Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) (17 page)

Maggie cut in, “It’s a cop, Dennis. Will a judge sign one on a cop if she doesn’t show proof?”

Dennis’ brows narrowed, “Who?”

Cynthia asked, “Before I say, can you answer Maggie’s question?”

“
It’s hard to say. A cop with a restraining order against him, that’s enough to get him bounced off the force. A judge probably won’t sign an order of protection without some sort of physical evidence. Has he hit you?”

Cynthia shook her head. She was proud of herself; she kept her tears from flowing again.

“
Did he threaten you?”

She nodded and could feel her eyes clouding over.

“
Tell me about the threat.”

Cynthia whispered, “He said he was going to do it again.”

“
Do what again?”

Cynthia looked to her friend; Maggie nodded in encouragement. Cynthia stood up again. This time she didn’t turn her head away; she needed to see Dennis’ reaction. She lifted her t-shirt several inches, enough that the bruises would be visible and those humiliating chains were hanging from her. Dennis looked but made no effort to touch her.

“
You said he didn’t hit you?”

“
No. He used these clip things, all different sizes; he said he wanted me to scream.”

“
And the chains?”

Cynthia couldn’t hold the tears any longer; they let loose again. She murmured, “He pierced my body tonight, then put the chains through them.”

“
All of this was against your will?”

Cynthia roared, “Yes! What kind of a woman would ask for this?”

“
Easy, I have to ask. These are standard questions. I’m not judging you. Did you ever tell him to stop?”

“
Yes, I told him to stop.”

“
And did he?”

“
Does it look like he stopped? I look like a Dalmatian!”

He asked her again, trying to remain calm, “After you told him to stop, did he?”

“
No, he did not stop. He continued to torture me for hours. The sick bastard got off on it.”

“
Do you want to press assault charges?”

“
Are you kidding me? If I press charges, people are going to find out what he did to me. I just want him to stay away from me.”

“
Without evidence, no judge in this county is going to give you an order of protection.”

“
Is there another option? Is there anything you could do?”

“
I could take some photos, make it look like you are going to file assault charges. Maybe I can get him to back off if I tell him you’ll drop the charges if he stays away.”

“
You have to photograph me?”

“
Without it, there’s no proof of what happened to you. I don’t have to be the one to take them. Maggie could take some, or we could take you to a doctor and let them do it.”

“
No, no doctors. Maggie, will you take them?”

The two went into Maggie’s room. Cynthia took her t-shirt off and Maggie gasped again. “Let me give you a bikini top.” After Cynthia put it on, Maggie took several digital photos and muttered, “This guy is a monster.”

Cynthia changed back into her t-shirt, “Yeah, thanks for this.” The two returned to the living room.

Dennis asked, “Okay, who is this guy?”

“
Bert Ross.”

Dennis and Maggie both froze. Dennis asked, “Detective Ross did this to you?”

“
Yes.”

Dennis took a seat, wrenched his hand through his hair, eyes on the floor. “Detective Bert Ross?”

“
Yes.”

“
I’ve known Bert for years. I knew both his ex-wives. This isn’t something Bert could do.”

“
So you think I did this to myself?”

“
No, I don’t think that. But, maybe, it was someone who said he was Bert.”

Cynthia couldn’t believe her ears. “I’ve been Bert’s neighbor for several years. I know exactly who he is.”

Dennis looked scared. After being sent away from the station last night, Bert might think this was some form of retribution. What if this was a scam she was pulling? He looked back at Maggie, then uttered, “All right, I’ll talk to him.”

Dennis looked at the photos in the folder. What kind of monster could have done this? He’d known Bert forever. Dennis believed Cynthia. How could he not? He had the evidence staring at him. He saw the fear on her face. No one, anywhere, should have to endure what happened to her. Friendship aside, Bert needed to be locked up.

He knew he had just broken the first rule of detective work. He’d drawn a conclusion without getting all the facts. Dennis sat in his squad car in front of Bert’s house, praying he’d get called away to a robbery in progress, crime scene investigation, hell . . . a traffic detail would be welcomed right now. The best approach, hmm, maybe, “So I had a nice visit with the lady you mutilated last night.” Yeah, that should get him a swift kick in the jaw.

Dennis opened the door to his car, gripped the folder in his hand, and made his way to Bert’s front door. It was six a.m. and Dennis hadn’t slept a wink all night. There were lights on inside, so he knew Bert was awake. Any other day he would have just let himself in and hollered at the entryway - not today.

Bert answered the door, a little surprised to see a visitor so early, “Everything okay? Do we have a case?”

“
Naw, I wanted to talk to you about something before our shift started. You got a minute?”

“
Sure, c’mon in.”

“
Do you know a lady, her name’s Cynthia?”

Bert’s face lit up like a kid playing a video game, “Sure, she’s one of my neighbors. Why do you ask?”

“
She said you two have been seeing each other. Is that right?”

“
Yeah, she’s great, right? We’ve only gotten together a couple times, but I’d take her to Vegas tonight if she wanted me to.”

“
Vegas?”

Bert was gushing when he said, “She came over to see me last night. WOW, what a woman! You’ve known both my ex’s. Neither could hold a candle to her.”

Dennis was apprehensive, not knowing what to say. Had he done the same things to his wives? No wonder they both left him. “Listen, she’s a friend, of a friend, of mine. Last night she was talking about . . . She said that you . . . Aw, hell Bert! She’s scared of you. You need to leave her alone.”

Confusion was clear on his face when he said, “I don’t understand. She doesn’t want to see me?”

“
Do you blame her? Holy shit, Bert, I’ve seen the photos. What were you thinking?” Bert didn’t say anything. He stood still, puzzled by Dennis’ comments. “You need to stay away from her. She’s willing to let it go if you agree to leave her alone. But if you try to see her again, I’m taking the photos and her statement to the judge, and I’ll get her a restraining order myself.”

“
What photos are you talking about?”

Dennis waved the folder in front of his friend, “These photos. Go ahead and take a look!” He slammed the folder down on the table. Dennis couldn’t believe that Bert would play dumb about this.

Bert slowly reached down to the table and opened the folder. There were four photos of Cynthia, standing in a swimsuit, but it was all wrong. He had just seen her, all of her, not like this. Bert shrieked, “Who did this to her?! What kind of sicko perve, would . . .” Bert could hear Samael’s laughter in his head - he didn’t finish.

Bert had seen some disgusting crime scene photos before, but those were of strangers. He could keep his distance and not become emotional during his near clinical analysis of exactly how wounds were inflicted, location of bodies, murder weapons, everything. This was different. He wasn’t a bystander looking at evidence. This was Cynthia. She had just been right here in the living room last night. She looked incredible, nothing like the photos staring back at him. Bert could feel the bile coming up; he swallowed hard and looked at his friend, “Dennis, I could never do something like that. We need to talk to her. I’m being set up. I need to know that she’s okay.”

Some of the anger that had seethed through Dennis’ voice seemed to have ebbed when he answered, “Bert, no. She doesn’t want to see you.”

“
But I didn’t do this! She was right here last night. She didn’t look like this!” Then Samael’s voice from inside Bert’s head said, “
Bert, so, I see you’ve gotten a better peek at our little pet, Cynthia. She really is divine. I thought the chains were a nice touch, but I’m surprised she kept them on after our little romp last night. She must have enjoyed them more than I did
.”

Bert’s eyes went wide, horror spread over his face. He ran to the bathroom and vomited. Bert splashed cold water on his face and rinsed his mouth. He looked at himself in the mirror. How could this be happening? Bert asked Samael aloud, “You sick bastard, you did this?”

Samael’s voice came back loud and clear, absent any type of remorse,
“I knew you needed to stay in the dark. You haven’t developed a taste for it yet. She’ll be fine. I guarantee, the next time you see her, she’ll do anything you wish. This world is full of women just like her.”

Bert didn’t care that Dennis was in the other room. He shouted, “The next time I see her? Do you know what you did to her? She’ll never see me again, and I’ll be lucky if I stay out of jail.” Bert looked over his shoulder, knowing Dennis was waiting in the other room for some sort of explanation, some denial that Bert couldn’t give him. Bert had allowed this to happen.

“
It’s fine. I can tell that you are feeling cross with me this morning. Oh, Boo Hoo. I kept up my end of the bargain. Look in your briefcase in the kitchen. I believe I promised you wine, women and song or something to that effect. You’ll need to relinquish your body to me one more time.”

“
No frickin’ way! Get out! Get out of my head. Get out of my body, now!”

“
I’m afraid that’s not possible just yet. I have a few more loose ends to tie up. Then you’ll be rid of me for good. Now go to the dark place so I can get this mess cleaned up before it gets out of hand.”

“
You aren’t listening, you depraved bastard. Get out of my head!”

Bert wiped his face with a towel and stepped into the kitchen. Setting on the counter was his briefcase. He reached inside and saw five very large stacks of cash. More conscious of the fact that Dennis could hear him, Bert thought his question rather than asking out loud. “
Where did this come from? Did you rob a convenience store?
”

“
Do you really want to know? Come on, give me your body; this will be my last jaunt with it. You’ll have your boring life back this evening. Incidentally, I did give Cynthia the night off. I’ve made arrangements for another beauty to stop by at seven p.m. I’ll want to be around until then. I’m sure you understand
.”

Bert didn’t care if Dennis heard him. Anger welled up and spilled out when he shouted, “No, I’m done with this! Get out now!”

His friend stepped from the entryway, and took two steps into the kitchen, with a look of genuine trepidation, “Bert, if you want to talk or something, I’ll listen. I just need your word that you won’t see Cynthia again.”

Bert’s eyes clouded. He turned to face his friend with the cash he had removed from the briefcase still in his hand. “You have my word. If you talk to her, tell her. . .tell her, I’m really sorry.”

Dennis couldn’t believe his ears. Bert was what he didn’t want to believe. His eyes wandered to the cash in Bert’s hand. “What’s that?”

Bert stuffed the money back into his briefcase. “I’m not feeling very well. I’m going to call in sick today.”

“
You all right?”

“
No, Dennis, I’m not all right.” Bert bowed his head and walked to the steps.

Dennis pulled out his cell and dialed Maggie. “I just talked to him. Let Cynthia know he’s going to leave her alone. Give her my number in case she needs it.”

A couple hours passed. Several arguments between Samael and Bert took place. Samael threatened to simply take the body over if Bert wouldn’t give him permission, but something didn’t allow Samael to take over, and Bert wasn’t about to hand it over again.

“
I have one more task to accomplish. Then you’ll be rid of me for good
.”

“
No, I don’t trust you. Not after what you did to Cynthia.”

“
I could pinky swear?
”

“
Samael, no, leave my body.”

“
What more can I give you? We had a deal. I do not look favorably on someone who reneges on a deal.
”

“
That’s hysterical. You don’t look favorably on me? I don’t look favorably on you brutalizing a woman. I wish I could go back to you being a figment of my imagination.”

“
I was never a figment of your imagination
.”

“
Get out.”

“
I
will get out, but there is this one last thing I need to do, while I still have the use of your body
.”

“
You don’t get it. You no longer have the use of my body. We’re through. Whatever deal we made was not on the premise of you . . . torturing another person.”