Reckoning

by Shakir Rashaan

  “Look, Sir, we might be turning into ‘San Francisco South,’ but this office comes with a lot of pressure to fit in a box.” Niki leveled with me quickly. “My new-found proclivities, his bisexuality, the powers that be would rather that information not get out to the public. Believe me, they’re not in the dark, but as long as we’re handling business, the rest can be forgotten.”

  “I understand that, but why all the cloak-and-dagger secrecy at NEBU? Everyone is under a nondisclosure agreement. The penalty is so severe that it’s not even worth the money for selling the story. He knew that going in.”

  Niki thought about it for a moment. A moment later, she shook her head in disappointment, uttering the answer to my question with one name. “dulce.”

  I snapped my fingers, looking disgusted that something so simple slipped by us so easily. “Damn, you’re right. She stirred up too much smoke for there not to be any other fires popping up all over the place. I’ll have an audit done ASAP, but we need to be thorough.”

  Some things couldn’t be avoided, but I also took the issues personally as the director of security. The prospect of more potential problems at NEBU was something I couldn’t fathom, but my naturally skeptical nature hardly ever failed me.

  Well, there was this one time, but I won’t bore you with the details.

  My cell phone rang; the ringtone alerted me to Natasha’s call. I checked the time, noticing that it was nearly six o’clock. I silently wondered why she was calling me during her shift. Not knowing if there were other ears around Natasha, I kept the tone and language professional. “Detective Reddick, I take it you’re not calling to be social.”

  “No, Mr. Law, I wish it was a social call.” Natasha’s voice was clearly in business mode; there were no two ways about it. “I was called to the scene near your office, and from the looks of it, the medical examiner is calling the death a homicide, caused by asphyxiation and a broken neck. There’s also another Roman numeral on the body, sir. My partner thinks it’s a copycat, wants to follow up.”

  “It can’t be a copycat, detective, that person was incarcerated. Is it possible there’s a mistake?”

  “Unfortunately, it is not a mistake, sir. The numeral on the body is the number five.”

  Niki saw the frustration mounting on my shoulders, moving from behind her desk to try and massage the tension away. She was able to listen in on the conversation once I hit the speakerphone, chiming in to see what she could do. “Hey, girl, what’s the situation?”

  “Copycat, Ms. Santiago, Roman Numeral murders.” Natasha made sure she stayed in business mode, despite the fact that her tone clearly changed once she heard Niki’s voice. “All signs point to it, but we’re trying to make sure all leads pan out.”

  I didn’t like the inference; that case was supposed to be sealed, only a few people knew all of the details, and of those people, one was dead, and the other one, outside of the three of us, was currently working the crime scene, speaking to Natasha about the details of the homicide.

  That only left one person with such intimate knowledge of that murder, and more importantly, where exactly the carvings were located.

  The last time I checked, she was still at the Pulaski State Prison, under close security parameters.

  I hoped I was wrong, but there was only one way to find out.

  “Well, well, well, look at what the cat dragged in.”

  Making the drive down to the prison to see Simone was not the easiest decision to make, but it was a necessary one to make, no matter how much I hated it.

  She was the only one who could have given up such explicit details of the murder for anyone to be able to not only copycat, but take things up a notch and continue with the last Roman numeral that ended with her.

  I almost regretted my decision the moment she sat down and picked up the receiver on the other end. “I don’t have time to sit here with you and play ‘back down memory lane’ right now. That’s not what I came here for.”

  “You came here because you want to know if I dished out some juicy details to one of my fans about the ‘Roman Numeral’ murders; that’s why you’re here.” Simone cut to the heart of the matter quickly, almost reveling in the pageantry of it all. “I gotta give you credit, Dom, you do have a flair for the dramatic. You nearly made me a celebrity in here, sexy.”

  My temples began to throb. Just get the information and bounce, Law. “Obviously you spilled the tea to make yourself look sexy, so, who did you drop the information on, huh? Let’s make this easy and quick and maybe you can get back to that life sentence, okay?”

  Her facial expression changed quickly. She was as cold as ice in seconds. “I ain’t telling you a goddamned thing. I want you to suffer through this one, the way you made me suffer all those years. However, I might be persuaded, if—”

  “If, what?” I already knew the punchline to this particular sick joke, but I had no choice but to listen to the ending, no matter how torturous it would be.

  She regarded my face for a few moments, putting my patience at a true premium. She couldn’t hide her smirk, like she was the Cheshire cat that swallowed the canary, taking pleasure in my lack of knowledge and her new-found power-player status in this new “puzzle.” “If you come and visit me more often, each time you do, I will give you a clue to who I’ve unleashed into your world, and the reasons why I did it.”

  “No deal.”

  “Aw, come on, Dominic, I know you, as much as that idea might repulse you.” Simone’s taking pleasure in my discomfort was slowly becoming a source of pure irritation for me. She leaned back in her chair, taunting me with what she potentially had to give me. “You can’t resist a good puzzle; you never could. Come on, baby, it will be like old times. It’s not like I’m going anywhere, right?”

  Fuck. She had me there. She literally wasn’t going anywhere whatsoever; she wouldn’t be for the next sixty years, depending on how long she lived.

  I contemplated the situation, realizing that if I played my cards right, I might be able to get her to help me put this thing to bed before someone close to me died. I couldn’t have that on my conscience, not again. “All right, I’ll play by your rules…for now.”

  “Good boy, I knew you’d come around.” Simone’s grin widened, putting us at a contentious impasse. “Now, about that first tidbit of information.”

  I wanted to back out of the deal immediately, fighting the urge to simply rely on my instincts to figure this out and be done with her for the rest of my life.

  Unfortunately, she was right; I couldn’t resist a good puzzle.

  And this puzzle was worth the unholy alliance I’d agreed to.

  EIGHT

  “Show me what you have, Sigma.”

  We sat in my office, going through the surveillance footage from NEBU that was extracted from the night in question and from other nights when Jason patronized the compound. Ramesses wanted to see specifically what he was up to, especially when it came to our mystery guest. The hope was to establish a pattern of behavior with Jason and his play partner, and perhaps we would catch him slipping, maybe getting a facial match that we could actually use to make things easy on us.

  On several occasions, Jason was observed entering the grounds with his play partner; each time, dulce was seen giving Jason a kiss on the cheek, holding him longer than usual during their embrace. I couldn’t believe none of my staff caught on to that move; classic pass technique.

  “My guess, gentlemen, is that this was where the money changed hands. She tried to look as business-like as she could, but it’s a common move among petty criminals,” Sigma explained each of the steps to the letter. “Unfortunately, she’s not the only one; I swept through the footage over the past month to be sure; Mr. Matthews came at other times when dulce wasn’t working, and I distinctly saw three or four C-notes pass hands of at least one more employee in that span.”

  Ramesses remained stone-faced, but I wasn’t as hard to read. This type of breech of protocol, especially
when we were solvent enough to pay everyone who worked at NEBU, was disturbing to say the least.

  Ramesses finally cracked, rubbing his hands over his face, clearly frustrated with the recent course of events. “We’ll deal with that after we handle the larger problem at hand. What else can we extrapolate from the guest in particular?”

  “Well, he did everything possible to hide his identity; he’s wearing prosthetics over his face, so Mr. Matthews must have told him about the recognition software. Sigma took his fingers and widened the screen, zooming in on the things that our guest couldn’t conceal. “He did, however, forget about his tattoos, and from the looks of the ones on his forearm, you might be able to get someone who can identify the design and, more specifically, where he got the ink done.”

  It wasn’t much to go on, but it was enough to at least get some traction. The problem with tattoos was that unless the design was unique, there could be any number of artists in the country that could have done the design.

  I shot a text over to Niki and Sharpe to let them know what we’d found before we moved on to the next order of business. “I’m wondering if the play partner has anything to do with this. The thing that has me tripping is that the murder is all over the news, but no one has come forward yet. Someone has something to hide.”

  “I don’t think it’s the play partner at this point.” Ramesses stroked his beard, pondering the information in front of us at the moment. “Think about it; you’re play partners with someone who took great pains to conceal his identity. We do it all the time, right? Even those in the scene don’t really know our actual names, Dominic. That anonymity is what shelters predator and prey alike.”

  “Do you think the play partner didn’t know who they were dealing with?” I thought about his theory, and it was sound, whether I wanted to believe it or not. The only reason why people know my actual name was for a lack of theatrics on my part; I simply didn’t want to have to go through all of the remembering what name to give people. “Whether he gave a false name or not, his image is out there. Someone out there knows what they’re dealing with. Either they’re actually innocent or they’re complicit in the murder.”

  Ramesses shook his head, trying to figure out what our next move would be. “So, Dom, what do you think the move should be? I’m out of avenues to travel down to help you figure this out.”

  I thought long and hard about what we could do next, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what that could be. Jason was meticulous, but he couldn’t have been that meticulous. Even people who covered their tracks as well as he did had a lapse somewhere. It was only a matter of where that lapse happened.

  I got a call from Natasha, and from the tone of her voice, one of the answers to my questions presented itself. She was also away from her partner, too; her voice inflections gave her away. “Good afternoon, my Sir, i think i have some news that will make You smile today.”

  “Oh, you do? Tell Me all about it, baby girl.”

  “We found some evidence at Jason’s apartment that might link him to the person of interest that we’ve had a hard time identifying, Sir. Does that please You, my Master?” Natasha’s voice turned more demure by the moment, waiting for the smile in my voice to present itself. “i wanted to make sure You were kept in the loop; i know how much You want to solve this as much as we do.”

  “That definitely pleases Me more than you realize. you’re such a good girl.” I heard the giggle over the phone, grinning at the power of those two words in the psyche of a submissive. “Tell Me what the evidence is so we can follow up on the leads that it should generate.”

  “Well, my Sir, it seems that there were a few images on Jason’s computer of him and a couple. He matches the physical description of the person of interest at NEBU; i sent the picture to Your phone, my Sir.”

  “Good girl. I think we’ll need to reward you for your hard work, My sexy girl.”

  If I could have seen her blush, it would have made my day. Her voice lost its edge, and she sounded more feminine than I’d heard all day. It was intoxicating; I nearly wanted to order her to take some personal time to come to my office for a little “dick-tation.” I calmed my urges as much as I could, making sure that I took the sex out of my voice as best as possible.

  “You promise, my Sir? i need to balance myself; the work week has been especially hard with the cases outside of the case involving Jason. If it would please You, i would really like to be put out of my misery.”

  I couldn’t argue with that in the slightest; I hadn’t had a chance to wear either one of my girls out since we got back from Hedonism a couple of weeks ago. With the pressure and grief that Niki was going through coupled with the wantonness of Natasha needing a workout, tonight was as good a time as any to blow the roof off NEBU.

  However, I was going to need some assistance, and I knew just the person to help make that happen.

  “Tell your sis that we’re going to NEBU for some R&R tonight. I need to work off some steam.”

  “Yes, Sir, consider it done.”

  “Lady Neferterri, it is my honor to be placed in your hands tonight.”

  Quiet as it was kept, both of my girls had a bit of a crush of sorts, and it involved one woman in particular. In fact, they’d admitted fantasies of being at her mercy within a play scene, and I couldn’t say that I blamed them, to some degree. I could, but what would be the point? The way Neferterri was with her girls during the rare times she engaged in play scenes at NEBU were the stuff of legend. Whenever she wanted to show up and show out, people buzzed about it on FetLife and in the Facebook groups for days after.

  Tonight, Niki and Natasha would bottom in a scene that would bring out the primal instincts in both of them.

  The pressure of having to deal with Jason’s murder was getting to Niki, and the mess I was dealing with concerning the disappearance of Kendyl Ashton had gotten more ridiculous by the day. Kraven was really at the point to where he was going to cause more trouble, I could feel it, and I needed to clear my head to get things under control. I had plans to be the second half of Niki’s doubleheader, while turning Natasha over to Neferterri after I’d worked her over within an inch of her life. This particular scene would definitely get tongues wagging, that was for sure. The Lady of the House of Kemet-Ka only scened next to her husband, but considering he was in the audience with their girls at his sides, it was safe to say he wouldn’t be putting in work at this event.

  All eyes were on us tonight.

  No pressure, though. I was only working alongside one of the more revered Dominas in Atlanta and beyond. She already had a line around the corner from the minute she stepped through the door. At first glance at Niki by her side on the center stage, and the other submissives, regardless of gender, were envious of the position she was in.

  Niki was with Neferterri while Natasha stuck close to me. Both girls stripped naked as we took the cleansing wipes to the spanking benches, the bondage table and the Cross that sat center stage. The crowd migrated in our direction, wondering if they would get the chance to witness another intense experience. I ignored them as I went about my routine, following my own rhythm and cadence as we ensured the seating areas were sanitized. I did my best to get into the mindset I needed to be in to work the crowd.

  The look in Neferterri’s eyes as she took control of Niki gave me an inkling that I needed to be at the top of my game tonight. Luckily, I had been practicing my Florentine techniques and putting in some time with the bullwhips, too. However, the moment I saw amani bringing out the vats of alcohol, the cotton swabs and the lighter torches, I knew it was going to be a bigger spectacle than I thought.

  “I’m glad the ceilings are high down here, Beloved!” Ramesses shouted as he stroked shamise and sajira. “I’d hate to have the heat and flames put a damper on the show!”

  “As hot as these bitches are, they might set off the fire alarms and the sprinkler systems before I ever light up this torch!” Neferterri bellowed from the stage, e
liciting whistles and cheers from the crowd. She grabbed Niki by the nape of her neck and laid her on the bondage table, restraining her wrists and ankles. “But that’s not gonna stop me from setting this hot bitch on fire!”

  The crowd roared, providing the energy needed to put this scene onto another level. I stood in amazement; this was a side to Neferterri that I was definitely not used to, but I smiled as I watched her work Niki over with the riding crop, popping exposed flesh from head to toe. Niki lost herself in the moment quickly, straining against her binding, wanting desperately to touch the object of her fantasies and desires, only to be violently rebuffed, much to her chagrin and the crowd’s delight.

  Determined to sway the crowd’s attention for a moment, I cracked the bullwhip, causing a sonic boom that reverberated off the walls and silenced the crowd. It even snapped Neferterri out of her zone momentarily. I noticed a smirk spread across her face before she continued to work Niki over again, doing her best to elicit the screams she wanted to hear from her.

  “Oh, y’all forgot I was here? Well, allow me to introduce myself!” I yelled as I quickly switched to my twin leather floggers, barking the command for Natasha to assume the position so I could really put her ass on display and play to the crowd before the Lady of NEBU turned the tide in her favor for good.

  The force of the impact of the falls on her skin caused an immediate reaction from the crowd each time. Hearing T.I.’s “No Mediocre” playing as part of the soundtrack of the scene only seemed to fuel my aggression and rhythm. Come on, now, it’s the A, baby!

  The crowd was rocking now, bouncing between the all-out assault and moans coming from Natasha and the bruises and welts Neferterri continued to rain down on Niki. I stole glances at Niki, watching as her hips gyrated and grinded against the air, letting me know her libido was cranking up and purring, exactly the way I liked her.