Black Light: Possession, page 12
He slammed his fist into the wall beside my head, spittle spewing out of his mouth and all over my face. I didn’t dare wipe it away. “I just want you to love me like I love you!”
“I ca—I can do that,” I stuttered, willing to agree to anything if only he’d let me go.
He stepped back, taking the knife with him. “Oh, I know you can. I’ll make you.”
My abuser snatched me by the hair and yanked me away from the wall. I screeched and stumbled at the force, but managed to stay on my feet.
“You’re coming with me. We’re gonna walk down the hall to the fire escape outside the window. From there, we’re climbing down and you’re going to get in the van at the bottom. I’ll be in front of you the whole time. Don’t attempt to escape or call for help in anyway or I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”
I winced when he pulled my hair again, but ground out, “Yes, I understand.”
“Good. Now let’s go.”
He pushed me out the door and toward the end of the hall all while I prayed for Nathaniel and Joseph to find me.
Chapter 21
Joseph
“This collar is burning a hole in my pocket.”
Nat was friends with a Dom whose submissive crafted stunning, one-of-a-kind collars and sold them online. A week ago we’d made an appointment with her to discuss designing one for Madeline. I’d picked it up today. We weren’t planning on presenting it to her immediately, but one day soon she was going to wear it. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind. She was the one for us. I knew she continued to hold back a piece of herself, but we were patient men. Well, I was anyway, although Nat was learning.
Madeline had changed him. Gone was the angry man walking around with the weight of the world balanced on his shoulders. He was learning to cope with the fact that bad shit happened, and he couldn’t always save everyone. It was a weary weight he carried, but Madeline was making him realize that he didn’t have to carry it alone.
“She’s not quite ready for it yet. Almost. Just not yet.”
My eyes widened in mock surprise. “Did I hear you right? Is this the same man who bulldozed his way into a private meeting between the Assistant Director and the Deputy Director, because he was tired of waiting out in the hall?”
Nat shot me the finger as we waited for the elevator in the lobby of the office building where Madeline practiced on the fifth floor. “Fuck off, Crocker,” he cursed good-naturedly, making me laugh. “I’m working on my patience. For Madeline.”
The elevator dinged and its doors opened. I stepped in behind him and pressed the button for Madeline’s floor. “You’re doing surprisingly well if I’m being honest. I never thought I’d see the day when we’d find the right submissive to mellow even your temper.”
Nat’s grin flattened and his expression turned serious. “I’m at peace when I’m near her. All the chaos around me disappears and I can just… be.”
The bell dinged for her floor and I smacked him lightly on the shoulder before giving it a light squeeze. “I know the feeling, man.”
We stepped out of the elevator and headed toward Madeline’s office midway down the hall. That’s weird. My steps sped up when I noticed the waiting room door open. It was always shut when we got here. Nat followed suit.
“Fuck,” he shouted, both of us whipping out our sidearms when we saw the condition of the room. Magazines lay scattered everywhere and the couch cushions were half falling on the floor. With our guns at ready, we swept the room.
“Madeline?” I called out, even though I knew she wasn’t going to answer. “God damn it.”
The waiting area was clear, her office the same. Nat holstered his weapon when I gave the all clear.
“Get on the phone now and get me those surveillance videos,” I directed as I returned to the hallway to scan for any other signs. I swept my weapon from side to side, pausing at each door I passed while I scanned the hallway. I paused for a moment at something on the wall. Son of a bitch. It looked like blood, but the forensic team would need to make a positive ID.
Nat appeared at my side. “The ERT is on their way. IT is working on getting the feed, but they said they’re having a challenge. It looks like there was a jam in the signal. They’re doing the best they can. Is that blood?” There was a hint of panic in his question. Something I couldn’t remember ever hearing from him.
“It looks like it, but that doesn’t mean it’s hers, Nat.”
“We can’t lose her.”
“We won’t. That’s a promise. Right now we need to focus on keeping our shit together. We need to treat this like any other case. Let the team process the scene and use what they find, which means we wait for them to get here.”
Forty agonizing minutes later, the same ERT and IT team that had processed Madeline’s house arrived. While we waited for them, we’d run down to the lobby where Agents Campbell and Evans were stationed. I was pissed at myself for not forcing the issue when Madeline wanted them to remain in the lobby, saying that they would intimidate her patients. None of us thought Casanova would make his move in such a public place. I took full responsibility for this happening. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to her. Unfortunately, neither Campbell nor Evans could give us any information. We instructed them to remain until the two teams left in case we needed them for something.
The ERT began the arduous task of dusting for fingerprints, taking the scrapings of what we thought was blood off the wall, as well as packaging strands of hair. They were painstakingly thorough in their task. It was taking forever, but I didn’t complain because the more diligent they were in gathering the evidence, the better chance we had of finding Madeline. The IT guys, on the other hand, were running into more challenges.
Kurt’s fingers were flying across his keyboard, his eyes darting back and forth on his screen trying to make sense of the scrambled feed he kept getting. “Damn, this guy is good. He knows his stuff that’s for sure. Every program I run is coming up against a roadblock. This is going to take some time. However, I think I got a hit on a surveillance video across the street. This convenience store has been robbed several times so a couple weeks ago they installed some extra cameras. One of them points directly at this building. They’re new enough that I don’t think anyone even realized they were put in.”
Trying not to get my hopes up, I stood behind Kurt as he pulled up a video feed. I checked the time stamp and it was just past sixteen hundred thirty hours. Nat’s focus was on the same screen as we watched people entering and exiting the office building. The picture was grainy due to the low quality camera, but it was better than nothing.
“Wait, go back. Look, there, in the alley.” Nat pointed a finger at a small area on the right side of the screen. Kurt clicked a few buttons and the video rewound before another click of a button had the video playing again. I homed in on the area he was directing us to.
“Stop.”
The frame froze on the screen.
“Can you zoom in or pixelate that thing?”
Kurt glanced at Nat. “Pixelate?”
“Whatever you call it when you make a blurry image clear by upping the resolution.”
Silence spread throughout the room. Nat took his eyes off the screen to see why no one was moving only to find Kurt and me staring at him. Me in surprise, Kurt seemingly impressed. Nat only shrugged.
“What? Sometimes I pay attention to what the fuck you egg heads are doing. Either way, can you do it?”
Kurt turned back to the computer and rat-tat-tatted away at the keys. “Of course I can do it. I just needed a moment to start my heart back up.”
“Fuck off,” Nat threw back heatedly. He was anxious to find her. Our world would cave in if something happened to her.
The three of us concentrated on the screen, tension and impatience thick in the air with the wait to see what showed up. Slowly, the image on the screen shifted and started to become less blurry until finally a clearer picture stared back at us. Fuck, that was Madeline. Who was the man with her?
Obviously anticipating our next command, Kurt beat us to it. “Running facial recognition next. It’s going to be tough though. The entirety of the man’s face isn’t in view. Which means I’m going to have to recreate his image and then run it through and hope for a hit. There’s no guarantees. And it’s going to take me a while, maybe a couple hours. I have to run back to the lab for my computer there. I don’t have the capabilities I need while mobile.”
“Do what you have to do as quickly as possible. Send me that shot as well. I want to show it to the security team that’s been shadowing Madeline. See if they recognize him.”
Kurt closed his laptop and hastily gathered up his stuff. “You got it. I’ll give you a call if and when I find something.”
Grudgingly accepting there was nothing more we could do here, we knew our only options were to wait for the ERT to take the evidence back to headquarters and begin examining it. In the meantime, I was heading downstairs to talk with Campbell and Evans again.
Chapter 22
Madeline
My shoulders and arms screamed in agony from being tied too tightly behind my back, and I was pretty sure my wrists were bleeding. I’d been bound during rope play and bondage scenes, but the Dom always played safe. This psychopath was definitely not playing safe. My fingers had gone numb long ago, and I was starting to get a cramp in my left shoulder from my awkward side-lying position.
Once we’d made it to the van, my captor had thrown me in the back, leapt in after me, and slammed the door behind us. He’d tied my hands, jerking on the zip ties. My neck continued to sting where he’d cut me. Not one single pain was worse than the other. My entire body hurt. But I was alive. I had to keep reminding myself of that fact. As long as I stayed alive, there was a chance that Nathaniel and Joseph would find me. I held onto that thought, like someone holding on to that last grain of sand in an hourglass.
I’d tried to sit up when we’d first begun moving, but a barked command to remain where I was kept me frozen. I switched to asking questions, but gave up when the only thing I got in return was silence. Every bump sent shards of pain through me. I had no idea how long we’d been driving, but the raging silence was making me go out of my mind. The silence was a total mind fuck, and if that was his intent then he was doing a fantastic job.
Under a darkening sky, the van slowed. The only thing I could see through the windshield was the red, gold, oranges, and yellows of the trees above us. We could have been traveling one hour or three and we could have been anywhere. I had no idea. I’d lost all track of time and direction while I attempted to puzzle out who the hell this man was. My abductor continued driving slowly, my body shifting slightly as the van made several turns. Eventually, it came to a complete stop. The front door opened and closed. My head swiveled around trying to figure out what door was going to open next. Nothing.
The sky grew darker and I remained alone. I was terrified of even moving. My primary goal was to remain alive until my men arrived. I’d do whatever I had to in order to make that happen. I was a psychologist. My goal was to get my patients talking. That’s what I needed to do. Although, if the drive to wherever we were was any indication, getting him to talk may prove more of a challenge than I thought. Suddenly, the back door of the van opened.
“Let’s go.”
The man stepped to the side, leaning against the door, and motioned with his hand for me to move. Apparently that was the only help I was going to get. I shimmied and squirmed and pulled myself forward until I reached the end of the vehicle. Unfolding my legs, I leaned forward until they reached the ground and stood. I hissed in pain when he snatched me by my arm.
“Please, untie me, or at least loosen my bindings. I can’t feel my fingers, and I’m pretty sure I’m bleeding.” My voice didn’t quiver or waver. No matter how terrified I was, I had to force myself to remain calm.
His grip tightened in warning. “Don’t make me repeat myself, Madeline.”
Temporarily giving up the battle, I followed his lead, holding back my groan of pain when he jerked my arm again. I didn’t want to give this piece of shit the satisfaction of knowing he was hurting me.
Now that I was outside, I was able to take in my surroundings, searching for any clues to our whereabouts. I needed to see what my options were. All around us were trees in full fall foliage. Trees so close to each other their branches and leaves intertwined like lovers. Nestled between small copses of trees was a small log cabin with a rickety front porch made up of warped slats of wood. The front windows were grimy and mud-covered. The steps were long worn out and replaced by cinder blocks.
The interior of the cabin was in sharp contrast to the run down exterior. Standing inside, it was like I’d been transported into a photoshoot straight out of Log Cabin Living magazine. It was completely modernized and new with bright lights shining out of the luminous chandelier hanging from the middle of the vaulted ceiling. There was an entire wall made of stone with a built-in fireplace, and the other wall nearest it was made of nothing but large windows. Between the lights being on and the darkness outside, I couldn’t tell what the view outside the windows was. It contained an open floor concept where the kitchen, with its stainless steel appliances, bled into the living room.
“Turn around,” he gruffly commanded.
I hesitated too long because he whipped out the knife and spun me around. I cried out, but slammed my mouth shut, cutting off further noise. Then I waited for the excruciating pain of the blade. Instead, he merely cut the zip ties off me. I hissed when he nicked my skin and my fingers screamed in agony as the blood finally began to flow again, the pins and needles sensation causing tears to form. Hoping there was still a reprieve from death, I turned to face my abductor, trying to rub my hands together to bring back feeling, but that only made it hurt worse, so I hung my arms at my sides and hoped it returned quickly.
“Thank you for untying me.” I tried to remain courteous and not piss him off any further. His fuse was already short enough. And I still didn’t know who the fuck he was.
He gestured to the cream colored couch with the knife. “Have a seat.”
I followed his instruction without hesitation, the words stay alive playing on repeat in my head. No matter what he did to me, I only needed to stay alive. It was time to put my skills to use.
“You said I didn’t even remember who you were. All I can say is I’m sorry for that. I’ve met so many people that sometimes I forget I’ve met someone. Sadly, I’ve always been better at names than faces. It’s wholly unintentional, but I know it’s a flaw I have.” I kept my voice soft and coaxing like I was speaking to one of my nervous patients.
He stared at me like he was trying to gauge my sincerity. Whatever he saw must have appeased him, because he gave a small smile and shook his head like I was a silly child. He positioned himself in the adjacent chair, ankle crossed over one knee, and leaned back with both arms splayed over the armrests in a completely relaxed position, if you ignored the knife still clasped in his hand. Unlike me, who sat ramrod straight, tense, and ready to bolt if given the opportunity.
“You always did know how to make things better. Like that time when Billy Pritchard threw a rock at me during recess.” His eyes took on a glassy and unfocused glaze that spoke of getting lost in the memory.
I kept my mouth shut and let him continue.
“I remember you walking right over to Billy and kicking him in the shin. You didn’t say anything to me, but when we got in line to go back inside, you smiled at me. It was like we shared a secret.”
My mind raced with the information. I vaguely recalled a boy in my class named Billy when I was in sixth grade, but God, that was a lifetime ago. Almost thirty years. I certainly had no recollection of kicking him in the shin for any offense or another. The man across from me refocused his gaze and glanced over at me. There was such a look of longing and hope in his eyes, like he idolized me even after all these years. I didn’t know what to say, so I improvised. “Billy always was a jerk.”
My captor’s eyes danced with delight at my insult and he chuckled. “That’s why I killed him.”
“Excuse me?” The horrified question slipped out before I could stop it.
The man shrugged. “I hated that smug shithead. He always thought he was better than everyone. I tracked him down a few years ago, and when the time was right, I took my knife to him. Pissed himself, the pussy. He always acted like he was some tough guy, but man, when I slid my blade into him? He sure wasn’t so cocky then. Cried like a fucking baby.” He brought the knife up to his lips and tapped it on lips that lifted into a smile while he appeared to lose himself again in the recollection.
Jesus, this guy was a fucking psychopath. He murdered without conscience. I wondered how many people were dead because of him.
“Was he the first person you killed?” I asked, morbidly curious.
Chapter 23
Nathaniel
Joseph and I were halfway down to the lobby when our phones pinged signaling an incoming email. I pulled it up and saw it was from Kurt. Damn that guy worked fast. Our gazes zeroed in on the two-man team waiting for us in the lobby.
“Campbell. Evans.”
They scrambled from their positions and hurried over.
“Do you recognize this guy?” I turned my phone toward them with the snapshot of Madeline and the guy in the alley.
Evans shook his head, while Campbell studied it a bit longer. “Wasn’t he the guy at the bakery this morning? I mean, I’m not a hundred percent sure, but it could be him.”
“What bakery?” Joseph asked.
Campbell spoke again. “Ms. Parrish stopped at her favorite bakery this morning. She’s usually there at least twice a week. She’s friends with the owner. Anyway, we stopped there this morning. I’m great with faces, and I’m always watching the crowd. There was a guy in there this morning that resembles your guy here. It’s hard to make a guaranteed assumption though with only a partial of his face.”
