by Betsy Poole
“I didn’t give him the whiskey. I have told you so many times. Yes, I came and asked for your help because I thought you loved me. If it is so hard for you to trust me, you can just leave and leave me to my fate. I did not kill Anthony. I am trying very hard to accept this and come out of the trauma. I am a suspect for a murder I didn’t do. What is there to lash out at me? Yes, I stroll around naked and I like to kiss and have sex. Why are you being such a judgmental prick? If I had handed Anthony the whiskey bottle, why would I at all lie?” Ila lashed out at me.
I knew I had been a dick. I was not the one who was charged with murder. I was not the one who may be detained by the police and to be honest, I was not the one to run. Then, why did I feel bad about the whole thing?
This was the thing about women – they could make you feel guilty even when they were the ones at fault. I knew I had to calm down and use reason because this woman was out there with her emotional drama and if I tried being emotional, there was no way I would win.
“Okay, I am sorry. Now, listen to me. I will show you the footage and you will see for yourself handing the whiskey toy Anthony. Does that make sense?” I told and then showed the surveillance footage to both Rick and Ila.
Ila was cofounded and really shocked at seeing the whole footage.
“I have no idea how this is possible. Trust me, I didn’t hand over to whiskey or else I do not remember. If I handed over whiskey, I would have some remembrance of the incident. But, I don’t recall making a glass of whiskey at all,” Ila said clearly flabbergasted.
Rick who had been unnatural quiet for so long decided to speak and I was really surprised at how much hate he had harbored inside him. I mean, I was out there to help and Rick was practically making me the bad guy in the whole situation.
“Ila, I think we sought help from the wrong guy. I am not really sure if Larry is trying to save you or frame you. I mean, didn't he go to the mansion to seek evidence to help us out, but look what he comes back with - a footage to claim that you murdered Anthony. No matter what the rest of the world has to say, you will always have my back, Ila. I know that you would never kill someone and I will stand by you. You don’t need to worry. Maybe, we should have sought someone else’s help. Larry here is not bothered about helping us. He may have his own interests in this, after all,” Rick said.
The urge to punch Rick was really high. I wanted to beat the shit out of him after all none of it made sense. I had left my damn good job just because I wanted to save Ila and yet this is what it all came down to. The worst thing is that for a brief moment, even Ila looked convinced and I ended up looking the bad guy when this time, I really was the one who was the good guy in the whole scenario!
What would I get at all by solving this murder mystery? It wasn’t like Ila would be all over me or profess her undying love for me. I did it because well, damn I did have a soft corner for the woman, but I was beginning to regret the whole thing.
Women were always a damn headache, I thought and I wanted so badly to just leave the two of them to rot in hell and go fuck my own life. However, I knew that if I did so, I would end up justifying Rick’s allegations and this was surely something that I did not want to happen.
“Shut up your bloody mouth, Rick! You know nothing about me and before you pass your asshole opinion about who I am and what my motives are, better go fuck your own head. Why don’t you go and save Ila if you are really so bothered about her! Weren’t you the one who had threatened me at the Arizona that if I didn't kill you, you would kill Ila? Where was all the concern then? Wouldn't you flinch at killing her that time? Don’t you dare call me names when you yourself are on such slippery ground!”
I knew that this was about to turn into a nasty fight. There was no point in trying to explain my situation to them and I wanted to knock some sense into the two of them, but it looked like Rick had some other plan.
Rick kept on adding one allegation after the other and his sole motive was to make me angry. At one point in time, I understood that Rick was probably playing some sort of a game as his intention didn’t seem to be really great. He dug old matters and he kept on adding false allegations as he wanted me to be the bad guy.
With so many years of experience as a PI, I knew this was headed somewhere bad and even before I knew; I and Rick were fighting each other as our verbal jab turned into something physical.
Rick was a huge man and in the few months, I had been away, he had worked on his body even more. All those extra layers of flab were gone down the drain and he was strong and powerful.
Rick landed a punch on my face and I was sure I had a black eye. I mean that guy had got a lot of power and weight in his punch and I hadn’t anticipated that he would land a blow so suddenly and out of the blue.
“You, son of a bitch! What do you think you were trying to do?” I screamed before Rick landed another punch and made both my eyes swell.
I knew that the matter had gone out of hands and I used all my body force and punched him too. Rick might have a lot of weight, but I surely excelled in the department of skills. My punch was well calculated and it ended up pushing Rick a bit.
As he was caught off guard because Rick probably thought I was only talk and no substance, he fell on his own weight and I seized the opportunity and started thrashing him. I used all my force and put in my best effort and I tried to smack some sense on to him by hitting Rick.
However, Rick wasn’t the kind of guy who would go down without a fight. I was wrong when I had assessed his strength and he quickly threw me down and pinned me to the ground. When Rick sat above me, I knew that this was fatal. This wasn’t something I had signed up for. I was feeling breathless and he kept on beating me until I passed out.
I knew my body was sore. In less than 12 hours, my body was aching for two different reasons. Earlier in the mansion, my body was sore because of too much sex and as I slowly drifted into the land of sleep, I could feel that my body was sore because of the pounding I had from Rick.
I tried to open my eyes, but they were black and swollen. I thought of Ila and how she had stood still and didn’t confront Rick. I was doing everything for someone who couldn’t even stand for me.
Even in my semi-asleep state, I could reason everything. I started to wonder the reason behind all of it. I thought it was a whole lot better to go back to Victoria. She was feisty and sexy. I had a stable life and everything was okay there. I loved my job and I could squeeze in good time in the bed whenever I wanted.
I had no idea for how long I stayed asleep, but when I woke up, I could feel a lot of discomfort. I knew that I was not flexible enough and my hands were aching terribly. My eyes had swollen so badly that I could hardly see anything and opening my eyelids led to a lot of pain.
But, I knew I had to do it. I tried opening them again and when I finally opened them, I saw that I was tied to a chair. I tried to wrestle free of it but to no avail. My hands were firmly tied at their back and no matter how much I tried to excavate myself, the knots won’t untangle and I was stuck there.
“Don’t be a pervert Rick. Open the knots, free me. Ila, say something for goddamn sake. I am here for you.”
Ila looked doped and she was in a sort of trance and didn’t really say anything. I knew that my body was still sore and I couldn’t gather enough strength, but I had to do something. Rick was a lot more dangerous than I had thought and he didn’t seem much to be in his senses either.
“So, Mr. Detective who thinks he is way too smart for us lesser mortals, what did you think you would do? You that it was all so easy to simply rubbish me and then walk away and you could be your own sweet boss?
Darling, I am Rick and I am used to being the boss and being pampered. I don’t like when things don’t go the way I want. I am going to settle score with you. You have had enough and I have tolerated a lot of your drama and bullshit!”
I realized that Rick could do anything. He would kill me and won’t bat an eyelid and I had to be really cautious bec
ause no one would discover me in this place. This was not the kind of death I had signed for.
It would be foolish of me to infuriate him anymore or even try to fight with him because he surely had an upper hand. All I could do was try and cajole him so that he could leave me.
Once my hands were untied, I could think of a better plan and so I started to talk highly of Rick.
“Oh, Rick you have got me wrong. I have nothing against you. I knew that you were a great guy the moment I saw you at your own camp in Arizona. I have no feud with you. We don’t need to do this.”
“Oh, we do because Larry McGee, you son of a bitch, have always interfered in other people’s business. I hate you since the time I met you. I didn’t have much of an option back then and I wasn’t so independent either. But, things have changed, darling. Things have changed a lot. In these few months, I have realized who I am and the power which I have.
Oh dude, you have no idea of the things I have done and the kind of power I have amassed. I am going to slowly torture you now and let me show you how I will unfold my plan, a little by little as you will be amazed at how powerful this Rick is!”
I knew that Rick was a bastard through and through. I could sense the kind of deeds he must have done. I had been wrong to assess him in my first meeting and I realized that I should have killed this bastard long ago.
“So, dear Larry, do you remember the green ruins? Of course, you do! This is what made me so almighty. Your boss was a douche bag and all he wanted was money.
I had such a neat plan that I would drug him and he would fall for the craving of sex and I could pilferage all his money and live the life of a king. With my mom no longer there to boss me, I could have gone anywhere and afforded the life of complete luxury.
Anthony had a shit load of money and that ass made me work like a dog. He wanted more and more of my green ruin and all that bastard did was sell it. The green ruin is sacrament, it is holy. You are supposed to respect it, respect the creator, but Anthony Vecchio had no respect. The guy was a dog!”
I had a feeling where this was going. With so much hatred inside him, I knew that there was a high chance that the person who murdered Anthony was no one other than Rick. Seeing Rick go so berserk and crazy with all his theories and the kind of abhorrence he had, it didn’t take a lot to assume that he was the killer, but I needed to hear the details. I wanted to know what he had done and how he had executed it.
I knew that I couldn’t use this information against him as there was no eyewitness or record, but I still needed to know. Knowing what had happened would help me handle the whole situation in a lot better manner.
I didn’t want him to stop and I wanted him to go on. I knew we needed to hear the details and so I simply looked aghast as it gave Rick the right chance to go on with his list of deeds.
“Anthony wasn’t as bad as you make him to be. I had worked with him too. Yes, he was a mercenary but then everyone likes money. He had a lot of business to do, what made you so angry with him, Rick? He was paying you after all for the green ruins, didn’t he?”I asked so that he would continue his story.
“Oh yes! He paid me but he paid me like a dog. You had been to my place. You saw what kind of respect I got, people commanded me but they respected me. I was the real commander and I was used to getting too many women. I could have what I wanted. My mom used to boss me around, but I was still the alpha male.
But, Anthony he just didn’t get this. For him, I was just the guy who made the green ruins that could make him filthy rich. He kept on asking me to make more and he didn’t even let me have it because he wanted every drop of it to himself! Son of a bitch! I couldn’t even have my own stuff. What the hell he thought of me! Of course, I had to do something. He couldn’t just be the boss of me because Rick has no boss. Rick was a free soul, always.”
“So, did Anthony abuse you? Was he harsh on you? He had hired you for making green ruin. What was wrong with it? I am sorry Rick but I am just trying to understand you here.”
“Oh, you are not sorry, McGee. You will be so sorry, you know the problem with you people is that when it comes to your own fault, you become blind and this dear buddy infuriates me. Anthony was not supposed to use me. He was not supposed to treat my sacrament merely as a source of money.
I was not averse to the idea of selling it as long as I made money, but you had to use it yourself too. You had to respect it, and, when he stopped me from using it, I knew this had gone a bit too far. But, that gangster had sources and he had power and so I knew I had to do something so I could get him off my back.”
“Did you kill Anthony Vecchio? Are you behind his murder?” I asked cutting the chase and coming straight to the question.
“You have always been the one to hurry and you never like the chase, McGee. Don’t you?”
I knew I had made a mistake. I had used the wrong card, but thankfully Rick was in the mood to unburden everything. He was relishing in the pleasure of letting me know what a shithead he really was and I urged him to keep going.
“I never thought Rick that you could plan so much and be such a jerk,” I said to infuriate him even more.
“This is the problem; everyone thinks Rick is silly. But, you know what! I am a total badass and so ridiculously smart that you are going to shit your pants when you know what I did.”
“Did you do something disastrous, Rick? Why are you digging your own grave?”
“Oh nobody is going to dig my grave. See, how smartly I dig Anthony’s grave. Anthony was after my life for green ruins, I knew I needed something else. I have been a drug addict all my life and I needed the thrill all over again. As long as I was living under Anthony’s roof and with all those cameras, there was no way he would let me have the green ruin.
That bastard calculated and measured every single thing, but, the creator knows everything. The creator is well versed in the art. When I could create the sacrament, I was powerful enough to make a lot of other things too and I did and you won’t believe how amazing it is. It is ten times better than green ruin and way stronger and a lot powerful.
Anthony had no clue that I was making a new silver drug right under his nose and when I had it, I knew this would be the sacrament to bring an end to the miseries in this new phase of my life. I could smell victory, freedom and a lot of money and I was ready to enjoy it.”
“You mean to say you made another drug?” I asked even though it was quite clear the green ruin in itself was something very potent. It gave such a high and made people so crazy for sex that even a straight guy may end up sleeping with a man because all the body needed was sex.
I had never been with so many women together but that night, it had felt perfect. I just wanted more and more and the urge to fuck had just not gone away. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of new drug he had come up with.
In the little time, I had spoken to Rick, I had understood that Rick had immense knowledge about chemistry. He knew the exact composition of too many chemicals and the reaction which different particles would have upon mixing. His curious mind was a storeroom for dangerous ideas and he often tried them to see what he could come up with.
“What did you make? How did you kill Anthony?” I asked and by this time I was not even playing games with him anymore. I was just curious to know more about him, I wanted to know the kind of things he did because now that I knew the type of guy he was, I was shit scared of the things he could do.
“I made a new drug. It is called silver salt. It is a lot more powerful than the green ruin, but it doesn’t just make you hungry for sex, it makes you go in a trance. It is not like opium or cocaine as it will make you stay in a phase. When you are under the influence of the silver salt, you won’t remember anything you do or whatever it is that happens to you. You will just do as I say or whatever the other person is asking”
I was dumbfounded at how cunning he could be. This wasn’t the Rick I met, he was dangerous and he was capable of a lot of damage. Knowing
that the world of drugs could fetch him both money and power, he had turned into a complete animal and there was a part of me that regretted the moment I had let him free.
I guess everything happened the way it is meant to. As long as he was stuck in his own land and was a slave to his mother, they knew how to control him. He had perhaps never seen much of the outer world and this is why he became hungry for power and money.
He was so angry that he lost his sense. It was wrong to make anything of that sort and as I was baffled and still wondering what to say, I saw him take some of the drug out from his pocket. He literally carried it everywhere he went.
“Dude, what the fuck is this? Did you make this drug? You drugged Anthony and did this drug kill him? Wait, you drugged Anthony by adding this in the whiskey, right? This is the poison the police are talking about? But, then how do you eat the drug and you are still alive?” I asked as I had too many questions in my mind.
“You ask a lot of questions, McGee. Why don’t you just calm the fuck down and let me tell my story? I am so much better at it than you, isn’t it? Rick is better at every damn thing.”
This man was full of himself and I had started to despise and fear him together. Rick was one of those guys who could kill someone in cold blood and not feel bad about it even a little. I knew that he was out seeking revenge and even after he had told me so much about the whole thing, I still had no clue of how and what he had done.
All this while, Ila stated where she was. She wasn’t asleep yet she wasn’t awake either and I realized that Rick had drugged her too. I could sense some movement in her body which meant that Rick hadn’t drugged her a lot, but she was definitely not much in her senses either.
“Yes, McGee, you saw the right footage. Ila did take the whiskey to Anthony and you know she isn’t a liar. Ila is a sex addict and she can literally throw her body anywhere and in front of anyone. But that girl is too silly to lie. She didn’t lie to you. She thinks she never took the whiskey because when she did, she was under the influence of silver salt. This is why she has absolutely no memory of the whole incident. When she saw the footage, she found it hard to believe and this is why she lashed at you.