Henry turned and faced the thin man behind him. “Are you the new guy? We are waiting. We should have started shooting an hour ago already.”
“Shooting?”
“Movies, man.”
“No,” Henry stammered. “I was just walking past and I saw that the door was open.” British accent looked at him. “How big is your penis? Can I see it?”
“What?”
For a while he made extra money by filming low-budget pornography films. They paid him a couple of thousand per film. Now he could buy nice clothes for himself and Heidi. They could afford a secondhand car. He was in his element. He got to do all kinds of things to all kinds of women. Sometimes he had to do a homosexual scene. He made them pay him double for that. British accent, who directed his movies, realized that he was not shy about trying out different things. He flourished. By the end of that third year he, had made more than thirty movies. The wonderful thing was that he only worked over weekends.
He told Heidi about it. She asked where the money came from.
“Why? Why now?” she wailed.
“Look,” he said calmly, “we need the money. If you don’t like it, you can fuck off.”
She smiled sweetly at him. “You’re right. The extra cash always comes in handy.”
He introduced Heidi to British accent. Two days later she made a movie with him. That was when it struck Henry that he had a beautiful woman by his side. She was willing and able, and seemed to enjoy it as much as he did. So, with his next pay check, he bought a digital recorder and started producing his own movies. It was easy to find participants. Prostitutes were plentiful and sickos wanting to star onscreen were not hard to find. Heidi was beautiful and many Asian and Black studs were dying to do her. She allowed it.
Sundays they went to church.
Still, his fantasy needed to be fulfilled.
The urge within him grew stronger and stronger.
* * * *
It was again a Friday night and he was home alone. Heidi was working a night shift. His fantasy grew stronger. He got into his car and drove to the hospital where Heidi worked. His entrance provoked some interest from the other trainee nurses. They were all abuzz about this handsome and well-mannered man . He asked for Heidi. One of the eager-to-please, dull trainees ran off and reappeared later with Heidi.
“Isn’t there any way you can get out of working night duty?” he asked, knowing full well the answer would be ‘no’.
“No. Sorry I can’t.” Her voice was unclear from all the tablets she was popping these days.
“That’s too bad, because I was given concert tickets for tonight,” he lied.
Heidi sighed. She knew his schemes, but chose to ignore them.
“Mind if I take one of your off-duty colleagues?” he asked sweetly.
“Sure,” Heidi said.
Henry chose the most sluttish-looking one. He took her by the hand and walked to his car. Immediately, he put his hand between her legs. She opened them wider. She was not wearing underwear. He felt her hand on his crotch. His fantasy started. He drove out of town towards the open veldt. “I thought you said we were going to a concert,” the girl wailed.
He ignored her while he drove. He stopped the car and started fiddling with his penis. She watched him bemused until she could clearly see his hard-on. It turned her on immensely. “What are you going to do with that? She cooed. They were miles from any civilization. The sky was bright with stars and crickets screeched loudly.
He got out and ordered the girl to get out as well. “Take off your clothes,” he demanded. She did.
“Lie down.”
She did.
“Open your legs, finger yourself.”
She did.
He undressed slowly as he watched her play with herself. She moaned softly. His penis was rock-hard. He kneeled before her and shoved his penis hard into her. She gasped. His hands crept around her throat. She did not appear to mind. He started licking her cheeks, nose and eyes. She kept moaning. He lightly bit into her nose and pushed harder into her. She screamed with pleasure. He let go of her nose and kissed her. She kissed him back.
His tongue probed deep into her mouth. She started relaxing. Eventually, He played with her tongue in his mouth. Deeper and deeper she pushed it into his mouth. He clamped his teeth around it and bit down hard. She gurgled and squirmed beneath him. His penis was rock-hard and the taste of blood turned him on like never before. His hands tightened around her neck, and while still holding onto her tongue, he rocked to his orgasm.
He got up, pulled his pants up and looked at the girl as she struggled to get up. Blood covered her entire face. “You’re a fucking cheap whore,” he said, then kicked her in the face without warning. He saw the blood fly from her nose as his booted foot connected with her face. Her head jerked back. He kicked her again and again. When she stopped moving, he jumped on her with all his might as if to trample her into the ground. He got into the car and drove off, leaving the unconscious girl behind.
Weeks later he read about a badly decomposed body of a woman that was found in the veldt. He wondered if he kicked her to death. Couldn’t be, he soothed his own conscience. A few kicks would not kill a whore. He never heard about that incident again. Most cops in South Africa are not there for the dedication. They are there for the pay and bribes.
A badly decomposed body in an open piece of land meant they would actually have to investigate. It was much easier to throw the case files in a corner to collect dust and open a missing person’s file. That happens all the time. Most missing girls are normally found with their out of town boyfriends.
Henry, nevertheless, cut the article out and pinned it on the notice board at the Luscious Love Sex Shop where he still shot movies over weekends.
That was also where he ran into Heidi’s half-brother again operating under the name of Jimmy Love.
Jimmy came mincing into the shop late on Friday evening. His bleached hair matched his white, skin-tight jeans. The pink T-shirt was cropped just above his navel. He saw the handsome Henry behind the counter and put on his campiest walk, “What is a horrible place like this doing to a beautiful boy like you?” Jimmy smelled clean. His hair was newly gelled into spikes. Henry could tell that Jimmy must have just showered. Most prostitutes do have a shower after a few customers. By early morning, Henry would often encounter them on the street when he walked back home. He would test himself and close his eyes, trying to get a whiff of their cheap perfume. The cheap prostitutes knew that he would never make use of any of them. They knew that he was into up-market porno films.
Henry was used to gays wanting to pick him up by now. He was civil to them at times, only when they weren’t persistent and he wasn’t in a bad mood. His heart raged with anger at them and at Heidi. She seemed more interested in taking drugs these days than in having sex with him. Yet, she performed wonderfully in front of the cameras for him.
Jimmy Love gave himself out as a gigolo. Word on the street was that Love’s ass was so badly stretched that he had to wear nappies full time. It was also rumored that he serviced desperate women with vibrators. Luscious Love Sex Shop had the biggest range in sex toys. All the sex workers knew this. Jimmy could not get it up for women. They actually repulsed him, he told Henry late one night when he actually came round to their apartment. Henry had just shot a vile scene starring Heidi with two black studs. Heidi openly snorted cocaine before the scene.
“Why do you snort that stuff up your nose?”
“Would you rather I shoved it up my fanny?”
Her rebellion against him earned her a slap. Without a word, she took off her clothes and started making out with one of her co-stars. Henry ordered them on the bed and started filming.
Three months later, Jimmy leaned seductively over the high counter of Luscious Love Sex Shop: “Batteries please, beautiful boy,” he cooed at Henry.
Henry took out different sizes and held them in the air. Jimmy pointed at the size he needed. “Three of those
packs should do the trick.”
“I thought you only bent for your customers,” Henry said.
“Oh no, my darling, I happen to do the odd woman as well.” Henry laughed out loud at Jimmy.
“Are there actually women desperate enough to pay you?” he mocked Jimmy. “Who would be that desperate?”
“Ah,” Jimmy squealed, “you would be surprised.”
“Pray tell.”
“You know these goodie-two-shoes from church?”
Henry nodded his head, but did not know who Jimmy was talking about.
“Well, they pay me to do them.”
“Why you?”
“Because I am so very beautiful.”
“No seriously.”
“Man look…these girls are so desperate for love. They use me to satisfy them with a vibrator. I don’t even kiss them…yuck…imagine that. Believe it or not, they are saving themselves for ‘some good husband’. I go there, tell them how gorgeous they are and let the vibrator do the talking. Afterwards they pay me, and believe me, I’m not cheap. Then I leave.”
He went into gross details. He told Henry all about his escapades with these desperate women. “It is all about attitude. You have to make them feel like a princess. For that, they will pay hundreds an hour.”
Jimmy started laughing. “They are actually so pathetic. It is actually so sad. They pretend to the world that they are little angles. But in reality, they are cheap sluts in their hearts.”
Henry listened intensely. His heart was beating faster. He asked for more details. Jimmy was only too happy to oblige as he stared at Henry’s handsome face and into those ice blue eyes. He had fallen desperately in love with Henry, knowing fair well that he did not stand a chance. Henry was straight.
“So who you doing tonight with those batteries?”
“Just some desperate nursery school teacher. Got to impress some single father tomorrow, and now she wants me to service her so she can have a glow tomorrow,’ Jimmy said waving his mobile phone at Henry.
“In the age of technology, this is my little black book,” he said.
“Maybe you need a partner to help you with these girls?”
“Oh God! They wouldn’t know what hit them if I dragged you with me. No…it won’t do. You’ll put me out of business.”
It took Henry weeks of sweet talking before Jimmy Love trusted him with his ‘little black book’. From there it was effortless to find out where the desperate women lived. Henry offered to drive Jimmy to them when Jimmy was called to ‘service’ them. It was as easy as that.
Chapter Thirty-Four
When Sauer got to the office the next morning, the door was still locked. This was strange because Hobbs was normally here at the crack of dawn. Sauer knew that Hobbs was not a good sleeper. There were too many demons in his head left from the days of the bush war. Hobbs slept maybe five hours a night. Bad nightmares were mainly his bed partner.
Sauer fiddled for his own key and eventually opened the door. His head was throbbing badly, both from the bump on his forehead, and the excessive alcohol the previous night. There was Hobbs fast asleep underneath his desk, snoring softly and still dressed in yesterday’s clothes. Sauer closed the office door behind him and went in search of coffee. He found some in Mrs. Smith’s office, freshly brewed. He poured two cups and went back to the office. He soft kicked Hobbs in the ribs to wake him up, gave him the coffee and sat behind his own desk. Still underneath his desk, Hobbs sat up slowly and drank the coffee.
“Where is your partner this morning?” a sour-faced Superintendent Hansen asked from the doorway.
“He’ll be up any minute now,” Sauer said.
“I want to see the two of you as soon as he arrives,” the superintendent said.
“Sure.” Sauer poked his head underneath his own desk and mockingly said to Hobbs, “You’re in trouble! The old man wants to see us!”
Hobbs retrieved his tall body from underneath the desk, stretched himself out tall, farted and yawned.
“Come, let’s go,” he said to Sauer with surprising cheerfulness. Sauer followed Hobbs out of the office and into the superintendent’s office.
“Morning boys.”
“Morning sir,” they echoed.
“Why you look like hell today?” The old man screened Hobbs. He shook his head and tapped with one finger on the desk.
“How do you guys like the headlines today?” Superintendent threw a newspaper across the table at them. The headlines read “Face Lifter claims another victim!” It was the story about Jimmy Love. The facts were based on half-truths, nowhere near the real McCoy. Hobbs and Sauer read the story. Both were amazed. What bullshit!
“It seems,” the superintendent started, “that the media knows more about your killer than what you do!” He stared at them silently. Both the younger men stared back.
“Whom did you guys talk to?”
“No one,” they answered simultaneously.
“Except that we discussed it loudly in the bar last night,” Hobbs remembered vaguely.
“You guys should know better than going off to one of your ghastly drinking joints and bragging about cases with strangers in a bar!” The superintendent ranted and raved some more before he chased the two out of his office. Neither one listened to him. Firstly, they were too hungover, nor secondly, were the old man’s screaming like water off a duck’s back. Both looked down at the awful cream tiles on the floor, waiting for the old man to finish.
Back in their office, Hobbs threw the paper on the table and started reading out loud. “The Face Lifter, a serial killer that has been operating in the center of town the last nine months, has claimed its first male victim. The first four victims were all female. The badly mutilated body of male prostitute, Jimmy Love, was found in a gutter outside a gas station in Hillbrow. It is believed that his testicles were removed and placed in his mouth.”
Sauer did not read further than the introduction again. At least the press doesn’t know yet that the killer removes the tongues of his victims. Both Hobbs and Sauer sat staring at the wall, wondering where to go next.
“Now what?” Sauer asked.
“Tell you what,” Hobbs said, “let’s go back to square one. What do these women have in common? A male prostitute, right?”
“Now dead,” Sauer added.
“They were all happy-clappies.”
“But not at the same congregation.”
“There must be another common denominator.”
“Which could have been on Jimmy’s mobile phone? Only problem is, the phone was trashed next to the body and the subscriber identity module card is gone.”
“Maybe his little brother can help us.”
“Doubt it. Jimmy took great effort to try and protect Stevie from his life style.”
“We are missing something…it is right in front of us.”
Sauer looked at Hobbs. The man opposite him had the most analytical mind he had ever come across. Sadly, he only used it when he felt like it.
“Let’s go back to the store room and go through their possessions again. Perhaps we will find something,” Hobbs said as he walked out the door. “That way, we can buy breakfast on the way.” Sauer got up and followed him to the Turtle.
Chapter Thirty-Five
First, they drove to Hobbs’s house where he showered and changed into fresh clothes. Sauer waited for him in his living room. Everything was neat and tidy and in its place. No pictures and personal mementoes anywhere. This could have been a hotel room. Hobbs had been his partner for years, but on an intimate level, he barely knew his partner.
Hobbs reappeared looking and smelling much better. Without a word, the two detectives walked out of the house and got into the Turtle. Sauer drove. Hobbs smoked. All the case files that were finalized were hoarded in a massive storeroom. It used to be the government press in the olden days. As technology progressed, the press became obsolete and the South African Police Services inherited the space to store their case files.
The building was in the industrial side of town, way on the eastern side of Johannesburg.
Sauer parked on the pavement, next to a massive Jacaranda tree. They entered the massive building and walked to the counter where an elderly gentleman was busy filling out forms.
“Morning,” Sauer greeted. “We would like to see the boxes belonging to Rebecca Scott, Leslie Adams, Rae Haywood and Charmaine Zeller.
The old man responded by placing an application form in front of them. “You have to fill in this form first,” he said. He turned his back on them, retrieved a cup of tea from underneath the counter, turned the radio louder and went to sit down in a huge comfortable chair in the one corner. Sauer passed the forms to Hobbs as he had a neater handwriting.
Filling out the forms took half an hour as each victim’s belongings had to go on a separate form. Why is it that in this corrupt system of ours, one would always find one asshole that expects you to do things by the book? On finishing, Hobbs flung the forms across the counter at the old man. “Tea time’s over,” he said. The file skidded off the counter, across the floor, and stopped short of the old man’s feet. The old man didn’t bother to pick it up. He just got up and disappeared between the massive shelves. The two detectives could hear him moving somewhere in the belly of the warehouse. Eventually he came back with the box belonging to Leslie Adams, victim number two. He placed it on the counter. Sauer ripped the seal open and the two detectives started rummaging like vultures through the contents. Sauer dipped his hand in again and brought out a massive pink vibrator. For the first time, he looked at it closely. A white powdery substance covered the vibrator. This one had never been cleaned after use. He placed it carefully on the counter and rubbed his hand furiously on his hip. “She was the messy one?”
Hobbs nodded his head.
The old man placed Rae Haywood’s box on the counter. She was the third victim. Sauer broke the seal and looked into the box. There were not many things in the box. No vibrators or dirty books, nothing. At that stage, they did not yet know that they were dealing with a serial killer.
Cannibal Man Page 18