“I don’t think it’s a good idea. You could get hurt.” Jack laid a hand on her shoulder.
“There are people who are going to get hurt if we don’t stop him, Jack.”
“But why does it always have to be you?” He protested.
“Because that’s the job and someone has to do it.”
Chapter 13
Blue and green strobe lights blanketed the dance floor of the club as a strobe light flashed on and off revealing snippets of action in the otherwise dark room. People pumped their fists in the air and jumped in time with the techno music. It was another full house at The Circus. Looking out at the sea of flesh, no one would have guessed that a murder occurred only a week ago. There was no longer any indication that something horrible had happened here. No more crime scene tape sprawled out around the perimeter of the building. Gone were the uniformed officers taking witness statements and gathering evidence. If asked, no one here would know the name Carly Mather.
Except for undercover officers strategically spread out around the club tonight. They were dressed in plain clothes and did their best to blend in. Many wore black leather pieces in an effort not to be suspicious to the regulars. Wearing Polo shirts and jeans would be glaringly obvious to the regulars and might scare off the killer. Melanie briefed her team before planning this operation, educating them on what drives people to come here and why they dress the way they do. No one knew she had firsthand experience to draw from; it was assumed she did her research, she was known as a competent cop who did what was needed to get the job done so nothing was out of the ordinary. Some of the officers were visibly uncomfortable in this environment. They tugged at their black leather studded collars and stood in the corner trying to hide themselves altogether. The object was to blend in and to do everything they could to keep from standing out.
Melanie wore a leather bikini that she pulled from her personal collection at home. She had the body for it but was a little uncomfortable that she had to wear it in front of her colleagues. She had always presented herself as a conservative professional around her colleagues. Having them see her like this was a bit unnerving. She dealt with it by rationalizing that they knew she was playing a part. They had no idea that in real life she frequented this club regularly, nor that her boyfriend was the owner.
The tight leather straps tied behind her neck and were a little uncomfortable. The bottoms were a thong, what Lycra material there was of it. She wore a mask that covered her eyes so that she would not be recognized by anyone. It allowed her to scan the room looking for anything or anyone suspicious.
“Does this feel okay? It’s not too tight?” Jack asked as he fastened the cuffs around her wrists.
“It’s fine. Make sure you keep a good look out, okay?” She said.
Melanie insisted that she use the same restraint wall where Carly died. She wagered that based on the killer’s actions he would see this spot as a twisted form of sentimental favor and might gravitate here again. Jack bent down and restrained her ankles with the silver chain shackles.
“Too tight?” He yelled.
The music reverberated throughout the entire club, its shock waves vibrating her chest. It was difficult to hear each other talk.
“It’s fine.” She yelled back.
Jack stood up and took a quick look at his work.
“I’m going to be right over there.” He pointed to one of the bar stations. “Are you going to be alright?”
“I’ll be fine.” She said.
He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the mouth. She could tell he was nervous. This wasn’t his plan and he wasn’t exactly for the idea of his girlfriend being literally tied up as bait. He went along with it only because Melanie was adamant that she was right and that the killer would return to the scene of the crime.
Everyone was in position, each person using an earpiece to communicate.
“Okay, keep your eyes open.” Melanie’s voice ran through the earpiece of every officer in the club. They struggled to hear her.
She looked around and watched the crowd as they contorted their bodies into different dance poses and ritualistic movements. She enjoyed being part of this place and was determined to catch this killer. Not only was murder a heinous act but set in this type of environment, it damaged the image of BDSM and what she thought it was really about. It definitely wasn’t about pain or murder. It was unfortunate that someone would use this place as a harvesting ground for their own sick, twisted motives for killing an innocent woman. Setting up a sting operation like this might be a long shot, but it was worth a try. Melanie had a feeling he was too arrogant not to come back to the same place as before. This was the only club of its kind in this city that she knew of and the perfect spot to pick out future victims. She felt he was taunting them, she had every reason to believe that he would be bold enough to return here.
“Status check.” Melanie yelled into her earpiece.
“Zone one, clear.” A voice came back in her ear.
“Zone two, all clear.” Another voice said.
“Zone three, good to go.” A third voice said.
“Status check complete. Keep your eyes out, gentlemen.” She said.
Melanie looked out at the crowd and then over at Jack who hadn’t taken his eyes off of her the entire time. He tried to keep up with drink orders but having her strung up on the wall was getting to his nerves. It was only a few feet away but the distance was too far in his opinion. He knew he had to keep a distance and pretend as if he didn’t know what was going down, but it was almost impossible to play along. He wanted to protect her and he couldn’t understand why she would subject herself to all of this. Why did it have to be her? Weren’t there other officers who could do this job? She had given him her reasons and they were valid points, but it wasn’t rational thinking that he was concerned about. The woman he loved was hunting a murderer and using her own body as the trap. That would be a lot for any man to deal with.
The rules in a club like this weren’t difficult to master. It was simple; pleasure was the name of the game. This was the place to experience new forms of pleasure and controlled pain. Dominants and submissive alike could come here to find partners who they would like to share new experiences with and together they could act them out. Some wanted to be controlled while others wanted to do the controlling. Melanie presented herself as a submissive knowing the killer would be a dominant. She already knew based on her investigation that he was a particularly nasty kind of dominant. He had the personality of someone with no empathy toward a submissive. That alone went against the very definition of BDSM. He used this place to pick victims and then prey on their trusting nature. So it was her turn to prey upon him. She just had to find him- or let him find her- first.
Mike stood in a corner a little out of Melanie’s eyeline, he was incredibly uncomfortable here largely because he had no idea how it was making him feel so aroused.
He was dressed in tight leather and was conscious that his hard cock had formed a visible lump around his crotch. That’s why he was hiding in the shadows. He looked over at his partner hanging there, open to anyone.
Jack looked up from serving drinks and noticed Mike staring intently at his girlfriend. He watched imagining that Mike was lusting over Melanie, noting later that he was going to fuck her hard.. He occasionally enjoyed other men indulging on his property and who better to do it than her partner who he knew would also protect her.
She seemed at home in this place. Her hair lay over her shoulders conveying a much less tense partner. She looked so damn sexy that Mike was beginning to understand what she meant about this place. The music pumped in his ears, the vibe willing him to go to her. She looked at him as his mind drifted into fantasy.
“Shaw, what are you doing? You need to cover your position.” Melanie said.
He said nothing and stepped up onto the platform until he was face-to-face with her. She looked into his eyes and realized why he was there. He said nothing but kissed her on
the mouth deep and hard. His tongue searched hers, flicking it back and forth as the dimly lit room highlighted the two of them. He kept his eyes opening really seeing her for the first time. She maintained eye contact both surprised and strangely titillated by his reaction.
He reached down between her legs and pulled at her black thong, pushing it to the side. He inserted a finger inside of her and felt her already wet. His dick twitched in response and he unbuttoned his pants, unzipped them and pulled out his cock. He put his right hand on the wall behind her head and with his left guided himself into her hot, wet, tight pussy. She gasped unprepared for his size and girth. She took a deep breath in as he moved himself up and down coating his entire dick in her essence.
Her hands were tied, she fought against the handcuffs wanting to put her hands around him and hold on for the ride. The restraints made her more wet as all she could do was feel him. He quickened his pace parallelling her moans. The music made her screams useless as no one could hear her. The club was full of bodies committing similar acts in each dark corner.
Mike kissed her as he came inside of her and pumped himself deep until he had nothing left to give. She kissed him back and tried to catch her breath. They looked at each other with a mutual understanding of how far they were willing to go to do their jobs. Mike pulled out of her, fastening his pants and returning the flap of her bikini bottom to cover her well worn pussy.
“Zone three, suspicious activity.” Mike snapped out of his fantasy!
“Give specifics.” Mike heard Melanie say through his earpiece.
“Caucasian male holding down a female by the throat and aggressively spanking her.” The voice sounded strained as if the man who owned it was very concerned with what he was seeing. “All units convene in zone three now!”
Melanie’s adrenaline began to pump. She was now sorry that she was tied up. She wanted to go toward the action to see if they had found their killer. Instead the other units ran over to the area of the call and she had no choice but to wait patiently until she heard something.
She looked around the club but from her vantage point she couldn’t see anything. Zone three was in a separate room, its entrance across the club from where she was. She was looking over the heads of the people on the dance floor but all she saw was more bodies in the distance talking, dancing and laughing.
Melanie noticed a man taking his time walking toward her. He was wearing a black leather mask, black pants and a black shirt. She watched him a bit closer and noticed that his eyes were intently looking at her. It was unnerving. This wasn’t just curiosity on his part, he was staring at her.
Jack was at the bar pouring drinks and seemed not to have noticed the man approaching her. She felt a twinge of concern in the pit of her stomach. He didn’t look like he was there to simply have a good time. He was hunting. She wondered if this was their killer. Panic set in as she realized she was on her own. She was tied up and defenseless. The officers’ attention was on zone three and jack wasn’t paying attention.
He stood a foot away gazing at her body. He said nothing, he just stood there. Melanie wanted to say something but decided to remain quiet to see what he would do. The masked man reached up and put his hands on her shoulders. He left them there for a second before sliding them down the length of her arms. He watched his hands as he did it and took his time. Melanie was growing more concerned. She couldn’t articulate it but his behavior seemed odd. She was used to having men touch her in this club as that was expected, but something about the way he looked at her freaked her out.
He put his hands on her breasts, squeezing them hard before gliding over her torso to her hips. He grabbed onto her waist and moved closer.
He brought his face close to her left ear. She could smell the musk of his cologne.
“You’re going to die tonight, bitch.”
Melanie’s blood iced in her veins. Her eyes widened as she heard him speak. It wasn’t what he said so much as it was the way he said it. His tone carried a sociopathic calm that was more terrifying than if he had yelled obscenities at her. It relayed an intention that he had planned this out beforehand. She realized that she was in the exact same spot as Carly had been when he murdered her. And like Carly, no one was going to realize she was in trouble until it was too late.
Melanie tried to control her fear and anger. The man’s face came close and as he breathed deep, she spotted a small hoop in his left ear. Immediately a rush of confusion followed by annoyance, as she recognised this as the victims earring and from meeting Professor Bell. The professor had been wearing it all along, taunting them. Then another rush, the sudden realization that she was going to die made her sad for all the things she still wanted to do. A series of memories and people she had known and loved flashed through her mind. Regret filled her soul that she will never be able to tell them how much she loved them and how much they meant to her. Even someone who was well trained to protect herself, Melanie felt completely helpless.
He put his hands around her neck and slowly contracted them squeezing her throat until she could no longer breathe. She tried to fight the panic that welled up inside of her as her oxygen supply was cut off. It wasn’t enough for him to cut off her oxygen he kept squeezing until her face turned purple. He watched as her eyes bulged out of her head. She kept eye contact with him hoping that she could relay her distress but all she saw in his eyes was joy. She could tell he was smiling underneath his mask.
The surreal nature of her situation happened so quickly. She confronted the impending truth that she was actually going to die. She had never experienced death herself before so it was understandable that it was frightening to her. As she started to pass out, the thought that she would leave this world and leave Jack behind saddened her.
Her head went limp as her chin touched her chest. She closed her eyes when suddenly she gasped for air. Her body instinctively inhaled a deep breath. She was surprised that she could get air and coughed in an attempt to get more into her lungs.
Professor Bell was thrown backwards off of her and onto the floor. She opened her eyes and looked around to see Jack wrestling on the ground with him. The other officers came to his rescue and pinned him down, securing each one of his limbs until handcuffs could be brought in and fastened around his wrists.
Jack stood up, caught his breath and turned his attention to Melanie. He dug in his pockets for the key to the handcuffs. Melanie smiled at him, grateful to see him again. He unlocked her wrists from the restraints and she fell against him limp.
“It’s okay. You’re okay.” Jack soothed her.
He held her for a minute before moving to release her ankles from the shackles.
“I thought I’d lost you.” His voice quivering.
“So did I.” Melanie could barely talk. She tried to regulate her breathing but the trauma of what just happened caused heavy tears to fall from her eyes.
Once he was able to release her from her restraints, Jack sat down with her on the floor and held her tight.
“I love you, Melanie. You aren’t leaving this Earth any time soon, you hear me?”
She gave an exhausted half smile, “I hear you.”
They watched the officers take the killer into their custody.
“Wait.” Melanie informed the cops. She stood up steadying herself. Then she walked over to the killer and removed his mask.
“Professor Bell?” Detective Shaw said.
“That bitch deserved to die. I told her not to go back to that asshole boyfriend of hers but she was playing me and him at both ends. No one does that to me. The fucking slut got what she deserved.”
Melanie looked at Mike. “Read him his Miranda rights and take him to the station. We’ll follow.” The undercover officers hauled him out of the night club.
Chapter 14
“Guilty!” Melanie stepped inside the police station and shouted the jury’s verdict.
She was met with a round of cheers by the officers. It had been nearly a year before the
trial of Carly Mather’s murder began but now that it was finally over, they could celebrate.
“Great work, partner.” Mike smiled at Melanie.
“Thanks. You know, you did a great job on this case too.” Melanie told him.
“That’s kind of you to say. Now where do we go from here?” He asked.
“Now that Carly’s family finally has peace of mind and justice, I say we can say this case is officially closed.”
“It’s a strange feeling.” Mike began.
Melanie waited for him to elaborate but after a minute she asked, “What is?”
“You just get so invested in a case and when it’s over it’s hard to imagine moving on.” He said.
“Yeah, but that’s the nature of this kind of work. Our job is to find justice for the families of the victims. We have to keep moving forward.”
Melanie turned around and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Mike asked.
She stopped and gave him an over the shoulder look. “I’m going home to see my man.”
Collared At The Scene Page 4