The Logan Files - Pain Center: The Logan Files

by Marshall Huffman

  “And you don’t know any of the names of the people you were drinking with?”

  “They were just introduced as ‘the gang’. One of the girls was named Alice but that’s all I know.”

  “Alright. We have his information. We will contact you if we need anything else. If he does show up, you be sure to notify us,” the officer said.

  “You will be the first to know.”

  JJ could hardly keep from smiling. He had gotten rid of his roommate and they would never be able to pin it on him, even if they suspected he was involved.

  They found Buddy Martin three days later when his body popped to the surface. It was ruled an accident. He had been drunk and somehow wandered out onto a pond that was iced over.

  The police made an extensive investigation and while they still had some questions unanswered, they finally concluded that it was a tragic accident.

  As expected, the college reacted with a series of lectures and pamphlets about the dangers of alcohol. JJ laughed when he pulled his from under his door. They should have made one about the dangers of being a loudmouth roommate of his.

  * * *

  Jerome’s sophomore year was a disaster. His mother suffered a heart attack and money for his education soon dried up. He was forced to take a job and even reduce his course load. He was extremely bitter about the development. The cost of his mom’s care was bleeding the family income and he decided it would be the best for all concerned if she would just up and die.

  He made elaborate plans and finally one late summer night he was able to get into the hospital. He stole a doctor’s coat, wrapped a stethoscope over his shoulders, picked up a clipboard and strolled casually into his mother’s room. The bed next to hers held a frail old woman who was oblivious to the world around her.

  Jerome picked up a pillow and pressed it over his mother’s nose and mouth. She tried to fight him off but once she locked eyes with him and realized who it was, she stopped fighting and let him simply smother her to death. He slipped the cover off the pillow when he was done, tucked it under his coat and walked casually out of the hospital. Now he had killed two and felt only elated, not one bit remorseful for what he had done.

  He was convinced that he had done his father a favor and life would return to normal. It didn’t quite work that way. His father suffered a total breakdown when it was determined that his wife had been murdered. A long and exhaustive investigation, with his father the prime suspect, followed for many months. As a result, his father ceased to function, lost his job, and became reclusive.

  Jerome blamed the police for the deterioration of his dad, never once stopping to think about his being the cause. He was eventually forced to quit taking classes altogether and went to work full time for a mortician. It wasn’t how he wanted to practice medicine but it was all he could do for the present.

  His job lasted only three months when he was discovered having sexual intercourse with a cadaver waiting to be embalmed. Rather than turn him in to the police and creating negative publicly for the funeral home, they simply let him go.

  Once again he was without money and no real prospects for making something of himself. His immediate need was for money. That is when he hit on the idea of becoming a kidnapper, not of people, but of their pets. It was much less risky and generally those people were much simpler to manipulate. The sum wouldn’t have to be extreme and it was doubtful the police would become too concerned if someone’s pet went missing.

  Deciding whose pet to capture for ransom was exceeding simple. All he had to do was hang out near pet stores and wait to see who spent outrageous amounts of money on some stupid dog or cat, buying them everything from booties to keep their feet dry to gourmet food. Gourmet food for animals, how stupid could people be? The pet food people must be laughing their asses off all the way to the bank as they try to keep a straight face about how much they care for a pet’s wellbeing. The same dog that licks his own ass and then licks the owner’s face could care less about what was placed in front of them as long as it was eatable. A dog with discerning taste, not frickin likely, JJ thought.

  His first dognapping went without a hitch. He stole an old lady’s mutt while she was sleeping. It was so easy he had to laugh. He demanded a thousand dollars for the safe return of the mutt. She paid without even raising a fuss. This was going to be the easiest job he had ever had.

  He became proficient at determining just how much ransom to demand for the pets without breaking the bank or causing the owners to go to the police. He also learned that kid’s pets would fetch a larger amount. If they refused to pay he simply killed the pet and dropped it off in a plastic bag where the kids would find it. By the end of his first year, he had amassed around thirty thousand dollars. He was on his way to bigger and better things.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Mrs. Lancaster?”

  “Yes, this is the Lancaster residence,” the older woman’s voice replied.

  “I understand you recently lost your little poodle,” Jerome said.

  “Oh, yes. Yes. Did you find my Lilia?” she asked hopefully. It was easy to read the excitement in her voice.

  “The tag says Lilia on one side and has the number 13235 on the other. Does that sound like your dog?”

  “Yes. Oh this is wonderful. I haven’t slept since poor Lilia went missing. Is my darling alright?” she asked.

  “She seems to be. Maybe a little the worse for wear and dirty but she seems to be doing well,” Jerome told her.

  I am so grateful you found her. Please, when can I have her back,” she asked excitedly.

  “I understand you are offering a substantial reward.”

  A long pause before a much colder voice replied, “Yes. I suppose that’s true. The paper did mention a reward,” she said.

  “Substantial reward, as I recall,” Jerome replied.

  “Yes, Mr.?” she said.

  “You don’t need my name,” he said.

  “I will need it to make out a reward check,” she said. Her demeanor had shifted.

  “Cash. I only accept cash. Checks can be cancelled,” JJ said.

  “I’m not like that. If I write you a check it will be good. That I promise you,” she said.

  “Sorry Mrs. Lancaster, cash.”

  “I suppose I could do that. I will have five hundred dollars in cash waiting when you bring Lilia to me,” she said.

  “I was thinking more along the lines of five thousand,” he replied.

  “Five thousand? You must be joking.”

  “I assure you I am not. Lilia is in good condition right now but you know how it is. I don’t really have the kind of home to keep her to your standards. Five thousand, Mrs. Lancaster. In cash.”

  “This is extortion,” she said indignantly.

  A howl and yelping sound was suddenly filled the phone.

  “Ooops, sorry about that. I seemed to have stepped on one of her paws. She isn’t very big. It’s easy to overlook her standing here,” Jerome replied.

  “What kind of monster would hurt a little doggie like my Lilia?” she said, raising her voice.

  “Accidents happen. Five thousand, in cash. I will call you with the details of how to deliver the money and how you will get your cute little doggie back,” he told her.

  “You aren’t bringing her back to me?”

  “Sorry, I’ve got a busy schedule. You will have to come to me. I’ll call you back with instructions,” he said and hung up the disposable cell phone before she could reply.

  He only waited twenty minutes before he called her back. If she was thinking of trying to get the police involved it would take considerably longer than that.

  “Lancaster residence,” she said.

  “Write this down. In twenty minutes you are to be at the entrance to Lakeside Park. A man will ride by on a blue bike. He will have on a yellow jersey and yellow helmet that says ‘Semons’ on it. You will give him a bag containing the five thousand dollars. He will ride on and call me if the cash is
in the bag as specified. You are to remain where you are. If all is in order he will come back with Lilia on a leash and hand her off to you. You got that?”

  “Wait. I don’t have five thousand lying around in cash,” she insisted.

  “Too bad. He will be there in twenty minutes from right now. If you are there with the money everything will proceed as described. If you are not there, well…” he didn’t finish the sentence.

  “I can’t do it in twenty minutes. Honestly, I simply cannot.”

  “So be it,” Jerome said and hung up.

  He knew she would be there no matter how much she protested. He already knew what she looked like from casing her house before he stole the dog. He took his time in getting ready. He put on his riding pants and yellow jersey. He placed riding gloves on before carefully opening the box the helmet came in and placed it on his head. Then he took his bike off the porch and fastened the helmet before setting off for the park.

  He arrived at an alleyway just down the street from the entrance to the park. He got off his bike and looked down the street to the entrance and then looked at his watch. It had been fifteen minutes. Five to go. He stayed back until there was less than a minute to go before he poked his head out again. He saw a woman holding a black canvas bag. Further past her a man sat on a bench reading a newspaper. The man had on a suit and something in his ear. Cop, Jerome thought. He looked at the woman and realized that she was too young. It was not Lancaster. How the hell had she managed to get the cops here so fast?

  He took his helmet off and tossed it in a dumpster. He quickly took off the jersey and turned it inside out so that it was red, rather than yellow.

  That bitch. She had millions and she was unwilling to part with even five thousand lousy dollars. He rode down a one way street the wrong direction so no one could follow him and took several detours before arriving back home. He was furious as he threw the cell phone in a dumpster. He decided that Mrs. Lancaster was in for a nasty surprise.

  * * *

  Emily Lancaster had not gotten to be a millionaire several times over by being anyone’s fool. She called a friend who was in the security business and quickly gave him the details. She offered him the five thousand dollars if he would intervene and catch the person trying to extort her.

  The man quickly put together a team and they sprang into action setting a trap for the would-be extortionist. He was going to be in for a rude awakening. The bag had a triggered device that would spray the person looking in it with a combination of pepper spray and blue indelible ink. It would be the surprise of a lifetime. They were in place with two minutes to spare.

  “Everyone set?” he asked into the microphone on his wrist.

  Everyone acknowledged affirmative.

  “Two minutes,” he said looking at his watch, “He will be riding a bike, wearing a yellow jersey and a helmet that has ‘Semons’ on it. As soon as you spot him, alert the rest.”

  They waited in the hot sun. No one responded. Five minutes went by but still no word. Finally after fifteen minutes they realized they must have been spotted. It was over and they had been unsuccessful in their attempt.

  * * *

  The UPS trucked pulled up the circle drive of the Lancaster residence. The maid opened the door.

  “I have four packages for Mrs. Lancaster.”

  “I will take them,” she said.

  “You will need to sign for them,” he said, setting them down on the porch and handing her an electronic pad.

  She scribbled her name and took the packages into the house. She went and found Mrs. Lancaster in the garden and told her about the packages.

  “Who are they from?”

  “JJ Enterprises it says,” the maid told her.

  “I didn’t order anything,” she said following her back to the living room. The four boxes were on the coffee table. She reached for the first one when the phone rang.

  “Can you get that,” she asked the maid.

  She started to open the first box when the maid interrupted her, “It’s for you. They say it’s urgent,” she said holding the phone out to Mrs. Lancaster.

  “Yes?”

  “Hi Mrs. Lancaster. I see you got the packages. I hope you find it to be exactly what you ordered,” the man said.

  “I think there is some mistake. I didn’t order anything. This must be the wrong place,” she insisted.

  “There is no mistake. Open the first box and see if it isn’t exactly what you asked for,” the man assured her.

  She sat the phone down and opened the box. Lilia’s head was neatly wrapped in paper with a bow on top of it. The eyelids had been stapled shut. He could hear her screaming as he hung up the phone and removed the voice modulator. He tossed the latest disposable cell phone in the trash and smiled.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  JJ looked at the ten savings deposit books on his desk. Each contained fifty thousand dollars. His lucrative endeavor had paid off handsomely. He knew his time was running out though. He needed to move on. Lancaster had been the first to try to catch him but he knew word would get around and others would try. It was time to quit while he was ahead.

  He spent a considerable amount of time looking for just the right venture. By accident he stumbled onto a small bar that turned out to be more than he had expected to find. The place wasn’t much to look at. In fact, JJ wondered why anyone would even come to such a place but he soon found out the real attraction.

  Most of the patrons were dressed in leather and some had collars around their necks like a dog on a leash. His first thought was that he had stumbled into a gay and lesbian hangout. A little later he found out the real attraction. It was a BDSM bar. Bondage and Discipline was the main theme but some were more vicious with severe whippings and various other tortures. JJ watched the crowd intently. They drank, talked amongst themselves but hardly ever took their eyes off the small cleared area where the real action took place. He sat at the bar and listened to what the people around him were saying. It didn’t take him long to figure out why they came to a dive like this. It was the only game in town. That’s when JJ decided he was going to go into a new line of work.

  He spent the next month visiting small stripper bars. He knew it would be a lot easier and less expensive to buy into an existing place. One bar in particular caught his interest and he started visiting it on a regular basis. He was able to befriend the man that owned the bar. The guy wasn’t very sharp but his bar was doing alright for itself. He had hired some decent looking strippers and the place pulled in a fairly good crowd on the weekends. JJ saw a real business opportunity. With a little money invested and remodeling the joint, it could become a real money maker.

  He had spent a great deal of time online researching Bondage and Discipline clubs and found out that they were much more profitable than a run-of-the-mill strip joint. He also found that they needed to be discrete. When JJ finished his research he decided it was time to take the plunge. He approached the owner about buying in and suggested a new business venture. He took a written business plan and showed him a projection of the income they could make. At first Aaron Dillon, the owner of the Golden Pole Strip Club, wasn’t at all interested. JJ took his time, not rushing him or pressuring him. He just kept at it, talking about how much more money was still on the table.

  “Look man, are you sure about this? I’m doing alright just like I am,” Aaron Dillon said when JJ finished talking.

  “Sure you are. You live in a trailer park and drive a five year old car. Look, I’m telling you that you could be pulling down two, maybe, three-hundred thousand a year with my plan. I could do this on my own but you know the bar business and I don’t. The bar would still be a big part of the revenue but we could get three times the amount you get for a drink,” Jerome told him. “Of course we would have to make a few changes but only to make more money.”

  “I don’t know. This is what I know about,” he said, pointing to a stripper gyrating on the stage to the loud music.

&nbs
p; “You can’t get rich doing what you’re doing. What have you got to show for all your hard work so far?”

  “Hell, this ain’t hard work. It’s fun,” Aaron said, grinning.

  “This isn’t anything. Look, we close the place for a couple of weeks. Spiff it up and add some equipment that is necessary for what the new clientele will need. I know how to get the word out to our target market. We can sell memberships, offer all kinds of private or public services depending on what they want. Single women and couples will be all that are allowed to buy memberships. Men will have to buy a one day pass if they are single. I’m telling you it will be a gold mine. How would you like to be driving a new Jaguar or Mercedes instead of that dilapidated Buick you knock around in? You could move out of the trailer park and into a five or six bedroom house. You’d have the money to go whenever and wherever you want. We will be partners, fifty-fifty. I’ll put in three-hundred thousand to upgrade the place and give us some seed money to get established. What have you got to lose? If it doesn’t work we can try something else.”

  “Geez. I don’t know. It is tempting but what about this bondage thing? What the hell goes on?”

  “I have been to a bunch in New York, Minnesota, and other places. It is big business. Huge. We can’t miss with your bar knowledge and my marketing,” JJ said, lying to him.

  “Uh, I just don’t know. I think I had better pass. I appreciate the offer and I believe you, but I think I’ll stick with what I know.”

  “Okay Aaron. I wanted to give you the first crack at it because I like this location and it is big enough without being too big. I’m going to meet Billy Kealer at the Gold Coast Gentleman’s Club later this week. It is going to happen, I just didn’t know who would end up being my partner in this thing,” JJ replied, picking up the papers that were laid out in front of them.

  Aaron looked at him for a few seconds.

  “Billy Kealer is a crook. He ain’t got the sense God gave a carrot. You don’t want to do business with someone like Kealer,” Aaron replied.