Cassandra (Fells Point Private Investigator Series)

by Denise Irwin

  When he looked into her eyes, he laughed harder. “I see you managed to survive the night. I apologize that I didn’t tell you about the rats. Nasty little critters, aren’t they? I can’t tell you for certain, but I don’t think they’re rabid. If they are, what a shame it will be to watch you go insane lying on the floor.”

  She screamed, which sounded muffled under the tape, when Grossman took his belt off, the monster chuckled, as she rolled her body from side to side reaching as far as the shackles allowed, which wasn’t much. There was fear in her eyes when he ripped her slacks and panties off, leaving her lower body naked.”

  As he ran his hands along her body, he told her, “Oh my, Rebecca, you are more than ready to consummate our marriage. You’re wiggling around on that floor like some whore who can’t wait to collect her money.”

  Cassie choked on the bile in her throat when this freak of nature lay on top of her with his face against her own. She choked harder when he unzipped his pants and raped her. He brutally shoved his penis into her vagina. He repeatedly shoved it in and took it out, to shove it in harder. The bile in her throat had moved to her mouth. She could actually feel her eyes bulge out with each thrust. When he was close to an orgasm, he pulled his penis out and stood to shoot semen across her half-naked body, as if he was holding a lawn hose watering the grass in the yard.

  Cassie’s throat was raw from the screaming behind the duct tape and the acidic bile that made its way into her mouth. She watched with terrified eyes as he put his pants on. Before he put his belt on, he beat her across her chest with the buckle until she passed out.

  When she regained consciousness, there was sunlight coming through the dirty windows. She didn’t how long she’d been in the basement. She looked toward her feet where she could see that the rats had fed on her dog during the night. That sunlight also meant that Grossman would be returning soon. Cassie looked at her wrists and saw that they were bleeding. While she waited for this monster to return to the basement, she prayed that God would have him kill her and end her life as quickly as he had ended Brutus’ life.

  The sound of the front door alerted Cassie that Grossman was back in the house. She lay perfectly still with her eyes closed hoping he would think she was unconscious. When he descended the staircase, he laughed.

  “Rebecca, you look so inviting.” She could hear his footsteps as he approached her body. With every ounce of courage and strength she could muster, she arched her back, bent her leg so that her right foot was on the floor. With her right leg for support, she lifted her left leg and kicked him in the crotch.

  Grossman doubled over in agony and let out a gasp as he dropped to the floor, she found the energy to kick him multiple times. She was trying to kick him in the back where she would give him a good kidney punch. Grossman slithered across the basement floor trying to get out of her reach. She heard him groan in pain, which created a smile behind the duct tape.

  Through a whimper, she thought she heard him say, “You fucking bitch, you’re gonna pay for this.”

  If Cassie were going to die shackled to a wall in this hellhole getting her licks in while she had the chance made her ravaged body, hurt just a little less. She watched as he rolled on the floor whimpering in pain.

  Grossman attempted to stand, and she saw the fury in his eyes spit sparks at her. He didn’t have the vigor to stand up straight. He grabbed his belt and bent over in agony, he hit her with the belt buckle. Knowing that he wasn’t capable of moving quickly, Cassie rolled to the right to get out of his reach.

  Horrified, she watched as he un-zippered his pants. Once he managed to get his penis out. Holding his side with the free hand, he cursed at her, “If there’s blood in my urine, I’ll do things to you that you never dreamed could happen.” He then urinated on her.

  He crawled on his hands and knees up the steps, letting out a whelp of pain with each step.

  When Cassie heard the door lock click into place, her body shook uncontrollably. She knew he would return to punish her, so while he was gone, she quieted her breathing. Cassie used her Yoga breathing to calm her shattered nerves. When her breathing returned to normal, she focused on a vision in her mind. As it came into focus, she was sitting on the beach in Situate, Massachusetts, vacationing with her family. In that vision, she heard a seagull call out. She looked up and saw the bird flying in circles looking for its next meal. Cassie drifted off to sleep with that vision in her head.

  She woke to the dark. She had no idea how long she’d slept. Her bladder was full and her only option was to urinate on the floor. She tried to move to one side, but with couldn’t move far enough away to relieve herself. Cassie cried as she felt the warm urine run along her legs.

  Cassie forced herself to sleep. She would need her energy to out-think and out-power this maniac if she was going to get out alive.

  When she woke, it appeared to be some time during the day. She could hear rain beating against the house. Cassie had no idea what time of day it was, so she lay there and waited for Grossman, who she knew would return at some point to dole out her punishment for kicking him in the balls.

  She hadn’t been awake very long when she heard footsteps on the floor. The next sound was Grossman unlocking the cellar door. She then heard his footsteps descending the stairs. She closed her eyes hoping he’d think she was unconscious.

  Grossman kicked her with his shoe, “Look bitch, you’re not fooling me. I know you’re awake. I can tell by the rhythm of your breathing.”

  He rolled her onto her right side and she heard him unzip his pant’s fly. The ogre who held her in captivity sodomized her, rolled her onto her back, and then beat her breasts with his belt buckle.

  Cassie lapsed in an out of consciousness, losing track of time. She didn’t know what day it was or how long she’d been in Grossman’s basement. She couldn’t remember when she’d last had food or water. By the stench in the basement, she figured she’d been in that basement for more than a couple of days. When there was enough light to see, she confirmed her timetable by the maggots that covered Brutus.

  Each time, Grossman descended the stairs to beat, rape, or sodomize her; she prayed he would just kill her. Cassie wondered if it was a dream, or had she given someone a number to call. She was no longer capable of thinking rationally. If it had been a dream, she would prefer dying. If it wasn’t a dream, she didn’t know if she could hold on long enough for that someone to rescue her.

  As she slipped in and out of consciousness, she knew Grossman didn’t care if she was conscious or not as he continued to rape and sodomize her.

  At some point, Grossman came down the stairs. He knelt on the floor next to her. Her breathing was so shallow, he wondered if she were finally close to death. He kicked her and asked, “Are you still alive? If you aren’t, it makes no matter to me. I’m gonna fuck you, until there’s nothing left to fuck.”

  Chapter Four

  October 2001

  Leona Parker and her fiancée, Private Investigator Sam Marksman, took advantage of a beautiful early fall afternoon to go out for an evening sail on his boat, Irish Cream. Sam’s dog, Bailey, stretched himself out on the cockpit sole where he promptly took a nap. The air was out of the south at about 12 knots. The Cream moved past Fort McHenry at a nice pace. Before taking the wheel, Sam slipped below. He returned with a silver wine goblet for Leona and a Heineken for him. Leona couldn’t think of any other place she could enjoy more than sailing with Sam on a beautiful Thursday evening.

  “You know, you don’t have to.”

  “I don’t have to what?”

  “You don’t have to marry me. I was just thinking about how stressful it must have been for you after you saw the plane crash into the World Trade Center. You were so excited that you made it home alive, I thought you might have made a hasty decision in asking me to marry you.”

  “Lee, regardless of that trip to Boston, I was honestly asking you to marry me. Do you now want me to take back my marriage proposal? Are you looking
for an out?”

  “No I’m not. I just wanted to give you an out if you wanted it. Do you know what I’m saying?”

  “I’m fine with it babe. Come take the wheel for a minute. The jib’s hung up on something.”

  Before she met Sam and learned to sail, she would have been home watching television. As the Cream slid thru the water, it reminded her of their first sail last November. She’d never been sailing and when she learned how to handle the boat, she found she loved sailing. Somehow and she couldn’t remember the details, Sam moved into her house in the spring.

  Sam chuckled as he asked her, “What are you thinking? You have a faraway look in your eyes.”

  “I was just remembering our first sail. If we count that sail as our first date, we’re coming up on our first anniversary.”

  “We’ve had a great year together. We’re a good team. Leona, there aren’t many women who can live with a private investigator who travels around the country leaving her behind. That’s not the only reason I want to marry you. You’re a fun person. Not only are you fun, you’re great in bed. Not all women are.”

  Giggling, she asked him, “Are you drawing from your vast sexual experiences with women?”

  “I’m not sure about having vast experience, but I’ve had sex with other women and some just lay there as if sex is a chore. You my love, are a very active participant.” Then he winked at her.

  “Sam Marksman, you are too funny, but are you ready to give up living on your boat with your dog?”

  “Lee, the Irish Cream will be our summer home, and Bailey will always sail with us. Your house on Wolfe Street allows us to walk to the boat docked close in Henderson’s Marina. What more could I want? My life is perfect in every way.”

  “Life is funny isn’t it?”

  “How is it funny?”

  “While we were not formally introduced at the time, we met because I was taken into custody by the Baltimore City Police as the primary suspect in a murder case just about a year ago. In my eyes, you worked for the enemy. Assistant District Attorney Al Green hired you on that case. Once the Court dismissed the charges, I’d see you come by the coffee shop on Ann Street. If I hadn’t said yes to your offer to go sailing, we wouldn’t be sitting here now.”

  “That’s very likely.”

  “Did you think I murdered Louis Palmero?”

  “No, but I did release a sigh of relief when we met with the coroner.”

  “You were there?”

  “Yes ma’am. I was.”

  “So you knew before we went into court?”

  “Yes ma’am, I did.” He smiled at her. “Leona let’s come about and head back to the marina.”

  As she tacked the boat to turn it around, she asked him, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He chortled, “I didn’t know you then. I was working for Green. It would have been most inappropriate for me to talk with you. As soon as the dust settled, I made sure I was at the café every Sunday morning. I tried to be there when you came in with Shelly.” Leona smiled.

  As the late afternoon sun gave way to dusk, the boat speed slowed in the light air. As the Cream inched her way forward toward her dock, the evening had the feel of a crisp fall evening. Bailey felt the cooler air and went below to curl up in the forward bunk.

  “Sam, it’s amazing that in just one year, my mother is married, Shelly’s married, and we’re engaged. It blows my mind. I flew first class to New Orleans, and then we flew first class to Reno. That stalker who was working for Secret Service, when you came home from Texas shot you. You were flying over Manhattan when the terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center. It’s amazing that all that happened in the span of one year.”

  “Leona Parker, do not go melancholy on me. It’s a beautiful evening. Since the sun has fully set and the boat is drifting in the right direction toward the marina, I think the time is perfect to consummate our engagement.”

  “Here, in the cockpit?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Leona giggled as she pulled her clothes off and threw them below. “Woman, you never cease to amaze me. You are so unpredictable.”

  “My mother taught me that the way to keep a man’s attention is to be unpredictable; it keeps him guessing.”

  They made love in the cockpit with the city’s lights surrounding the boat, looking like a move set until they reached the marina. When the marina was before them, they ducked into the cabin to dress quickly, so they could secure the boat’s dock lines. When the Cream sat securely tied in her slip, she went below to gather up the food they’d brought.

  “Slow down Ms. Parker, I’m not spent just yet.”

  They made love in the forward bunk, and when Leona called uncle first, Sam chortled, “I’m usually the first to say I need a break. Let me walk Bailey.”

  He pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater. He didn’t bother with Bailey’s leash, which meant he wouldn’t be gone long. She poured herself a wine and checked the cooler to make sure he had a Heineken left in it. While she waited for them to return to the boat, she put a Billy Holiday CD into the player. Leona stretched out on the settee and sang along with Billy.

  “Now that’s a sight I’d like to see for the rest of my life. My favorite woman stretched out naked on our boat drinking a glass of wine.”

  “Sam, let’s sleep on the boat tonight. I’ll get up early to run home and grab a shower before work.”

  “That’s fine with me.”

  “Sam, if we do get married I don’t want a big wedding if that’s okay with you.”

  “What do you mean by, if we get married?”

  “I guess I’m still adjusting to the idea.”

  As he ran his index finger lightly along her arm, he asked her, “Tell me how you’d like to get married.”

  “I’m not really sure, but my mind keeps telling me we should get married on the boat. Does that sound crazy? I was just thinking that since the boat brought us together, we should get married on it.”

  “That’s not crazy at all. Hell, remember we had your family along with Shelly and Randy onboard for July fireworks. Everyone found a place to sit.”

  “Do you think we could squeeze my boss and his girlfriend onboard?”

  “John and Abby? We sure can. Bailey can be my best man. I bet if you ask Shelly if you could borrow her wedding dress she’d let you.”

  Leona grabbed a pillow and whacked him alongside the head, “If you think I intend to wear a red tutu for my own wedding, you don’t know me very well. At least not well enough for me to marry you.”

  “You know that I don’t care what you wear. Call your mother and ask her to check the dates when everyone is available.”

  Leona was still talking about wedding plans long after Sam had drifted off to sleep with his arm wrapped around her.

  In the morning, she put a pot of coffee on, kissed her sleeping man good-bye and rushed home to shower for work. She called her mother from her office.

  “Baltimore County Board of Education, this is Nancy Martin, how may I help you?”

  “Ma, it’s me, Leona.”

  “Leona, I’m your mother, after all these years of raising you, I recognize you voice. What’s up?”

  “I need your help.”

  When didn’t a daughter need her mother’s help? “Of course you do sweetie, what do you need?”

  “Can you get in touch with all the Martins and see what date is available to come to my wedding?”

  Nancy dropped the phone onto her desk. She heard Leona calling to her, “Ma, are you there?”

  Her mother scrambled to pick the phone up. “I’m here. Hold on a second, I’m here. Are you getting married and why in the hell is this is the first I’m hearing about it?”

  “I’ll explain that to you later, but we want to get married on the Cream so we need to do it fast before it gets too cold. I was thinking maybe this Sunday, before the weather turns cold. I’ll check with Shelly and John to see if it works for them.”

  �
��This Sunday, well then, I need to start making phone calls now to round the family up. You could have given me a little more notice.”

  “Sorry ma, love you, bye.”

  John wasn’t in yet so Leona ran down the hall to check with, Shelly Henderson-Jordan. When they met at the law firm of Brown and Brown several years earlier, they quickly became best friends. The bond between them couldn’t be stronger if they were blood sisters.

  “Shelly, are you and Randy free this Sunday?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Check with Randy. I’m getting married to Sam. We’re gonna do it on the Cream. Before you ask me, my answer is no, I will not wear your tutu.”

  Shelly doubled over laughing. She could hardly talk when she asked Leona, “When did this come about?”

  “Last night. Sam asked me when he flew home from Boston after 9/11. Remember he flew over the World Trade Center when it was hit?”

  “Yeah, I remember, keep talking.”

  “Well I said yes, but I got to thinking he was all stressed from that week and he wasn’t thinking straight so I kept his proposal to myself. I wanted to give him time to think about whether we should get married. I gave him an out if he had asked me hastily. We talked about it yesterday while we were sailing. Sam told me again that he wanted to marry me. When he asked me where I’d like to be married, I couldn’t think of a place I’d like more than getting married on his boat. Since it’s going to get colder each day, we need to hurry. Can you be my Matron of Honor? I won’t make you wear a tutu.”

  “I don’t care what Randy has planned. We’ll be there.” Shelly jumped out of her chair to hug her best friend and screamed loud enough to bring co-workers running to her office, “My best friend is getting married!”