Double usage

by Christine Bols

  ‘I bet you were dreaming about my mighty machine’, he said gloating. ‘Bet you can’t wait to gaze at it again.’

  She heard a zipper opening and froze. Slowly he positioned himself in between her spread legs and pulled out his erect penis.

  ‘Look at it you filthy bitch’, he yelled. She felt disgusted but turned her head towards him. ‘Ever saw such a big one?’ he asked in a childish voice. He looked delighted while he gazed at her. Suddenly his face grew angry, probably because she didn’t react. ‘Well’, he asked again, ‘ever seen such a big one?’

  ‘No’, she stuttered, ‘never.’ She felt totally powerless and the only thing she shouldn’t do was make him even angrier. He was incalculable. She tried to suppress the pain and looked at his penis in pretended admiration. She even managed to lick her cracked lips in a sensual movement. Delighted like a child with a lollypop he caressed his penis. He breathed heavily now and when he knelt down between her legs she knew what would follow. He produced a whinnying sound when his sperm hit her belly.

  Without even dignifying her with another look he left and switched the light out behind him. She heard him stumble upstairs, pushing chairs around on a wooden floor. Next to her she heard water flowing through the pipes. Time and time again she sank in the bottomless well but tried hard to stay lucid. Without making any noise she made an attempt to remove her wrists from the metal chains but when the pain became overwhelming she laid her head back down on the mattress and tried to swallow away the nausea. She had been able to lift her arm 45 degrees but not any further. All kinds of thoughts tumbled through her head but she couldn’t focus. Suddenly, very clearly, the headline of the newspaper came into her mind, the missing and murdered women. No, this couldn’t be true, she couldn’t be the next victim. Her parents would never survive this. She started crying softly and sank back in lethargy.

  She was startled when she heard the basement door open and the light being switched on. She must have fallen asleep again because she remembered the nightmare. Light-footed he came down as if he was going to a party. A red shawl wound around his fingers stood out against his pale hands and dark clothes. To her consternation she saw a kitchen knife in his other hand that he didn’t even try to hide. She started shivering uncontrollably. Could this be it? Was this the way her life would end? This was incomprehensible. With her one good eye she looked at him as he sat down on his knees and put the knife beside her on the floor.

  ‘And how is my little bitch?’ he asked with sarcasm in his voice. She turned her face away from him, but a hand like a claw forced her to look at him again. His face seemed a death mask without any emotion. He scared the living daylights out of her. All kinds of incoherent images floated through her mind: her mother with her godchild Jennifer on her lap, the play ground in her old school where she had so much fun as a child, the tree house where she had spent so much time with her older brother. Through all these images the death mask with the penetrating, dark eyes kept staring at her, slowly putting the red shawl on her belly and taking off his shirt. When he started talking again, his voice sounded like a child’s. ‘Does bitchy have a last wish before she goes back to her creator?’

  She felt calm and serenity come over her, knowing she would die if she didn’t resist. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact I have.’ She tried to fathom his reaction but there was nothing on the mask. Only his right eyebrow lifted slightly. He waited. She hesitated for a few moments but then decided she would go for it. Nothing to lose, everything to gain. She faked a shy smile. ‘You made me all horny with that mighty machine of yours. I want you to let me come.’ Her heart pounded like a lunatic.

  He sat there like a stone statue and looked at her with hollow eyes. ‘And that is your final wish?’ he asked in disbelief.

  She feared he would burst out in anger but nodded anyway.

  ‘Well, I don’t feel like that at all. I wouldn’t even dirty my fingers on that stinking cunny of yours.’

  ‘Let me do it myself then. You can watch.’ She was disgusted by her own words, words that didn’t seem to come out of her mouth but were spoken by someone else. ‘I bet you never saw a woman masturbate.’

  He didn’t say a word but started to pull down his trousers and underwear. His penis was fully erect and her hopes blazed. He threw the clothes in a bundle next to him.

  ‘Just give me one good reason why I should humor you’, he said. ‘Do you realize you are about to die?’ he added grinning. ‘How on earth do you get horny at a time like this?’

  ‘I don’t know, I just am.’ Again she heard the words come out of her mouth, she recognized her own voice but this was someone else, someone looking down at her and formulating the words.

  ‘Why would I want to grant you anything? What did you do to earn that favor?

  ‘Nothing, nothing at all. You women are only breeding machines, putting children into the world to be able to grope and humiliate them, turn their whole life upside down.’ His face had become all red by now.

  ‘You’re right, I have done nothing to deserve this favor. It’s just…’

  ‘Just what?’

  She pretended to hesitate. ‘It’s just that you made me so horny that I want to masturbate while looking at that mighty machine of yours.’

  Suddenly he laughed out loud. ‘I’m not falling for that you bitch. You just want me to untie your chains. Do you really think I would be that stupid?’

  She feared she had gambled and lost but she didn’t want to give up. She had nothing to lose. ‘You don’t have to untie me, only my right hand, that’s all.’

  He rubbed his penis and smiled. ‘The others only despised my little friend, but I can see you’re different. My mother loved it too.’ He looked at her. The lines on his face had become softer and he lifted his mouth in a faint smile. He pulled a small key from the trousers on the floor. Her heart jumped. She realized she would only get one chance and she would have to make the most of it. As he stepped over her body he looked at her with glowing eyes. Sitting on his knees he put the key in the lock. She heard the clicking followed by the metal sound of the cuff falling on the floor. For a fraction of a second she hesitated but then, with all the power she had in her, she grabbed the cuff and slammed it on his bowed head. Bright red blood bubbled out of the hole in his skull and poured down his face. He moaned but she kept hitting him till he fell over. The key was still in the handcuff but she trembled so much that she could hardly get it out. He was still lying on the floor, both hands around his head, blood pouring between his fingers. Hastily she unchained her left wrist and tried to ignore the numbness in her hand and arm. The adrenaline rushed through her body when she saw him crawling towards her and falter. Just as he went to attack her, she grabbed the kitchen knife and plunged it into his left shoulder. The animal scream that followed cut through her head. He stumbled and looked at his arm in disbelief where the blood was pouring down and colored his T-shirt red. He looked at her with empty eyes. She took another swing with the knife and this time stabbed his lower arm. After what seemed an eternity, he moaned and fell on the floor, flat on his face. Rapidly she released the cuffs from her ankles and tried to stand up but stumbled and everything went black. No, not now please. She forced herself to stay upright and made it to the stairs, looking frantically behind her. The bricks grazed her knees but she made it. Bewildered she looked around when she arrived in a little hallway. Hurriedly she closed the basement door behind her. Still no sound from him. She stumbled towards the front door and tried to open it. Locked, and no key in the keyhole. She turned around and as she passed a hallstand she grabbed something that looked like a dark blue parka. The music coming from a room on her right hand side sounded surreal and out of place. She paused for a few moments to get her thoughts back together again and to try to determine what to do next. She staggered the room where the music was coming from and found herself in a poorly lit space with the curtains drawn. It smelled stuffy and old. She stumbled to the kitchen and was relieved to see a back door wi
th a key in the lock. As she got outside she tripped over a stair and fell forwards onto the damp grass. Gasping for air she got back up and looked around. In the faint moonlight she could see the contours of some high trees in the garden and a shed next to the house. No houses in sight. My God, she didn’t even know where she was. Was this Junction City? Albany? She didn’t have a clue. She heard a dog bark in the distance. Slowly she started to move towards the woods on the left side. She would be safe there in case he woke up and came after her. She could make out the end of the lawn with a sandy path next to it, hadn’t seen the ditch in between them though and twisted her ankle as she stepped into it. A flash of hot pain shot through her leg. As she tried to stand up again and put weight on her ankle, tears welled up in her eyes. This was not the time to get soft. Trying to ignore the pain she crossed the path into the safety of the woods. The thorns on the low bushes scratched her naked legs but she carried on. The further she got, the panic lessened but with that so did the adrenaline. She couldn’t take it anymore. Just before she lost consciousness she saw the glittering of the moon reflect on the river.

  CHAPTER 21

  Jude had stayed with Tim all Sunday. After they had made love twice in the morning, they had gone on a trip to Sunset Baypark on the coast for a long walk. During a romantic dinner in the sunset, Tim had told her everything about Gwen and Cameron, but had kept quiet about his adventure with Susan. He had told her about Debby and his brother Sean. It had felt so good to be able to talk about it to someone who wasn’t really involved in this history. During the trip back home Jude had told him about her youth, about Sarah and her parents and the conflicting emotions she had felt. Even in this short time he and Jude had become close, he felt good with her and he hoped it would be the same for her.

  ‘No regrets about the weekend?’ he asked when he saw her worried face on the way to the office on Monday morning.

  ‘Do I give that impression?’ she smiled. ‘No, I really enjoyed it. But I can’t help feeling a little bit anxious about Foster. You know how he disapproves of relationships at work.’

  ‘So what? He can go to hell with his principles for all I care. As long as we do our job he can’t object. And we don’t have to tell him do we?’

  She smiled. ‘Good, if you don’t have a problem with it, neither do I. I’m only temporary.’

  ‘Yes’, he agreed with a sigh, ‘only temporary.’

  ‘Do I hear a hint of regret in your voice or is it my imagination?’

  ‘You can find that out for yourself’, he laughed.

  It was half past eight when they entered the office. Foster was waiting for them already, and even if he would have been surprised about them arriving together, he didn’t say a word.

  ‘You saw the news last Saturday?’ he asked.

  Tim nodded. ‘By the looks of it Miller has the fullest confidence in our force. He did seem very nervous though.’

  ‘He gave me a call yesterday. I won’t use the word ‘panic’, but it came close. We really have to solve this case as quickly as possible. Miller is preparing for re-election. He can do without a cock-up now.’

  ‘Miller’s re-election…well, I couldn’t care less’, Tim said. ‘All this political stuff doesn’t interest me. But I do agree we have to get hold of our killer as soon as possible. As long as that animal is roaming the streets, not one young woman is safe anymore.’

  ‘You got an ID on the third victim yet?’ Foster asked.

  ‘Well, if we compare with the pictures on Dawson’s PC I would suggest Susan Palthrow, but the dentals still haven’t arrived, so I’m just guessing.’

  ‘Your guesses have been right so far’, Foster sighed.

  Tim started up his PC. ‘The autopsy report is in.’ He quickly opened the document and he scrolled to the conclusions right away. ‘Presumed time of death: June 21 or 22’, he read out loud.

  Jude looked at her calendar. ‘Monday or Tuesday. If he dumped her body right after the murder, then our fisherman’s statement is wrong. Maybe he waited one more day for one reason or another.’

  ‘Rigor mortis starts after a few hours and can last up to three days, depending on the circumstances. In that case you could be right and he would have had to wait until that happened so he could handle the body easily.’ He scrolled back to the top of the document. ‘Removal of the womb and the alarm at 16.01. So, I was right, Susan Palthrow.’ He read further out loud. ‘Signs of sexual activity, no sperm. No DNA found, no fibers. There seem to have been a few grains of sand on her body. Doesn’t help us a lot if we don’t have anything to compare that with.’

  ‘I can’t imagine her having sex with him of her own free will,’ Jude said frowning.

  Foster looked worried. ‘If the time of death is correct, we can’t eliminate Dawson yet.’

  Tim stretched his back. ‘You can take it from me boss, we can. Dawson is a rapist, not a killer.’

  ‘I agree with that’, Jude said.

  Foster looked at her. ‘All I want is results and quickly before a fourth one turns up.’ He walked out of the office.

  ‘Luckily he didn’t suggest bringing the FBI in’, Jude smiled.

  ‘I don’t want these pen pushers here. They can’t find their own asses even if they sit on them. About as useful as a chocolate kettle.’

  She looked at him doubtfully. He smiled an apology.

  ‘Inspector, can you take a look at this?’ Susan asked as she came in without knocking, waving a paper in front of him. She had made a query of all the names in block B, the block Dawson had been in and marked all the names of the sex offenders. There were 45 of them, going from flashers over voyeurs to rapists. From these 45 only 20 were still in prison so they could reduce the final number to 25. According to the list the capacity of block B was fully reached with 107 inmates.

  ‘A very good start Susan’, Tim said. She looked pleased. ‘Can you call Klamath and ask which blocks are aired at the same time? When you have the results you can follow the same procedure.’

  Jude smiled as Susan closed the office door behind her. ‘It’s obvious she wants to get in your good books’, she laughed.

  ‘She’s just pushy, that’s all.’

  ‘It looks to me she’s fancies you Tim’, Jude said with a mysterious smile.

  Tim laughed out loud. ‘Could very well be but I’m not interested. Besides, I think she has a boyfriend.’

  Jude shook her head pitying. ‘Men… they are not mutually exclusive you know.’

  ‘By the way, what do you think of David’s proposition to check out the personnel of Albany station again?’ he asked all of a sudden. It was obvious he wanted to change the subject.

  ‘Yeah, seems like a good idea. There must be someone who knew he copied the tapes.’

  ‘Maybe we should question the stationmaster again. We have an excellent excuse. His so trusted employee Dawson, for whom he wanted to burn his hands isn’t coming back for a while, he has the right to be informed.’

  ‘And while we’re there, we could even mention the copied tapes’, Jude laughed. ‘See how he reacts.’

  Tim got up from his chair and put on his jacket.

  ‘Right now?’ Jude asked surprised.

  ‘Strike while the iron is hot, that’s what my father used to say and he was right. If he hears it from someone else, the whole surprise factor is gone.’ As he headed out the office, he touched her shoulder in passing. She quickly looked round to see if anybody had noticed but the other teams were very busy. She then followed him to the car.

  As there wasn’t a lot of traffic, the trip to Albany went smoothly. Tim put his right hand on Jude’s thigh and pinched it softly. ‘How about tonight?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ she asked with a smile.

  ‘I hope you’re not planning to go to your hotel.’

  It took a few moments before she answered. ‘The weekend was superb Tim, but I’m not planning on filling up your spare time.’

  ‘Fill up my spare time?’ he repeated in
disbelief. ‘Do you really think that’s all you are for me? A hobby?’

  ‘I’ll be back in Springfield in a few weeks and you will forget me very quickly.’

  After a minute of painful silence, Tim was the first one to speak again. ‘Jude’, he said calmly, ‘You know I didn’t like you when you first came to Corvallis, we talked about that already. My God, I was so angry that I almost caused Foster a heart attack.’ She looked at him surprised. Tim continued: ‘Slowly but surely I started to like and appreciate you, and I think I really need you in my life now.’ He kept his eyes on the road to not have to look at her and waited for her reaction.

  ‘I’ll do the cooking tonight’, she laughed.

  Moonface was behind his ticket window this time, talking and smiling to a very attractive young woman. As the woman left, Tim and Jude approached the window. The metamorphosis was striking. The smile had disappeared and he looked at them angrily.

  ‘The boss is in a meeting’, he said casually. ‘If you want to talk to him you’ll have to wait at least half an hour.’

  ‘I don’t think so’, Tim said in a sarcastic voice. ‘I think you will call him right now and I bet we’ll be in his office within two minutes.’

  Jude couldn’t help smiling when the man picked up the phone with an aggrieved expression. One minute later Philip Tomasson shook their hands and took them into his office that looked as disorderly as the last time they were there. ‘I was in a meeting’, Tomasson said peeved, ‘but if you want to talk to me I take it that it has to be very important, although I can’t think of anything else besides what I told you last time.’