine. Then you come along to protect me. If Jones went after Terrell, he’s probably already figured out that I’m a threat also. Or you can just protect me from myself. Once I get down there, I just might go crazy and call a press conference or something.”

  She clucked her tongue. “All right. I’ll go with you. But this doesn’t change anything between us.”

  “Right,” he said, sticking his wallet in his back pocket and picking up his Eye Doctor file. “Nothing has changed. I still love you and you still hate me.”

  She shot him an exasperated look. “If I hated you, I wouldn’t have come here myself. I would have sent Brevowski… or maybe the senator himself. I’m just very angry with you.”

  He shrugged and opened the door for her. “Well, that’s something I can work on.”

  She rolled her eyes and walked out the door. “That is such a male response.” She started toward her car but he pulled her in the opposite direction, toward the motel lobby. “My car’s that way.”

  “So is mine,” he said. “And we’re going to leave them there while we take a cab to the airport. From what you told me about Brevowski, if he figures out where we’re going, he’ll find a way to stop us. This way, we’ll be landing in Los Angeles before he realizes we’re not still in my room.”

  “I don’t think he followed me—” Luke’s smirk cut her off again. “Okay, maybe he did and I didn’t see him, but it’s for my protection.”

  “Maybe it is for your protection, and maybe he’s keeping an eye on you to protect his people, whoever they are. I wonder what would happen to us if we actually tried to go to the police with what we have.”