Guilty Photographs

by S I Taylor

  She managed to speak through her pain. “You did this to me on purpose. You’re a fucking psycho. You both are crazy.”

  “I was watching and following you from the time you placed that device in your ear and that watch on your wrist,” he said. “Mr. Riley works for me. I knew that Iggy was the only person you worked directly with, so approaching his greedy ass was not difficult.”

  “So you orchestrated the entire thing just to get back at me? To get me to willingly want you? How does that make sense? You were willing to share me with him or whoever you paid?” she asked, disgusted.

  “Yes, and I would do it all over again if it meant that it would bring you to me.”

  “But you almost killed me.”

  “I wanted to scare you. I had no intention of killing you, but that may change depending on your willingness to cooperate,” he said as he turned to Mr. Riley. “Go get me my supplies. I’m going to enjoy her while she’s awake.” He came closer to Barbara and licked her body. He trailed his fingers along the licks and placed them between her folds and started pleasuring her as he stared into her eyes.

  In and out.

  His fingers roamed her insides. He licked his lips and started moaning. He continued and increased his speed. She wanted to cover her ears but her arms were bound and the moans echoed in the room.

  In and out he continued his thrusting assault.

  “I know you like this. Mr. Riley told me you did, and I saw you through the cameras I had installed in his room.”

  Her body shivered and juices started flowing down her leg. “You see, baby? I knew it.” He bent over and licked the trail down her leg. She was ashamed of her body for defying her. She couldn’t believe he’d been watching her all this time. He’d known all this time and even though she’d got herself in that mess she knew he’d contributed to her demise. She was paying for her mother’s medical bills, her basement, and her father’s apartment and his utility bills and was always short on something. She couldn’t move in with her father as she didn’t want him to know what kind of job she was doing.

  The countless times when she’d had to submit herself to Mr. Riley and the many times she’d wanted to be with Nixon but wanted to clean up her life before she submitted to him—those feelings were gone. She couldn’t believe what he was doing. She wanted to believe that it was all a nightmare, but the situation felt real. The beads of sweat forming on her forehead, dripping to her cheeks, were real. The welts forming on her back were real. The shivers rippling through her body were real. The hate for him was also real.

  Moments later, Mr. Riley returned with a rolling cart filled with sex toys on a platter like a nurse wheeling in surgical instrument for the surgeon in an operating room. Barbara was in a situation she couldn’t get away from. She’d known that Mr. Riley was not as good as he appeared to be to others, but she’d never thought that he would be involved in this, let alone Nixon. She’d trusted Nixon and she’d felt that she would one day be with him, but now she felt nothing toward him but hate and regret.

  She looked around the room and noticed that he had transformed her once childhood home into her captivity. Chains hung from the ceilings, a frameless king-size bed sat in the center with white plush rugs around the bed, and all the windows were boarded and covered, with only a tall lamp emitting a faint glow from the corner.

  Her head slumped, her blood drained, but her anger boiled. She knew she needed to get away from them and she would take the first chance once it arrived.

  Her restraints would have to come off soon and that was when she would get away. This time she knew where she was and who she was up against. She would win.

  “You can leave us alone now.” Nixon gestured to Mr. Riley, who reluctantly left the room.

  Chapter 44

  June seventh, 10:15 p.m.

  “Jody, you’re going to be in the center. Marlo, you’re next to her on the right. Santino, stand to Jody’s left, and Blake, since you’re the biggest, stand behind them. Make sure to enter as if you’re having a good time and stand directly underneath the camera without looking up or directly at it. Jody, act flirtatious with Santino. Then Marlo and Santino, you enter first, then Jody and finally Blake.”

  “Mr. X, you think this is going to work?” Marlo asked, interrupting the choreographed taping.

  “Marlo, you’re fucking the scene up,” Mr. X said angrily, approaching Marlo and with a menacing look backhanded a slap to his face, knocking his gold tooth loose. Marlo readjusted himself and tightened his tooth back into place. “Now I have to edit that shit out. Do as you’re told and shut the fuck up. Your opinions are not necessary. That’s not what I pay you for,” he said as he glanced at his watch, noting the time as ten fifteen.

  Even though McKinley could only hear a male voice he instantly knew who the voice belonged to and felt disgusted at what he was watching so far.

  The others looked away, but Jody gave a slight smirk and told him, “Told you to keep your mouth shut.”

  Marlo eyed her and opened his mouth to retort, but quickly silenced himself and got into position.

  “That’s the smartest thing you’ve done since we’ve met,” she whispered and turned toward Santino.

  Marlo’s hands clenched at his sides and his lips pursed, but he seemed to have contained himself.

  Mr. X ran through the scene once more with his crew and this time no one spoke out and the image went black.

  McKinley stopped the recording and looked at Coolidge.

  “Do you know what that means, Coolidge?” McKinley asked. He was surprised, but at the same time he felt relief to know that Wolf was not the person who was seen in the warehouse. “But why did our only witness place her in the scene and also saw her walking outside of the warehouse the night before?”

  “I know that Wright over here is a fucking liar and I’m not sure why he set Wolf up. Now as to why the witness saw her?” She shrugged. “Maybe he did see her, or maybe she was just in the area at the same time. Sterling fits the same body type and description as Wolf, just as the other characters resembled the three victims found inside the warehouse. We have to find Wright to figure that one out, but keep watching,” she said, pointing to the screen. “The next scene is the most important.”

  McKinley clicked the play button once more and after a few seconds the screen started again.

  June eighth, 2:45 a.m.

  The room was dark, and the awkward lighting made it difficult to make out where the filming had taken place, but the cages, the metal table, and the chains hanging from the ceiling finally clicked to McKinley and the feeling of something terrible crept in.

  “I didn’t sign up for any party,” Wolf said as she reached for a knife in her handbag. Junior quickly realized what she was going to do and punched her face and she fell to the ground, still holding the knife.

  The second guy, a little slimmer, tore her skirt off and in the process stabbed her in her side as she thrashed on the floor and managed to kick him as her heel became lodged his throat.

  Junior, enraged, snarled, “You’re going to pay for that. Dominic was one of the best.”

  She spit at Junior’s face, which he didn’t wipe instead had a ridiculous smirk on his face. Junior unzipped his pants, spread her legs and started jamming himself inside of her. Wolf was screaming and blood oozed from her legs.

  Her eyes slowly opened and she realized what was happening to her. Barbara’s hand was still bound but she gripped the knife tight and lunged for Junior. McKinley looked away from the scene as Barbara’s hand discarded Junior’s bloody penis.

  Junior hurled himself on the ground, holding himself, screaming in pain. “Get her, you stupid fool. You’re going to wish you didn’t do that when Slim’s done with you,” Junior said between screams.

  Wolf had spent her energy with Junior, which caused her to collapse on the floor.

  Slim—the biggest, buffest one—dragged her by her hair across the bloody floor and clasped her wrists together above
her head, tying them in place with a rope. He began to kick her sides, causing more blood from her wound to ooze out with every blow.

  And Nixon Wright entered.

  “This is not what we had planned,” Wright said.

  “Who cares? She’s so fucked up she won’t even know what’s going on,” Slim said as he continued to ram his foot into Barbara’s side. “Besides, she just cut Junior’s dick off. Can’t you hear him screaming?” Slim said in his Italian accent.

  “I told you to give her just enough, not all of it,” Wright said and pushed Slim off Barbara, untying the ropes from her wrists.

  “What the fuck, man? She was feisty, defiant, and she drank the entire thing in one gulp.” With both hands on his shoulders Slim pushed Wright back.

  Wright looked at the hands shoving his shoulders and with a menacing look in his eyes he slowly cocked his head toward Slim and said, “You’re going to regret that you fucking touched me.” He ran toward Slim like a football player, tackling him to the ground, knocking him off his feet as he landed with a loud thud on the ground. He leaped toward Slim and began to punch him, breaking his jaw, his nose, and leaving him unconscious.

  “Mr. X, look out,” was heard off camera.

  Dominic—who managed to get up with the heel still lodged in his throat—leapt toward Wright, tackling him to the ground. They both wrestled and the man who spoke rushed into the screen and grabbed Dominic and stabbed him several times, slitting his throat with the same knife that was lying next to Wolf.

  McKinley paused the video.

  “Coolidge, I knew there was something wrong with that guy,” McKinley said. “He was too meticulous.”

  “Who are you talking about?” she asked.

  “Him. That’s our witness. Mr. John Doe. I will never forget that beard.” McKinley rewound the scene and pointed to the black man who came into the screen once more and paused it on his face. “See, that’s him. That’s our John Doe guy. Now we know why he didn’t want to give his true identity or give a formal sworn statement.”

  “You’re right, or show his face for that matter,” Coolidge said as she looked closely at the figure and zoomed the screen in on his face, although the pixels were a bit blurry. “You think we could get the analytics team in L.A. to get a clear image of John Doe with this recording?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot,” he said.

  “You haven’t finished the recording. Keep watching,” she said.

  “There’s more?” he asked.

  Coolidge nodded. “Yes, just press play.”

  McKinley unpaused the video and it resumed where it left off.

  Slim gathered himself and ran toward John Doe, who was still looking down at his victim, admiring his work, and sliced his side. John Doe winced but with ease he turned as Slim tackled him and wrapped his arms around John Doe’s waist, pushing him back. John Doe, still holding the knife, plunged it into Slim’s spine, penetrating it toward the front of his neck. If it were a longer knife it would’ve probably jabbed through the front of his throat. John Doe effortlessly flung Slim away from him. Slim landed slumped over against the wall.

  Wright then walked over to Junior, who was still screaming in the midst of the confusion and madness in the room. “No one touches what’s mine without my permission.” And he proceeded to slice his stomach and took his penis and shoved it into his mouth. “And that’s for talking back to me. I’m sure your father has taught you manners and not to talk back to your superiors,” he said as he wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

  “It wasn’t supposed to end with Junior’s death, but he deviated from our agreement. Make sure her fingerprints are the only ones around and take our knives and leave hers,” Wright said as he took the camera and shut it off.

  As soon as the video was finished, and the image turned to a dark screen, Coolidge placed her hands on McKinley’s shoulders. McKinley looked stunned and couldn’t believe what he’d seen.

  He remembered what Barbara had said and realized that her recollection of the scene was boggled. Now it made sense when she didn’t remember with certainty what happened. She was under some sort of drug-induced psychosis.

  “With this evidence we have the real killer. I guess you were right about Wolf,” she said.

  “Yeah, I guess. She was a victim plain and simple. I just want to know why they went through all this trouble to frame her,” McKinley said.

  “The way I look at it, it seems like a love triangle gone wrong. Wright is clearly the mastermind behind the entire ordeal, and he orchestrated the entire thing. She probably rejected him, and he felt as if he needed to teach her a lesson and it just got out of hand from there. It seemed that he wanted to be the one to possess her but got beaten to it by Junior and that enraged him. If you ask me, he’s a sick, psychotic man,” Coolidge said.

  “Seems that way.” He swiveled the chair around to face her.

  “I wonder why he would do that. I mean he’s not a bad-looking man. He’s handsome, could have any girl he wants,” she said.

  “I know. I can’t answer that myself. But I do know that we as people always want what we can’t have. And as you said, maybe she was something that he couldn’t have. She was that trophy that he always wanted and couldn’t get. According to his financial records he could have whatever he wanted. It seems like the usual case of the spoiled rich brat gone rogue,” McKinley said.

  She nodded in agreement. “How are we going to find where Wright went?” she asked, looking at McKinley.

  “I have a plan. Trust me,” he said. “We’re going to need Deputies Sloan and Constantino to gather the evidence in here.” He stood and they walked toward the living area.

  “We don’t even know where Wolf is at either.”

  “She was here.”

  “How do you know that for sure?”

  “I just know it. Call it my instinct,” he said.

  His eyes scanned the room and saw Barbara’s backpack sitting on the stool at the kitchen counter. McKinley walked toward the backpack. “Now I know for sure she was here.”

  She looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re psychic,” Coolidge said with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

  “Of course not. Don’t be silly, my awesomeness has its limits.” He picked up the backpack, showcasing it to Coolidge.

  She shook her head with irritation. “Really, you don’t say.”

  “Yes, really,” he said, ignoring her tone. “I know because this backpack is hers and if she left it behind, it wasn’t by choice. She kept this thing stuck to her like glue.”

  She grabbed her cell phone and called the deputy’s office as McKinley grabbed his cell and a small controller and activated the device. The map appeared on his cell phone screen with a blinking light. When he zoomed into the red pin drop, he knew this address. It was the same place he visited a few days ago looking for the girl suspect.

  “The deputies are on their way.”

  “Good, when they get here, we’re going for a ride.”

  “Sounds like we’re about to have some real fun,” she said with a grin.

  “Looks like you’re finally going to get that thrill you were seeking.”

  Coolidge phone rang and she looked at the caller ID.

  “It’s my mother, I got to take this,” she whispered and walked out into the hallway.

  The backpack caught his attention again. He had a warrant to search the house and the backpack was in the house in question which made anything in there searchable.

  McKinley took the backpack and unzipped it. He reached inside and started to pick out individual items, primarily feminine products. His hands felt a rectangular-shaped box and then a second one. He took both boxes out and knew he was invading her privacy. He knew that the backpack belonged to Barbara and yet he felt compelled to open it. His hands hovered over the unlocked boxes.

  “Hey, McKinley the deputies are here,” Coolidge said from the front doorway.
<
br />   A wave of heat rippled through McKinley’s body. He was panting as if he got caught.

  “Let’s get going, we don’t have time to go through everything in here along with forensics. Wolf might be in danger if we don’t get to her in time,” Coolidge said.

  McKinley placed the boxes inside the backpack along with the other contents and turned toward Coolidge.

  “You’re right.” He looked at the backpack still on the stool and thought about taking it. He grabbed it and placed it back down again. His instincts were telling him to check it, but his logic was advising him to give it back.

  “Let’s go,” Coolidge said eagerly.

  He took the backpack, slung it on his shoulder and ran toward the door.

  Chapter 45

  Nixon approached Barbara with an evil look in his eyes. She’d once seen herself with him and thought that he was unattainable—he was too pure for her, too good. She had wanted to clean up her life for him but now those thoughts were replaced with the reality that he had been a monster all along.

  Those light brown eyes that she loved to stare at were now filled with menace. Those lips that she wanted to kiss were now speaking a language she couldn’t believe. Those arms she’d once thought would hold her for comfort were now torturing her and pleasuring his sadistic fantasy.

  He grabbed a small blade from the tray and pressed it against her skin, just barely making a pinprick of a stab. As her body hung from the ceiling it made her skin stretch. He made a slit on her abdomen. Her skin parted like the Red Sea as Moses was taking the Israelites to salvation. However, like the Egyptians she would drown in her blood before salvation arrived for her.

  He watched as blood trickled from it and stopped at the hem of her panties. He leaned closer and licked the trail up to the wound and made another cut. He marveled at the sight. Barbara winced and looked away. She couldn’t bear to look at him any longer.