by Karen Clow
Like him she felt confused as feelings she’d never experienced began flooding through her. Surprising herself she gently ran her hand up his back under his shirt, her heart was pounding. This was new territory to her, but she wanted to feel him, she touched him as he undid the buttons on her blouse, slowly exposing her firm perfect breasts; still tender from Nick’s attack, a large bite mark was still visible beneath the bruising. Gently he fondled her, kissing her breasts, her nipples standing erect as if beckoning him to continue. Taking her nipple into his mouth, he gently flicked and sucked it. Her body was pulsing with anticipation. Slowly he made his way back up to her mouth, kissing her passionately, breathing heavily; their hot pulsing bodies wanting more. Kissing her neck a quiet whispering voice said, “I want you so fucking bad, but we must wait until you’re well.” Bringing her mouth round to meet his as if to silence him; she fumbled to undo his trousers. “Maria we must wait,” although by that point he was unable to bring himself to stop her because his body was crying out for her to touch him. The moment her hand caressed him, he released a shallow noise, a sigh of pleasure. Now he was powerless to stop her, almost at boiling pitch, he kissed her neck and breasts, wanting desperately for her to continue. Slowly she moved her hand up and down him, arousing him more and more. Unable to hold back any longer he burst into orgasm. “Oh God,” he cried out as his body jerked. Seconds later he was gently resting his head into her breasts then moments later they were kissing softly. Feeling the tears running down her face he said, “Hey what’s wrong?” “Nothing Jimmy it was wonderful. I never thought I would ever want to be with a man again, but you’ve made me feel whole. I always imagined it should be like that, but I never thought I would experience it.” Gently sweeping her hair back from her face he replied, “It was wonderful for me too babe. We’re going to work this out, so no more talk about going back ok?” “But I can’t risk anyone getting hurt because of me Jimmy.” “No one’s going to get hurt; anyway we’ve got until Friday so cheer up and give us a kiss” Their lips had just touched when they heard a noise, stopping instantly Jimmy said, “Oh no that was the fucking door!” Realising the time he added; “Fuck me it’s Mickey with our dinner!” They both chuckled.
Scrambling to get dressed he emerged from the guest room tucking his shirt in. Having his own key to the apartment, Mickey had let himself in and was heading towards the kitchen as his friend appeared. “Sorry Mickey I didn’t realise the time,” said a red faced Jimmy. “No worries mate, I’m a bit early, how’s Maria?” No sooner had he asked when she came out of the guest room, clothes and hair looking rather dishevelled, barely able to look at him and blushing profoundly she simply nodding to acknowledge him as she quickly made her way into the bathroom. He didn’t have to be a genius to work out what had happened. Smiling at Jimmy and giving him a wink he said, “Things are going ok then?” “Better than okay mate.” A cheeky grin came over Jimmy’s face as he called out to her, “Maria, dinners on the table.” There was no reply, but they could hear water running from the bathroom.
The two men talked while they waited. Jimmy said, “The grub looks good Mickey.” “I wasn’t sure what to get so I left it up to Luigi.” “Well the old Eyetie has done us proud, this looks fit for a king. Come on Maria its getting cold,” he called again. Seconds later she appeared, “Sorry, I had a quick wash. Wow the food looks great.” The table was laden with dishes full of Italian food; there was everything, carbonara, tagliatelle, fresh glazed vegetables and a large tub of Morello cherry ice cream for dessert. “God, I don’t know what to have,” giggled Maria, “I really can’t decide, perhaps you should choose for me Jimmy?” Mickey looked baffled as he said, “Did I miss something funny?” Jimmy enlightened his friend to the fact that she had not been allowed to choose anything for herself and that it was driving him crazy.
“Nice to see you laughing Maria,” said Mickey, “and I must say you’re looking a lot better, especially your eye that’s gone down a treat by the look of it.” “Thanks Mickey, I feel a lot better.” “That’s good babe, because we need to talk and if our meeting with Nick today was anything to go by, the sooner the better.” Jimmy interrupted “Ah well there’s been another development today; apparently we only have ‘til Friday before the shit hits the fan!” “Fuck me Jimmy that only gives us a few days; it’s not enough time.” “We’ll just have to buy us some more time then, won’t we?” She sat picking at her dinner while Jimmy told him about the phone call from Nick. Feeling a bit humbled knowing that he had probably made her feel bad about the time issue, Mickey looked at her and said, “Don’t worry babe, we’ll sort something out, they don’t call me and him Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for nothing you know!” They all laughed. They were interrupted by Mickey’s mobile ringing, answering it he said, “Hello?” “Hi Mickey, are you standing me up again?” “Oh fuck me babe, something came up I’m really sorry, can you do dinner tomorrow night?” “Yes that’s ok, but I’m warning you Michael Mann if you stand me up again, that’s it!” “Ok babe, I’ll pick you up about eight, see you tomorrow.”
Having heard most of the conversation, Maria said, “Was that your girlfriend Mickey?” Jimmy laughed. “What’s so funny?” said Maria curiously. “Nothing babe, it’s just that he always stands her up, but she always comes back for more and even more ironic she’s a detective down the nick.” Mickey tried to defend his actions; he didn’t want Maria thinking he was a rat. Humbly he said, “Monica’s a really nice girl; we hit it off great it’s just that I tend to forget some of our dates.” Jimmy laughed and said, “Some of them? You mean most of them!” “Ok sarky, now you’ve managed to pull my love life to shreds,” joked Mickey, “shall we proceed with business? Perhaps you should just tell me what this information you have about Nick is Maria?” Finishing her last spoonful of ice cream, she swallowed hard to clear her throat before replying, “I began to notice things about three months after I first went to live with him. I was never allowed to answer the phone or meet anyone who came to his place; he would tie me up and lock me in the spare room whenever he had visitors.” “Can I just stop you there babe,” interrupted Mickey, “I’m curious as to how a fifteen year old girl came to live with him in the first place.” “Oh it was Father O’Brien at St Augustus who arranged it.” The two men looked at one another in disbelief, before Mickey said, “Can you be a bit more specific?” “We all thought it was strange at first then we just sort of got used to it.” “Who’s we and what did you get used to?” asked Jimmy. “The meetings with different men at the church, we used to have to go.” “That’s interesting; go on,” said Mickey with a look of curiosity.” “Every few months some of the girls would be taken into the back of the church, it was normally off limits to us because it was Father O’Brien’s private quarters.” “Who took you there?” “Sister Marjorie, she’s the head nun. There would always be a man with the Father who would be introduced by a bogus name; I know that now because Nick was introduced as Malcolm Dalton. Father O’Brien would tell us that the man was a good friend of his and a wonderful benefactor to the church, he would tell us the man was looking for a young girl to train as his housekeeper, he always said things like, ‘it would be a wonderful opportunity for the right girl.’ Mickey interrupted her and asked, “Where did the girls come from, did they attend school there or something?” “Oh no we all lived there; in most cases we had always lived there, we were raised there, my mother abandoned me on the church steps when I was a baby.” “Go on.” “Every time a man came he picked a girl, before I was chosen I went to two previous meetings. The first time my friend Caroline was picked; the second time it was my friend Kate. I can remember helping Kate pack the day before she left, she was so excited thinking that her new employer was really nice, not to mention very rich. We all thought she might travel and see the world. You see things like that were very attractive to us; we rarely left the convent, except for the odd trip. Sister Marjorie was very strict with us, always telling us that one day we would marry and h
ave our own families and that it would never be appropriate for young Catholic ladies to date boys, it was strictly forbidden, even if we ever kissed or touched a boy, or one another, God would punish us because we were special and God would send the suitor he had chosen for us.” “Sounds like a real gem this sister Marjorie,” said Jimmy. “We were afraid of her. When she came into the dormitory in the mornings, if any of us had our hands under the covers she would beat us, but we never understood why.”
The two men glanced briefly at each other before she continued. “One night there was a terrible storm; my best friend Melanie was petrified so I told her to get into my bed. We never did anything wrong, I just held her. I was thirteen at the time, she was a year younger. We had planned for her to go back to her own bed when the storm passed, but we fell asleep and the next morning Sister Marjorie caught us. It was terrible she made an example of us; she said that we were like the whores of Babylon. No one was allowed to speak to us; we weren’t allowed any food, only water for three days and she made us strip naked before she beat us in front of everyone. We all hated her, but we couldn’t change anything, we had no families to defend us, there was no one.” Jimmy gripped her hand as she rested it on the table and fiddled with her rosary beads. They could see she was reliving the whole dreadful ordeal; tears were streaming down her face. Reassuringly Jimmy said, “Maybe we should take a short break, perhaps a cup of tea is in order.” “Good idea” said Mickey. Maria simply nodded.
Five minutes later Maria sat quietly sipping her tea while the two men discussed briefly what she had told them. Jimmy made Mickey grin when he said, “I think we should send someone round to visit this Sister Marjorie, I know a couple of people who wouldn’t feel bad about belting a nun.” Even Maria giggled at his suggestion. Then Mickey said, “Do you think we can carry on now babe?” Nodding she replied, “Yes, I’m fine now, shall I continue about the meetings at the church?” “That would be good.” “Ok, well like I said after each meeting one of the girls would leave and we never heard from them again. They would always promise to write, but they never did, now I know why, they were prisoners like me. If we asked Sister Marjorie about them she would just say, ‘Oh I expect she’s off on some yacht somewhere, having far too much fun to write to the likes of you.’” Jimmy interrupted and said, “Babe tell us what happened the day you met Nick.” They both noticed she started to tremble as she replied, “Three of us were taken to Father O’Brien’s quarters, Nick was introduced as Malcolm Dalton, he seemed really nice. Unlike the previous men I thought he was handsome; and he seemed to like me straight away. I can remember Father O’Brien telling him I was very bright and very spirited. Nick joked and said he liked girls with a bit of spirit. Then he asked me some questions, things like had I ever had a boyfriend and how old I was and did I think I would like being his housekeeper, that type of thing? After talking to me for about an hour, he picked me. Melanie was quite jealous, but I promised to write to her. The following day I was taken to his penthouse.” Squeezing Jimmy’s hand, she paused for a moment as though it was too painful for her to continue. “Take your time babe,” he reassured her. Finally she said, “That was the day I arrived in hell, gone was the nice Malcolm who I had met the day before, instead this horrible man named Nick was there. When I first arrived he ordered me to sit down and listen to him very carefully. Then he slapped me round the face and said, ‘if I ask you to do something you don’t ask why, you just do it ok bitch, and from now on you can call me sir. You don’t talk to anyone, you don’t leave the apartment and you don’t use the phone. You eat what and when I tell you to and don’t ever think of trying to run away, because not only will I effing kill you, I’ll kill your friend Melanie, or take her as your replacement.’” Now the tears were flowing down her cheeks and she was shaking quite violently. Finally after several minutes and verbal reassurances from the men she regained her composure and continued, “I’m not sure what was worse, being left with Nick or realising the people who I thought loved me had actually sold me.” Mickey said “How could you be sure Nick paid for you, did you hear them discussing it?” “No, Nick made a point of telling me when said, ‘I’ve paid a lot of money for you bitch, so I expect a good return on my investment.’ I can remember crying and him telling me to stop; I couldn’t so he punched me in the face and said ‘there, now you’ve got something to effing well cry for bitch!”
The two men watched as her face relived every terrible moment of that first day at Nick’s. Gripping her hand tightly Jimmy asked her, “Can you go on babe?” Wiping her eyes, she replied, “Yes, after he had punched me he dragged me to the bedroom by my hair. On the bed there were some women’s clothes, I’d never seen anything like them before; it was a basque with stockings and a pair of high heeled shoes. He ordered me to put everything on. I had never undressed in front of a man before, I was terrified, he was so horrid, shouting at me, ‘hurry up or I’ll do it for you bitch!’ When I was dressed he slapped me and said I wasn’t a virgin, but I was, he called me a effin,” suddenly she stopped, it was obvious to both of them that she wasn’t comfortable using bad language especially as she had said effing instead of fucking throughout their conversation. Squeezing her hand Jimmy joked and said, “Don’t worry babe, Mickey swears all the time I’m used to it.” Smiling she knew it was his way of telling her that it was okay if she swore. Tearfully she continued, “He called me an effing lying whore. I pleaded and begged him to stop, but he was enjoying himself too much. Then he threw me onto the bed and said,” she hesitated again and placed her hand up to her mouth as though she felt nauseous. They could see she was too embarrassed to go on, so gently squeezing her hand again Jimmy said, “Take your time babe, but it’s important for us to know.” With tears streaming down her face she took a deep breath and said, “Nick said you won’t enjoy this you effing bitch, but I will,’ then he raped me. It was so painful I thought I would die.” Unable to go on she had to stop again and take a moment as the memories surfaced. A few minutes later after sipping her tea she continued, “Most days after that were much the same. Some days were better than others, but the beatings and the deprivation got worse. Many times I thought he was going to kill me.” “Can you remember anything else about the meetings at the church,” said Mickey. After thinking about it for a moment she nodded and replied, “There was something else, when we went to the Father’s quarters there was always someone else there; but we never saw him because he would hide behind a screen that partitioned off part of the room, even the men like Nick didn’t know he was there.” “How can you be sure then?” “Because he wore a strange perfume; it smelt like coconut. I remember once standing in front of the screen and smelling it quite strongly. When Father O’Brien realised where I was standing, he looked panic stricken and made me move. I didn’t know what the smell was then, but I’ve smelt it many times since at the poker game.” “Really, do you know what is it then?” Confidently she replied, “Yes it’s something coconut Maurice uses on his hair.” “She’s right,” said Jimmy, “he does put something or another on his hair, smells like coconut. I think it’s to do with having afro hair.” “Please continue Maria,” said Mickey. “Another thing was I noticed that Nick always seemed uncomfortable when Maurice phoned him.” “What do you mean by uncomfortable?” “I can remember one conversation; he didn’t know I was listening, but it was definitely Maurice he was talking to. Nick shouted down the phone at him; ‘don’t think for one minute you can effing blackmail me Maurice, you effing cock sucking nigger. I’ll take you and the effing church down with me, you black mother effer!’ After that call, Nick phoned someone called Razor, I didn’t hear all that was said, but I did hear him say, ‘don’t kill the effing nigger, just scare him, but find the pictures.’” “I don’t suppose you can remember when that call took place can you?” “I think it was about three years ago, I hadn’t been there long, but I could check.”
The two men looked curiously at each other before Jimmy said, “What are you saying babe, yo
u kept a record?” She nodded, before he added, “Weren’t you afraid he would find it?” “Of course I was afraid; I know he would have killed me that’s why I hid it in the church.” “You fucking beauty Maria!” “There’s only one problem, I can’t go to church anymore.” “Good point, so we’ll just have to send someone else. Let’s just hope it’s still there and no one else has found it?” “It’s safe, when I was living in the convent one of my duties was to clean the church after the Sunday morning service. I found a loose panel on one of the pews I used to hide things in from Sister Marjorie. After I moved in with Nick I remembered names, dates and times in my head. Then when I went to church later that week I would pretend to be singing, but I was actually jotting down the things that had happened in my notepad, which was hidden inside my hymn book. Once or twice I thought Shaun’s wife Ann had seen me, although she obviously never said anything.” “Looks like we need to get that notepad,” said Mickey, then looking at Jimmy he grinned and added, “How long is it since your last confession Jimmy? Perhaps it’s time for you to start practising your faith again?” “You can fuck off Mick; you know I’ll never set foot in a church again.” Looking surprised Maria said, “Are you Catholic Jimmy?” “Not anymore.” “Do you mind me asking why?” “Well let’s just say babe, I prayed to God day after day, begging him to stop my father from beating up on me and my mum, but even in confession the priest would tell me that no matter what, he was my father and that God was watching over us. Like a fool I believed him, until the day I came home from school and found my mother dead, where was God then, the same God she prayed to every day? I’ve not set foot in a church since.” Maria didn’t reply she just looked at him. “I think we should give Lenny Porter a ring,” said Jimmy. “Who’s he?” asked Maria. “He’s an ex-detective who now freelances as a private investigator. Lenny’s a good bloke, we’ve used him before.” Just as Mickey said, “I’ll sort it out,” his mobile rang. After looking at the caller ID he glanced at Jimmy and said, “Its Nick.” “Don’t answer it; we’re not at that fucker’s beck and call,” snapped Jimmy, “he can leave a fucking message!” “Yeah, you’re right Jim.” Maria yawned, “Sorry, I didn’t realise I was so tired.” “Fuck me is that the time?” said Mickey, “It’s turned midnight, perhaps we should call it a night, we can go over everything tomorrow. I’m in court at nine, shouldn’t take long, just a greedy wife trying to screw her soon to be ex-husband over some property. I could be round here by midday, does that suit you two?” “Yeah that should be ok,” replied Jimmy, “I can work from home for a couple of days. I’ve got a meeting at four o’clock with Tony; probably take an hour or so. Is there any chance you could stay on ‘til I get back Mickey, just in case shit head decides to call again?” Smiling at her he replied, “No problem, Maria and I have got lots to discuss.” She interrupted and said, “As Mickey is going to stay with me while you’re out Jimmy, would it be alright if I cooked?” “That would be great, just let me know what you need and I’ll get one of the lads to pick it up for you.” Interrupting Mickey said, “Remember I’ve got a dinner date tomorrow night and it’s more than I dare do to stand Monica up again!” Jimmy smiled at her and said, “Just you and me then babe.” Smiling back she replied, “In that case maybe I can do us all a light lunch.” “That’ll be great.”