Exposed by Rage

by Sherrel Lee

  “You stupid bitch,” the voice screamed. “You want me to kill your slut of a mother? You think this if some kind of joke?”

  “Not at all, but do you really think I could have carried 10 million around in a suitcase?” The damn satchel weighed over twenty pounds and was the size of a carry-on suitcase. Did these idiots think I could dump over 200 pounds on cash into a trash barrel? “I gave you a deposit and will work on getting you the rest, but I want to talk to Trixie, make sure she’s alright.”

  I could hear a muffled, staticy argument going on, like someone had placed their hand over the receiver, but after a few minutes, the electronic masking device was turned off and Trixie was on the line. “Ash? It that really you? You need to do what they tell you, Ash.”

  “I’ll get you out of there soon. Are you hurt?”

  “I’m okay,” she said before the phone was snatched from her as the hostage taker screeched an order to hand over the phone. I was sure I recognized the voice.

  The sat-phone vibrated and a message appeared on the screen, confirming the phone being used was in the house I was watching. The follow team would be out of their cars and on the way to take out our kidnappers and bring my mother home. I guess it was going to have to be my home since hers was basically a heap of ash.

  I disconnected, got out of the car, and followed six black clad officers into the house.

  The shouts of the entry team followed the abrupt explosion as the metal door was forced open, crashing into the wall, hanging from only the bottom hinge.

  “Clear.”

  “Clear.“

  “Clear.”

  The mantra of the officers rang out as they moved past the living room, into the kitchen, where the team split, half going toward the bedrooms and the rest into the den. This dance of clearing a residence was a familiar one, and the men who were leading the team didn’t flinch or over react as they found the residents. The kidnappers and Trixie were in a converted garage just off the kitchen, standing in the middle of the room like rabbits turned to stone.

  Trixie didn’t look too bad. She was definitely not the woman who was always impeccably dressed, coifed and painted to perfection. Her hair was matted and oily, dark rings circled her eyes and her nail polish was cracked and peeling, but I didn’t see any visible signs she had been beaten. I couldn’t say the same for the woman standing next to her. Not surprised I recognized Eve, but her reaction to our presence was anything but expected. She began to tremble and cry, collapsing to her knees in front of us.

  Eve was battered and bruised almost beyond recognition. Both eyes blackened. Her lips split and swollen. She looked like she had lost twenty pounds in just the last week. She was babbling in an incomprehensible string of words.

  “Shut up bitch,” the third resident screamed.

  I couldn’t hold back the malicious smile that crossed my face as George looked at me, gulped, and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his in scrawny chicken neck. I admit I was sorry that there hadn’t been an opportunity to gun him down or at least break an arm or a leg.

  I took Trixie’s arm and led her into the living room, settling her on the couch with the team’s female officer standing guard. Eve and George had been separated, with Eve sitting at a small kitchen table and George remaining in the den. I confronted Eve, knowing I couldn’t do justice to interviewing Trixie and was to tempted to annihilate George.

  I studied the woman sitting across from me with one of the officers standing between her and the entry to the den. George had been moved out of site. The other officers were in the back, going through the rooms looking for weapons or anything that might link this couple to more than the kidnapping.

  “Why did you let George do this to you?”

  “You got it wrong. He didn’t hurt me,” Eve mumbled, eyes down, unable to look me in the eyes. “He couldn’t.”

  “So are you saying Trixie did this? She packs a lot more power than I though. I’ll have to congratulate her.”

  “NO.”

  “Okay so tell me. Who did this to you Eve? You look like your been through a meat grinder and that’s just the part I can see.”

  “I can’t. I can’t.” She was becoming agitated, pushing back from the table, turning away from me. She didn’t try to get away, just made it clear she didn’t want to answer any of my questions.

  I could hear voices in the hallway and looked up to find DeMarco strolling into the room like he owned it. I bit my lip, holding back a sting of curses. What part of you are not to go to a crime scene didn’t he understand?

  “Hello, Ashley. Looks like you’re having some trouble.” He pulled out the chair beside Eve and sat down. “Why don’t you take a break and I’ll have a talk with our girl?”

  You don’t argue in front of a suspect unless it is part of a plan to make them more willing to talk to one partner over the other. In this case it would be too apparent that the argument was real. I pushed away from the table, stood and walked outside to cool off where Dylan had lingered. Before I could give him a dressing down, he just shrugged and grinned at me.

  I ignored him, concentrating on the ambulance that had just arrived, and the small crowd of nosey neighbors. No one looked like they were willing to challenge our presence and I guessed they didn’t feel a lot of loyalty to the current tenants. The EMT’s grabbed their gear and walked into the house. I could hear to excitement in Trixie’s voice as one of them apparently tried to check her out. The tone of her voice was not a pleasant one.

  DeMarco appeared a moment later. “I don’t think we’re going to get much out of Eve tonight. The techs are going to take her to the emergency room and get her checked out. I’ll have a guard put on her and we’ll try again tomorrow.”

  He was actually acting like everything was just normal between us. No guilt at coming to the scene. No apology for stepping on my toes. Damn I liked this guy—actually it was more than like.

  I agreed with the plan and returned to the living room, determined to give the EMT the support he needed to do his job. “Shut up and sit down,” I told Trixie. “This guy is just trying to make sure you are alright and you’re going to let him do his job.”

  She didn’t argue, or say a word, just looked at me and sat down quietly as the tech checked her blood pressure. You can’t believe how powerful I suddenly felt. Trixie was cowed and I was the one who had done that to her.

  I’m pretty sure George and Eve probably deeply regretted the impulse to kidnap Trixie goddess of porn. She couldn’t have been easy to deal with unless they had kept her tied and gagged the entire time they had her. In this case for Eve and George I could realistically say life was a Bitch.

  23

  Eve didn’t make it to the station the next day, so we had to go to her. She had broken ribs, a broken arm, someone had beaten her face until they knock out several teeth. She was also suffering from, severe dehydration, and a fractured jaw. She wasn’t going to a doing a lot of talking since they had wired her mouth shut but what she couldn’t say she could write down.

  I did feel sorry she was in so much pain, she’s always been a tough one but she didn’t deserve all this. If George really wasn’t responsible for this I needed to find out who was and give them a taste of their own. I also knew Eve’s background and this treatment had to have been a true nightmare for her. I hate it when I feel sorry for the bad guys.

  Braden had emailed the statements given by George and Trixie the night before and of course there was little consistency in them. Eve would be the winning vote, providing her optical illusion of events, but between the three we should find a few nuggets of gold to work with. It had been obvious George was lying through his healthy teeth, Trixie’s, statement was angry and spiteful toward her captors, but gave little detail of the events. Typical Trix, don’t let the world know the truth, keep up the Diva persona. She was the original to believe in don’t ask, won’t tell.

  DeMarco stood over Eve on one side of the bed and I pulled up a chair opposite him, taking
Eve’s hand in mine. “We want to help Eve. No matter what you did, or why you decided to take Trixie, you don’t deserve what you got. You said George didn’t do this to you and I know Trixie wouldn’t be able to break your bones. Who did this?”

  She stared at the white board just beyond the foot of the bed. I didn’t think she was memorizing the names of the doctor and nursing staff written there, but even under the bruises that covered her face, she paled. “You’re afraid. You’re here, a guard posted outside your door. Who do you have to be afraid of and why?”

  Eve didn’t even blink, just continued to stare forward at the writing—or maybe at something beyond the room.

  “We are going to get answers Eve,” DeMarco said. “It will go a lot easier if you cooperate now. We already have statements from Trixie and George and they don’t paint a picture that you are the helpless dupe.”

  Eve’s eyes opened, fear radiating from them, and shrunk back into the bed.

  I’d known Eve too long to think this was an act. She could be spiteful, even bitter, but never showed fear. “Mike, let me have a few minutes alone with Eve.”

  DeMarco stared at me for a heartbeat, nodded and left the room and closed the door behind him.

  “Eve, what is it? I’ve never seen you this way and I know you are more afraid of something out there than you are of anything that might happen to you. Tell me. Let me help.”

  She turned her head, tears leaking out of her eyes as she looked at me and whispered. I leaned closer.

  “Son.”

  Eve had a son? I’d been away a long time and my local contacts didn’t talk about the intimate details of others. Even Jillie rarely talked about anyone including those I thought of as good friends.

  “You have a son? Where is he? Is he in danger?” I knew she couldn’t answer as fast as the questions poured out. I needed to give her a chance to speak, but she had already turned away ignoring me, back in her distant world.

  I left the room to find DeMarco in the hallway. Explaining what I had found out, he called Braden and told him to have the team start asking about the boy. I and the techs had already gone through Eve’s place, and it was obvious the boy wasn’t staying with her there. We needed Eve’s real name and connections outside the business.

  * * * *

  I left the outlaws to the police and went to talk to Trixie who was at the house, trying to order the nurse, who had agreed to stay on, around like her personal assistant. I was pleased to see the two actually hadn’t killed each other. There was definitely a power struggle going on between them and nurse Kurtz appeared to be winning.

  “Trixie—mother, you need to tell me what happened. How did Eve and George manage to get you into such a difficult position?”

  “I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s over. I just want to forget about it and work to get my house restored. Actually it was probably not such a bad thing, the house being burned. I was thinking about remodeling anyway and now the insurance can take care of the cost.”

  Trixie always had a way of turning events to her benefit and I was sure the insurance company was in for a wild ride.

  “You can’t forget and just move on. They are in jail and the police need the details so they can charge them correctly. Did you go with them voluntarily?”

  “You think I did this to myself,” she screeched. “I would never…”

  “No. I think they tricked you and now you’re embarrassed to talk about it. This isn’t some game or just a prank. They may even be responsible for killing Jillie and Randi. We need to know what happened.”

  “WE need to know. Always taking someone else’s side,” Trixie huffed.

  I stood staring her in the face, hands on my hips. I felt great satisfaction as she blinked and took half a step back.

  “I—I don’t remember. One minute I was at the house, getting ready to go out, the next I was in the boathouse tied up and George was filming me. I was confused, muddle headed. For a minute I thought we were doing some film I didn’t remember but then I recalled that I direct I don’t act anymore.”

  A look of confusion and fear pierced her cold professional appearance for only a few seconds, but I knew she was afraid to tell me how badly she had been affected. The Queen never showed her emotional response to anyone, it was one of the reasons she had been so successful in such a male dominated industry.

  I had to find a way to break the tension between us. I wanted her to think of me as a daughter concerned over her welfare more than the military cop but wasn’t sure if there was a way to breach that chasm. We hadn’t been close in ten years and I couldn’t think of a reason this would change now.

  “Stop running through scenarios, Ashely. I can see you trying hard to decide what to say and do. She took a deep breath and sighed. I’ll tell you what I can but it’s not much. I was, as I said, preparing to go out. I assume someone put something in my tea. I had just poured a second cup, and was preparing to put on my lashes when I became dizzy.”

  “Was anyone in the room with you?”

  “No. You know—or knew I prefer to take my time and get dressed without an audience.”

  “So someone tampered with the tea. Who was in the house?”

  Trixie gave a sharp laugh. “Everyone. Eve, George, my bodyguards, a dozen of the actors, Mimzi—everyone. Eve was downstairs telling the others about the trip I had planned for them. A small bonus for winning a special acknowledgement from the AVN fan awards. It was a nice achievement and I wanted to show my appreciation.”

  “Tell me more about Eve. I need to know everything you know about her.”

  Trixie walked to the coffee bar and helped herself to a fresh cup. Stalling.

  “You know almost as much as I do. She just showed up one day a few years ago. Uses only the name Eve and she works for me on and off film.”

  I pulled a picture of Eve’s battered face up on my cell phone. “Trixie, look at this. Why would she let someone do something like this to her and then be afraid to tell me who did this to her?”

  The coffee cup rattled as she set it on the saucer. “She’s into the rough stuff at times. It goes in cycles. I think she believes she deserves to be punished, but I can promise you it wasn’t one of my guys.”

  “I don’t think this had anything to do with rough sex or films. She has a son who I think is in danger, tell me about that.”

  “Ask her. It’s not my story to tell.”

  “She’s too afraid of something, someone. Tell me about the boy, Trix. I need to know where to find him. “

  It was like working with a mule. One that wasn’t only stubborn, but was really good at distracting you if you didn’t stay on your toes. Maybe she thought she was protecting her friend. Maybe she knew more than she finally told me, but in the end I found out the boy’s name was Robbie and he was in a boarding school in Oklahoma City. I called DeMarco and he contacted the Oklahoma police to check on the child.

  Once we confirmed the boy was in class, and had security assigned to keep an eye on him, I went back to Eve. “Your son is alright. He’s at school and totally unaware of any threat. We have people watching him so tell me, who is it you are so afraid of Eve?”

  “She said she’d have him killed. Killed in one of those horrible movies she and George are making. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to do everything she said, and let her do anything she wanted to me. Follow all her directions.”

  “Eve! Who is it? We are going to protect your son, now tell me what I need to know.”

  Eve stared at me blankly, maybe this had all been too much for her and now she just didn’t understand her son was safe, but I needed to get through to her. DeMarco walked into the room, holding the door, indicating I should leave her with him. Reluctantly I walked out and stood at the door where I could see and hear her.

  He carried a laptop with him and sat across from her while he reactivated the screen that already had the Skype app open and connected. “Eve, Robbie wants to talk to you,” he told her softl
y and turned the computer around for her to see her son looking back at her.

  “Robbie. Baby. Are you alright. I was… I thought… I’m so happy you’re safe.”

  “Momma, what happened to you? You got bruises on your face.”

  “It’s nothing baby. I just had—a little accident but I’m alright.”

  “Did Auntie M do that? She’s mean and I don’t like her. She came and told the principal you wanted me to go with her, but he wouldn’t let me since he wasn’t able to reach you.”

  Eve gasped and began to shake, her leg pumping up and down as she sat in the chair by the window. “I’m glad Robbie, he took good care of you. You never have to go with Auntie M, darling. I won’t send her to get you.”

  The little boy’s face must have brightened with relief since I could see Eve’s shoulders relax and the movement of her leg stopped. She talked to her son for several more minutes before DeMarco told her it was time for her to say good-bye.

  “I love you baby. I’ll send Auntie Trix to bring you to see me soon. Don’t go with anyone else.”

  DeMarco closed the laptop, “Who is Auntie M, and why are you so afraid of her?”

  24

  George doodled on a pad of paper his attorney had given him while he waited for the next round of questions. I watched him through the observation mirror—a secret hideaway that was no secret because of movies, television and books. But George didn’t look up or act like he knew I was there.

  I strained to see what he was drawing. Sure I would recognize the petals of a lotus flower. George was involved in the film company according to Eve but I couldn’t imagine him actually killing anyone. He would enjoy the suffering of the girls, none of those found had grown to full womanhood. I always suspected he was a true pervert but never saw anything that would prove it.

  DeMarco entered and stood beside me. “Eve still refuses to tell me who Auntie M is. Robbie doesn’t know the woman’s real name. I swear this business is more frustrating that any I have explored before. No one is who they say. None of their stories about where they come from are true. Connecting the dots is almost impossible.”