Case 16

by Shiralyn J. Lee

  On the back wall of the third lounge, a blue curtain hung in the center of the room. It didn’t make sense as there was no window to cover. I drew the curtain back, exposing a hidden door.

  “Suspicious,” Emily said, her eyes constantly darting from the door to the room, ensuring that we weren’t surprised by any occupants of the house.

  I motioned that on the count of three I would open the door.

  We entered the room. It was dark and windowless. Emily found the light switch, enlightening us on what this room was actually used for. Four video cameras all on tripods surrounding a large bed with red silk sheets, a computer on a desk, a large flat screen TV and a bottle of the finest whisky were just the first things that caught my eye.

  I had a gut feeling that I knew exactly what went on in here.

  Emily turned the computer on. Finding files with girl’s names on she clicked on the first one and opened it up. The name was Jennifer G. Her name bore no meaning to us but the file revealed that she had been bought by an anonymous purchaser.

  I took a deep breath as we searched through several files, all stating the same. There was a recent file dated yesterday. Emily clicked on it. Megan H. The file was titled, For sale.

  “Oh fuck, Emily.”

  “We have to find her.”

  I turned the TV on and pressed the play button on the DVD player. A girl dressed in a black silk robe, the left side slipping down from her shoulder and revealing the cup part of a red bra, was on her knees on the bed. She looked drugged, her hair straggled and her eyes rolling as if she was out of it. She looked up at the camera as if she was being told to by someone else in the room. She spoke nervously.

  “My name is Megan H. I want to…I want to be your sex slave. Please buy me. I will give you what you want.” Her head slumped down but before she could collapse, the sound of a single loud hand clap could be heard off camera. She lifted her head again, looking directly into the camera. It was obvious that she was being forced to undress. She removed the robe and then slipped the bra straps from her shoulders. She pushed the bra down to her stomach and then remained still, as if someone was viewing her online. The camera zoomed in on her face, emphasizing her distress. It remained there for a moment and then the camera was switched off.

  I felt sickened by this girl’s ordeal. “We have to search upstairs, she could still be here.”

  Aware that we could possibly alert Emil Volodin of our presence, we were ready to act, shoot if necessary.

  Upstairs there were ten rooms that we had to check. The first bedroom consisted of a queen bed, handcuffs attached to the headboard, and a video camera set up at the foot of the bed. We remained silent as we carried on our search. Three more bedrooms offered the same effect but when we approached the fourth room we heard a murmur. Someone was behind the door and we had to find out who it was. We both stood on either side of the door with our guns ready to fire. I quickly turned to face the door and then kicked it open, running inside and yelling at a woman who was on the bed to remain where she was. She was alone, her mouth had been covered with tape and her hands tied behind her back. She was wearing a man’s shirt and a pair of black panties and nothing else. I scouted around, checking the en-suite bathroom and under the bed. There was no one else with her.

  I carefully removed the tape from her mouth and asked her who she was. She could barely talk, she was that high.

  “Call it in, Emily.”

  She called the office for back up whilst I tried to coax the girl to talk. It was Megan Hatch. She could hardly keep her eyes open but she was trying to say something to me. Her mumbled voice said, “She’s in the other room.”

  “Emily, stay with her, I’ll go and check the other rooms.”

  I walked with my gun in front of me, holding it out with both of my hands as I moved along the hallway with my back to the wall keeping my guard up. I checked the door handle on the adjoining room door. It was unlocked. I listened for any sounds but there were none, so I kicked the door open, dropping to the ground and rolling to the foot of the bed. I acted fast and kept my gun pointed, ready to use.

  A naked girl was laid on the bed, she was still and silent. On closer inspection I found that she was dead. Her body was covered from head to toe in bruises, there was no pulse, her eyes were rolled back, her lips blue and vomit was dripping from the side of her mouth.

  “Fuck.”

  Although I had become accustomed to these sights, a small part of me would never be able to accept the way that any of these girls had died. Thankfully we were able to save Megan, but this girl may prove difficult to find out who she was.

  I covered her with a towel that I fetched from the en-suit bathroom and then re-joined Emily.

  “A unit is on its way. Mike’s not happy with us. He said that we should have talked to him first.”

  “I don’t fucking care what Mike thinks right now. The girl in the next room is dead.”

  Megan, who was now sitting on the edge of the bed with Emily supporting her, lifted her head and looked at me before mumbling. “No. She didn’t want to go with him. She knew he was going to kill her.”

  “Who was going to kill her, Megan?” I asked her.

  “The Russian man, he came in here and started yelling at her.”

  “What was he yelling?”

  She began to lose focus, so I knelt down at her feet and begged her to try to remember.

  “He was yelling because she had lost him a lot of money. He said that her buyer wasn’t impressed with her because she wasn’t pretty enough.”

  As I tried to coax more information out of her my attention was taken to the sound of male voices coming from downstairs. Two men were talking followed by laughter. One of the male voices was Russian. Emil Volodin had returned home. I told Emily to keep Megan quiet whilst I went to the doorway to see what they were doing. I looked down at them through the banister railings. Two men were standing in the entrance. The Russian I could see clearly, he was about 230 pounds in weight, somewhere in his mid forties and dressed in a leather jacket and dark jeans. The other male had his back to me and spoke quietly. I pulled my gun from its holster and signaled to Emily to do the same. She nodded and told Megan to go into the bathroom and lock the door.

  The two men were deep in conversation and oblivious to our presence in the house. We stood above with our guns pointing down at them.

  “FBI, freeze,” I shouted.

  Shocked by the sudden intrusion, the Russian went to put his hand inside his jacket, probably reaching for his gun. I shot him instantly. He fell to the ground before he was able to retrieve his weapon. The second male made a dash for the lounge. We both ran down the stairs, Emily was in front of me.

  We headed into the lounge. The perpetrator had hidden himself away from us. The curtain in the center of the wall had been pulled across, covering the secret door to the video room. I nodded to Emily that I was going to charge into the room. With one swift kick, the door flew open. I went to the left and Emily to the right, both of us making our way around the room.

  Movement came from behind the bed. Emily was closest and had her gun positioned on the target.

  “Come out with your hands up,” she said firmly.

  “I wouldn’t use that if I were you. I have a gun pointed directly at Paige. Tell her to drop her gun, Paige.”

  My nightmare had just resurfaced. Theodore Spiers was once again calling the shots. Feeling sickened just by hearing his voice, I told Emily that under no circumstances was she to retract her gun.

  “How does he know your name, who is he, is this your uncle?” she asked quickly.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce your friend to me, Paige, darling?” he mocked.

  “Emily, if he moves, shoot him.” My mind had to stay focused. I had no time to allow the hurt to take over this situation.

  “Paige, don’t you remember how I always took good care of you? Why don’t you just let me walk out of here and we’ll say nothing more. Family has to
come first.”

  “What’s going on here?” Emily asked, her concentration being interrupted, exactly how he wanted it to.

  “Not now!” I snapped at her.

  He was toying with me, knowing that he wasn’t going to leave here freely. His overpowering cologne hit my nostrils causing my stomach to turn as my senses began to remember his disgusting touch.

  “I saw you at the art studio. Your girlfriend, Kate, isn’t it; she seems a pretty little thing. I never pegged you for a dyke. Mind you I can’t blame you. I wouldn’t mind a piece of that myself.”

  Emily was becoming unnerved by not understanding what was going on. She kept her gun pointed at him, he kept his gun pointed at me and I had the top of his head in my sight.

  “Drop the gun, Theodore,” I yelled at him.

  “Well it seems as though we have a standoff, doesn’t it,” he teased.

  Just as the situation was intensifying a swat team came into the building. Theodore was surrounded by men and weapons.

  “You can leave here alive or dead, I really couldn’t fucking care,” I told him.

  “Then I choose to die, Paige,” he said abruptly. Within seconds his gun was fired. We all dropped to the ground.

  “Emily, are you ok?” I shouted over to her.

  “Yes, he’s shot himself,” she answered back.

  Everyone acted instantaneous. Even though he was dead, his gun was removed from his hand and bagged. His body had slumped with his head rested on his chest, his back up against the bed and his blood splattered over the wall, carpet and sheets.

  I knew one of the members of the swat team and as he brushed past me to get to the body he shook his head in disapproval. “You do know that these men were under surveillance? This might just have fucked up three years of investigations.”

  “I’m sorry that I might have fucked that up for you, but I just saved a girl’s life. There’s another girl who wasn’t so lucky in a room upstairs, if you care to take a look,” I snapped at him. “Fucking asshole.”

  “Megan,” Emily said as she ran out of the door.

  I followed her upstairs. Megan was still locked in the bathroom. Emily banged on the door but she didn’t respond.

  “Kick it in,” I told her.

  We found Megan unconscious on the floor.

  “Medic, get me a medic up here now!” I screamed.

  “She still has a pulse, Paige,” Emily confirmed.

  The paramedics came in and took over. She was taken to the hospital; hopefully it wasn’t too late for her.

  “Paige, about your uncle…”

  “Not now, Emily.”

  ♦♦♦

  I stood outside watching the commotion taking place. Neighbors had gathered in the adjoining street wondering what all of the disorder was about. Police had set up a boundary line with tape and were standing guard in front of the house. A few higher achy agents came swooping in, taking over the leadership of this case. After being reprimanded by our superior we were ordered to leave.

  The journey home was silent. My mind was filled with flashbacks and key words kept highlighting themselves. ‘It’s our little secret.’ ‘You’re special to me.’ Finally I had closure, the bastard was dead.

  Chapter Five

  A week after the incident, Megan had been released from the hospital and re-united with her family. She was one of the few lucky ones. We hadn’t been able to identify the dead girl yet but we had managed to track down two men who had sought to purchase her. The files on Emil’s computer were giving up the names of these sick fucks and it wouldn’t be long before we had a few more in custody.

  I was sitting at my desk when Mike walked into my office. “Paige, I have an envelope for you.” He placed it down in front of me. “You should read what’s inside it.” He then left without another word.

  I opened the envelope to find some papers from a lawyer’s office. It was my uncle’s last will and testament. In a strange twist, he had left everything that he owned, to me. With two properties in Canada, one in California, an unoccupied business premises, three cars and five bank accounts with a net worth of 3.5 million dollars. I stared at the paper for a while until Emily came in to speak with me.

  “There’s someone here to see you, shall I tell her to come back later?”

  I slammed the papers down onto my desk. “The nerve of that bastard,” I said to her.

  “What’s happened?”

  I showed her the documents. “I’m not sure what to say. It could be his guilty conscience that made him leave you everything.”

  “I don’t want any of it. If I was living on the streets and didn’t even know where my next meal was coming from, I still wouldn’t accept it.”

  “So what are you going to do with it?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe his victims should receive it. Maybe I should give it to Sophie, god knows, she out of anyone I know, deserves it.” I couldn’t contain my emotions and as I drew back a sharp breath, I began to sob.

  “Paige, I can’t imagine what that bastard did to you but I am here for you if you need me.”

  “It’s ok. I’ll get over it and lock it all away just like I did before. I just needed closure, that’s all.” I wiped away my tears and put on a brave face. “Now you said someone was here to see me, who is it?”

  “Rosa. She’s waiting in the hallway. Shall I tell her that you’ll see her another time?”

  “No. No, tell her to come in.”

  Emily opened the door and showed Rosa in. She left the room, closing the door behind her.

  “Hello, Paige,” she said softly, almost in a sympathetic manner.

  “Rosa, what are you doing here?”

  “I was already in the building. I’m working on a case and I thought I’d come and see how you are doing.”

  “Well obviously not too good at the moment,” I said, wiping away the tears beneath my eyes and also my mascara.

  She sat on my desk next to me. Reaching out, she cupped my chin in her hand. Her sympathetic look made me feel week and helpless. I began to cry again.

  “It’s ok, Paige. Just let all of those emotions out.”

  “He’s gone, he’s finally gone. I only wish that it was me who’d pulled the trigger.”

  “Maybe, but you wouldn’t be sitting here now. He did you a favor by taking his own life. Now you will be able to move on with yours and do what you do best, help others who have and still are going through the same ordeals.”

  She was right, as usual. “It’s good seeing you again, Rosa. I’m glad that you came to see me today.”

  “I’m glad too. I must say, I’ve really missed you over the years. I know that our break up was mutual, but I never really have been able to accept it. Every relationship that I’ve had since then has been doomed to fail.”

  “I found it hard too, until I met Kate.”

  She tenderly moved her hand to caress the back of my head. I liked her touching me. She leaned down and kissed my forehead. I didn’t object. Her eyes were dark and watery as if she was just about to cry herself.

  “I’ve never stopped loving you, Paige.” Her lips found their way to mine and a light kiss was initiated.

  I could feel myself being drawn into her seduction. I kissed her back, this time it was harder, passionate and intense. I stood up whilst we were still interlocked and shoved her up against the back wall where we couldn’t be seen by prying eyes. I took my chances with the door not being locked but my self control had left me. My hands pushed her skirt up her thighs and pulled her panties down to her knees. Neither one of us could catch our breath properly in the moment of lust. She undid her shirt, revealing a crisp white lace bra. I kissed her neck hard and then made my way down to her cleavage, kissing each bulging breast.

  “Oh god, if this is what getting engaged to Kate does to you then I’m all for it,” she said.

  That comment immediately brought me back to my senses. What the fuck was I doing, how could I do this to Kate? I pulled away from Ro
sa, ashamed and disgusted with myself for failing so easily. “Get dressed. I think that you had better leave.”

  “I should have just kept my mouth shut, shouldn’t I,” she said acknowledging defeat.

  “It’s my fault as well. I can’t be completely blameless in this.” I distanced myself away from her reach. “I’m in love with Kate, can you not see that? Yes, maybe there was a time, and not so long ago either, that I would have given everything up to be with you again. But I fought for her and I don’t want to lose the best thing that has ever happened to me. Even you couldn’t top what I have with her and I don’t want you to take that as being an insult.”

  “I’m not insulted, Paige. I thought that with us seeing each other again could have sparked off a new romance. I actually hoped that it would anyway. I will always regret the day that we decided to part. I cried for weeks after you left.”

  “Don’t be such an unfunny cunt. It wasn’t easy for me either, Rosa. I had to deal with starting at the bureau as well as losing you. My mind was a complete mess.”

  She pulled her underwear back up her thighs and re-buttoned her shirt. Brushing her hair back neatly in place and adjusting her clothing to the point of looking perfect she made her exit elegant. I on the other hand had to add one final comment. I followed her to the elevator and thankfully no one was around.

  “I would have fucked you. If you hadn’t mentioned Kate, I would have fucked you.”

  She looked at me with adoration as the elevator doors opened. A smile crept across her face as if she had a sudden wealth of triumph about her.

  Kate was the key in this emotional turmoil and without Kate, there definitely would have been a Rosa…

  To be continued in Case #4

  Case 537

  In the Paige Bleu Series

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