by Derek Murphy
He filed the tag number of the van in his memory for later use if it was needed and walked on through the rain and wind until he came to the main entrance to Julie’s building. There was a rolled up newspaper between the door and the frame, preventing the security door from closing and he slowly walked in, playing his light around the foyer of the building. Suspicious, he bypassed the elevator and walked to the stairwell at the end of the foyer.
Carl entered the stairwell carefully, listening for noises above and proceeded slowly to Julie’s second-floor apartment. As he came out into the hallway, he heard the sound of voices coming from one of the apartments and after a quick glance down the hall to make sure it was clear, snapped off his light. Padding down the hallway, he stopped in front of Julie’s door and listened carefully. The voices he had heard earlier were coming from her apartment; the sound of at least one woman and a couple of men, laughing and making unintelligible comments to each other. He gently tried the knob. Locked. He fished his keys out and used the key she had given him for emergencies. If he was wrong, Julie would be angry with him, but would try to make the best of it. If he wasn’t wrong, then he hoped he had gotten here in time to prevent anything from happening to her.
Pushing the door gently open, he edged his head out to peer within and stopped. His hand went to the pistol snugged under his arm, freeing it.
Stepping forward, he said, “Stop or I’ll shoot.”
A little emo girl jumped and squealed, spinning around on her knees to look round-eyed at him. A pair of battery-powered lights were ranged on either side of the room with shades on them to cast a diffuse, indirect light on the subject that was being filmed. The cameraman, as surprised as the girl, cursed lustily, turning before his eyes also goggled in his head. The two young men, one standing while the other knelt behind Julie, leaned back from her flaccid body.
Carl felt the bile in his throat as he saw that she had been trussed over the ottoman she used in the living room and he had arrived just in time to prevent the filming of a gang-rape. From the slack, sleeping features of her face, he guessed she had been drugged; probably with rohypnol or something. The two young men, naked, withdrew across the room at sight of his pistol and Carl grinned mirthlessly at the state of their members, either one of which were larger than most men could ever dream of possessing. That the plan had been to use both of them on Julie while the emo-girl had lent her own expertise for the camera was evident to Carl and he walked to the cameraman, an older guy with prematurely graying hair.
“Put the camera down and get over there with your friends.”
The man began to say, “Look, friend…” but got no further before Carl’s pistol was whipped across his face.
He took the large camera from the man’s hands and pushed him across the room. A large, bag lay on the floor where the man had been standing and Carl looked through it, his pistol never straying from the group that cowered on the other side of the room. He noted that there was a tag attached to the bag with the cameraman’s name and address on it. Glancing around the room, he saw small piles of clothing here and there, attesting to the fact that the others had disrobed here. There didn’t seem to be any clothes for the girl and he surmised that she may have been the bait that got Julie into such a predicament in the first place.
Carl’s mind went back to memories of Julie’s lifestyle when he had first met her in Hollywood and he knew he was right. She had apparently reverted to her previous lifestyle and he mentally shook his head at the thought. Julie had put all that behind her when she came to Port Morgan and he wondered what had pushed her so far as to throw away the self-respect she had worked so hard to achieve.
Retrieving a business card from the bag, he pocketed it and looked across the room at the others. A terrible idea came to his mind and he grinned evilly at the four of them.
He nodded his head at the two young men, both of whom were vainly trying to cover their members and having little luck because of their size and stubbornly erect states.
“I guess you guys must be using those ‘little-blue-pills’ to keep it up like that, huh?”
At their nods, he said, “Divvy up the pills you got left with the old guy there and take all of them.”
The older man said, “That isn’t safe! We could ruin ourselves, or die from heart-related stuff!”
Carl nodded toward Julie’s sleeping, prone form stretched across the ottoman and grimly said, “You should have thought of that before you started messing with my friend.”
The girl, edging toward the bedroom, asked, “Can I get my clothes?”
“No. In fact”, he indicated the older man, “you strip. Now.”
The man hesitated, despite Carl’s pistol, but began pulling his clothes off as the girl continued to edge away from the others. Once he was naked, he removed a pill bottle from his pocket and shared out the pills it contained. The men all swallowed the pills without water, grimacing at the taste and the realization of what they were doing to their bodies.
It took some time, but Carl eventually got the four of them back downstairs and into the van. Once there, he used every bit of Velcro and canvas strapping he could find to tie them all together in the most suggestive poses he could imagine. Before he closed the door, he noticed the two young men wiggling against the girl and heard her protests.
“I like girls, you bastards! Ohh, stop!”
Carl paused just before the door was closed, unmindful of the rain that sluiced down his face despite the hat he wore. The wind had picked up and as he grasped the edge of the door, the van rocked in the wind.
“Be sure to tell the police why you’re trussed up that way!”
He turned away, a grim smile on his face. Sure, they could bring charges of unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, reckless endangerment, lewd molestation, though he wasn’t sure how they could make that one stick, but it was worth it to punish the people who had planned on doing such things to Julie. He lost his smile as he wondered how he was going to break the news to her when she woke up. She would be devastated at knowing that Carl knew she had reverted to the hard-partying lifestyle she had known in Hollywood. Knowing that he had rescued her from something she would never have done voluntarily would nearly destroy her. She had avoided things just like this while in Hollywood and falling into such a trap now, would seriously shake her confidence.
Returning to her apartment, he removed her bonds and carried her to her bedroom, placing her on the bed. As he pulled the covers over her, he shook his head. What was he doing to do with the girl? She went months without getting into any kind of trouble, and then something like this happened. As he wondered what had gotten into her; in his obtuseness, he couldn’t have known that it was his rejection of her that had driven her to act out.
Walking softly, he returned to the living room and removed the disk from the camera. So, he hadn’t gotten there in the nick of time after all. He looked at the disk in his hand and debated whether or not to burn it. Looking around, this being the first time he had been in Julie’s apartment, he saw that there was no fireplace. With the storm, there was no way to burn the thing outside. Slipping it and other disks and thumb-drives into his jacket pocket, he retraced his steps back into the bedroom.
Carl pulled a chair up near the bed and sat down, slouching down in it. Ike and DeeDee would wonder what had happened to them, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that now. Half the city was without power, including the cell towers in the affected areas. Julie didn’t have a landline, trusting to her cell phone for all her communications. There simply was no way to let Ike know they wouldn’t make it to the hospital. Carl closed his eyes and sighed, trying to get comfortable in the chair as Julie slept.
* * *
Carl awoke to a tapping on his knee and he opened his eyes, squinting them against the bright sunshine that slanted in the windows. Julie sat cross-legged on the side of her bed, dressed in a pair of sweat pants and t-shirt. She had taken the time to wash her face and put her hair
up in a severe ponytail that pulled the skin of her face tight. How she had moved around the apartment without waking him, he didn’t know.
“From the camera and lights out in the living room, I guess something happened while I was asleep.”
He yawned and said, “Yeah, you could say that.”
Her expressionless face told him that she was less than pleased with the news.
“Do I even want to know?”
Stretching, Carl looked levelly at her when he had finished.
“Be careful who you pick up in the future, Julie.”
She gazed at him a few moments and finally said, “I guess I’ll have to be. You might not be around to rescue me in the future.”
“You need to get a handle on this, Julie. Something bad could have happened to you last night.”
Lifting an eyebrow, she asked, “Do you mean to say that something bad didn’t happen last night?
Lying, he said, “I got here just in time.”
“What business was it of yours?”
Shrugging, put off that she wasn’t at least showing a little gratitude, he said, “Ike and DeeDee were at the hospital last night. They couldn’t reach you and I was supposed to pick you up.”
She shot up to stand unsteadily on her feet as she said, “What are we waiting for? Let’s get out of here!”
Rising, he said, “Okay, give me a minute in the bathroom.”
Her eyes rounded. She hadn’t cleaned her bathroom after last night and was ashamed for him to see it, much less smell it.
She shook her head. “Better wait till we get to the hospital. Or, use the bathroom in the foyer if you can’t wait.”
Shaking his head, he followed her into the living room and picked up his coat and hat as she found her running shoes and slipped them on. She nodded toward the equipment and the little piles of clothes.
“Do I have to worry about someone coming back to pick that stuff up?”
“Not if they have a brain in their heads.”
Julie screwed her face up and squinted at him from one eye.
“Do I want to know any of that?”
Carl shrugged again. “Maybe I’ll tell you later.”
“I can guess from the camera what was supposed to happen.”
Walking toward the door, he opened it and held it open for her.
“Just be more careful from now on, Julie. In the state I found you; anything could have happened.”
Grabbing her purse, she checked it to make sure her wallet was untouched and the little, Walther PPK was still inside. She reflected that at least her erstwhile lover hadn’t been a thief.
The power was still off so they used the stairs to arrive on the ground floor and as they stepped outside, they saw a police car pulling up in the parking lot and a pair of joggers standing beside the open door of the van. Anger crossed Julie’s face as she saw the emo girl’s face, streaked with makeup from her tears and made to swerve toward the van. Carl caught her arm and steered her to his pickup instead.
“Easy. Let the cops handle it. They’ll keep their mouths shut about our involvement. If they don’t, you’ve got an open and shut case of kidnapping, sexual assault, unlawful imprisonment and reckless endangerment.”
Still looking as though she had bitten into a lemon, Julie slid into the front seat of Carl’s pickup and kept her eyes directed straight ahead as he backed out of the parking space and turned toward the hospital.
* * *
Stopping at the nurse’s desk, Carl asked, “Which room is Diane Decker in?”
The nurse consulted her charts and said, “We have a Diane Denise Barton-Decker.” At his nod, she pointed toward the left. “Room 314. Don’t stay long; she had a long night of it.”
Nodding, Carl and Julie walked down the hallway until they were nearly to the room and saw Ike sitting in a chair beside the door. He turned tired eyes toward them.
“It’s about time. I could have used some relief last night.”
Julie asked, “How’s DeeDee?”
He closed his bloodshot eyes, holding them closed for a moment before opening them.
“Tired. We’re gonna sue the doctor.”
Carl asked, “Why? What did she do to you? Is the baby alright?”
Ike shook his head, inclining it as he did.
“Babies. Plural. As in, two babies. A boy and a girl. Isaiah Carl and Denise Jules. Go on in and meet them; they’re chowin’ down. I had to get out of there; couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else doing that if I wasn’t allowed to.”
Passing him, Julie said, “Jeez, Ike! Don’t you ever think of anything else?”
Carl stopped beside his friend to shake hands and clap him on the shoulder.
“Can’t think of anyone else I’d sooner have this happen to, Ike.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Ike frowned into space for a moment, then said, “Hey! Wait a minute! What’s that supposed to mean?”
But Carl had already passed him and walked into DeeDee’s room. He stopped as DeeDee flipped the sheet over the baby’s head that she was feeding. She pointed tiredly toward a hospital bassinet.
“Your God-daughter is over there. She’s a greedy, little thing! Almost didn’t leave any for Little Ike.”
Julie was standing by the bassinet with one finger gripped tightly by the baby’s little hand. With a purely happy expression, she said, “I can’t wait to babysit for you!”
DeeDee replied, “Me either! I had enough of these two last night!”
Carl moved toward the new mother and lifted the corner of the sheet with one finger to see the little boy’s face. DeeDee slapped his hand.
“Oh, no! You don’t get to see the goods now!” She arched an ironic eyebrow. “Wait’ll I get them back into shape! That’ll be after these two are weaned.”
Suddenly reminded of the relationship they had shared, he covered quickly. “Sorry, I just wanted to see my God-son’s face. He’s pretty as his mother. Good thing, too. I’d hate for him to go through life with Ike’s looks.”
As Ike entered the room, DeeDee asked, “Did the storm keep you two away last night?”
Looking up from the baby she was studying, Julie said, “I’ll let Carl fill you in later. I don’t remember a damned thing.”
Ike said, “Had to pull you out of a dive, huh?”
Carl said, “Something like that. I’ll fill you in later.”
DeeDee said, “It’ll be a while before I can get back into the office but Ike will be there first thing in the morning.”
Carl shook his head. “No. Both of you are to take as long as you need to get adjusted to having these two in the house. Julie and I’ll pick up the slack.”
Tiredly, Ike leaned against the side of DeeDee’s bed and extended a hand to lift the sheet covering his son’s face at DeeDee’s breast. He winced and closed his eyes.
Straightening, he said, “In that case; you better call Webster. He’s supposed to come in this morning for an update on the case. Julie knows the file as well as I do; let her handle it.”
Carl nodded. “I’ve got to get out to the marina and pick up the receiver I planted anyway.”
After a few more minutes, it became evident that DeeDee was too tired for company and the two left. Carl dropped Julie off at her apartment so she could get dressed for work while he drove out to the marina.
* * *
The roads were still pretty cluttered with tree limbs and other debris, but Carl made good time getting to the marina. A few of the boats had been banged against the docks and showed the wear and tear. He counted at least four masts and superstructures sticking up from the water and knew that the owners would turn in extravagant claims to their insurance companies. With the thought that some of the companies might contact his office to research some of them, he grabbed his camera and began taking a few shots that showed both the damages and the slip numbers. As he made his way to the slip that Nelson rented, he saw a man slipping onto the dock from the boat’s deck and reco
gnized Nelson. So, the man had been on the boat after all. Perhaps there might be something interesting on the receiver after all. If Nelson had spent any time on his computer, there would be.
He turned away from Nelson as he approached and brought his camera up to his eye to disguise his features. Nelson hadn’t ever seen him, but this way, if he did meet Nelson in the future, his target wouldn’t remember having seen him at the marina.
Nelson walked to the classic Camaro that Carl had never seen except under its protective cover; it was blue, and started it up, peeling out as he hurried out onto the service road. Carl waited a minute until he was sure that Nelson was out of sight before he walked to the post with the receiver attached to it. He hoped the double-faced tape had held it securely. If the wind had managed to blow it from the post, there would be no salvaging the information it contained.
He spied it and saw that though one piece of the tape had held, the other piece had let go. Stepping up onto the rail beside the post, he grabbed it hurriedly, afraid that the tape would let go before he had hold of it. With the receiver securely in his pocket, he walked over to Nelson’s boat and gave it a quick look. Though it had rubbed against the dock in a few places, there didn’t seem to be any real damage; a testament to the knowledge and expertise of the crewman in readying it for the storm.
Carl walked back to his truck, taking his time so as not to appear to be suspicious in any way and sighed as he closed the door behind him. Removing the receiver from his pocket, he gave it a once-over to make sure it had suffered no damage from the storm. He wished he had his laptop with him; he could barely wait to see what Nelson had been up to. He was willing to bet the contents of Nelson’s laptop only contained porn. If he wasn’t meeting another woman on the boat; why else would he be willing to leave a wife as pretty as Erica alone at night? As he returned to his truck, he reflected that there was no explanation for the things that some people did; hence, the need for private detectives.
Once he was back at the office, he clucked his tongue at the sight of the broken glass doors on the front of the building. The trash can the city had placed at the corner had been blown by the storm to be stopped, kind of, by the doors. A few bits of trash still littered the building lobby while the can itself had been neatly placed outside by a passerby or employee of the building manager. Probably the former; the latter would have swept the glass up by now.