Chapter 13

She is silent in the car. Dead silent, disengaged from the world. Avery watches her closely for a sign. She can see there are thoughts running in the girl’s mind, but she gives no outward indication of consciousness. She’s seen this before. In some girls, they break into a lovely moldable state. Especially with some of the cocktails of drugs that Master Flaherty has their brains stewing in. He can induce this perfect teachable fugue. Perhaps she is there.

But there is something in her face beyond the soft confusion and vulnerability of those broken girls. That spark worries her. But Master always knows what he’s doing, and this girl will be no different. She’s a masterpiece, in fact.

Toned and beautiful, soft breasts, childlike face, long thick hair, she is certainly a rich man’s dream. But to Avery, she is amazing because of the transformation. When she arrived, she had been petulant, whiny, and pained by the separation from her parents. Now, she’d just fucked her own father, knowingly finished him off, and cooed for more. That is the kind of testament to the sheer power and artistry of her Master that no one would be able to understand or replicate. In this girl she does not see just a plaything. She sees the hands of her Master at work. So she watches with curiosity about the spark which her master has left her and how she will be different than other slave girls.

Nicole’s hard face comes alive when she gets back to the mansion. She drops the dress in the driveway and strides bare-assed into the home, without a thought of modesty. She finds her uncle waiting for her for dinner, throws her arms around him, attacking him with a deep kiss. Their lips smash and she opens his mouth with a probing tongue. She deepens the kiss into a primordial lingual mess. When she breaks it off, she has a dazed look and a half laugh.

“Hello, my dear.” He whispers.

She smiles. “You got him free.”

“Yes, my sweet.” His fingers trace along the small of her back and down her bottom.

“He’s not like us, is he?”

Ryan shakes his head.

“Can you make him like us?” She is full of hope.

He shakes his head. “I’m afraid I can’t. He isn’t like you and I. But that’s fine. After all, he always encouraged you to be yourself. And now you’ve found out who you really are and even where it came from. Isn’t that right?”

She smiles and nods. “It came from you.”

He shakes his head. “No dear. What you are came from him. What makes us special was passed down from him to you. It is his greatest gift to both of us.” She smiles as he lifts the black choker he’d given her. She turns around to let him tie it around her neck. Finally marked as utterly his, she walks next to him wearing the only clothing that feels right. “Come slut. There are plans to be made.”

Special Agent Jackson Wallace’s palms are moist with cold worry. He’s alone and walking into the wolf’s den. A gigantic opulent wolf’s den that warns of the kind of power and connections it has, by its sheer existence. He’s wearing no wire. He has no government issued anything. It’s his day off and yet, he approaches the mansion as, “Clayben here, photographer?” He points to his backpack.

A beautiful asian maid beams at him and beckons him to enter. “Hi, welcome. Miss Flaherty has been expecting you. She’s totally excited.” She has a bubbly chipper voice, but it’s more east coast than valley girl. Maybe a New Englander? He files that thought away. She’s new and if she’s missing, then even if the girl isn’t helpful, this visit has been fruitful.

“Thank you so much. I didn’t catch your name?”

She smiles. “I’m Skie, so nice to meet you...”

“Clayben.”

“Clayben ... weird name.”

He winces. “Yeah, weird parents.”

She groans. “Ugh, tell me about it. I got Hampshire Hippies as ‘rents. Hello, Skie, right?”

New Hampshire. He mentally files that away. The subject, Ryan Flaherty is nowhere to be seen. It’s a small comfort to Wallace. He feels much better when he sees Nicole. She’s bright and shiny, positively upbeat in her belly shirt and jeans.

“Hi! Clayben!” She runs up to him and hugs him. “Yay! You’re here! I need more photos, and not just selfies. I want to absolutely slay on insta. But not like too extra, you know? Like, effortless looking?”

Skie smiles. “Need anything else, Miss?”

“Oh yeah! Could you ask Avery to make us a pot of herbal tea? Wait. You drink coffee, right?”

“Sometimes, but-” He starts, but she jumps in.

“Duh! Of course you do! Coffee for our guest and some herbal tea for me, please and thank you!” She sits down on a loveseat in front of a large bed. “Let’s talk about shots.”

The room is rather large for a guest bedroom. There is plenty of natural light from the sliding glass doors that lead out to a green lawn. He can count three easy places for good shots: the bed, the vanity, by the door to the walk-in closet on the lounger and chaise. She’s very convincing about the fake photo shoot he’s going to be doing for her.

He goes along with her but when the door closes leaving them alone, she slumps and drops the ever cheery smile.

“Can you talk now?”

She nods. “Just a little. You were right about him. You - well, just everything. He’s ... a monster. I, this...” She takes a deep breath and rubs her eye. “Oh God.”

“Do we need to get you out of here? Are you in danger?”

She takes a beat and a breath. “No, I’m fine. It’s fine.”

He persists. “Has he done anything to you?”

She shakes her head. “Well, I mean, he tried to kiss me, but I was like, ew.”

He drops his head for a moment. He is going to need more from her if he’s going to make a case. “Okay, as long as you’re safe. Do you have anything to tell me?”

She starts going into some vaguaries about how she began to get suspicious. Snippets of conversations that sounded innocent enough, but in context, became potentially ominous. He lets her narrate her story because sometimes young women just needed to be listened to, but he keeps one ear listening for the door. His hand goes up to stop her. “Why don’t we get started with some side angle shots by the sliding glass doors.”

The door opens up and a blonde maid with a bored look walks in, carrying a heavy tray with coffee and a small cup of tea. She leaves the service on the coffee table and leaves with a smile and a nod.

“Hold up.” Nicole jumps out off the loveseat and bounces over to lock the door. She heaves a big sigh of relief. “We’re going to be doing a photoshoot, after all.”

“Smart.” He nods.

“Okay, so like I was saying. I thought it was weird, so I tried to get into his computer to look, but I couldn’t figure out his password, so I thought maybe I could get into his phone, cause you know some phones stay unlocked when you’re at home if you set it up that way, but he didn’t set it up that way, so then I was like, what if...”

She’s taking him through her whole process. Part of him wants to scream “Get to the point”, but that probably wouldn’t help matters. Probably. He finishes his first cup when she finally gets to some good information.

“So I spied on him. And one night when I was supposed to be in bed, I hid in the closet near his room. They brought a woman in. She had her arms tied behind her back and she was dressed in a pink bra and panties. Her eyes were blindfolded so I couldn’t see her face too good. She was walking a little funny, so they had to half hold her up. I think she mighta been high. They brought her to his room and they closed the door.”

“Tell me more about the woman, can you describe her?”

“Sure, she was white, but like, a little tan I guess. She looked like she was in good shape. You know, healthy? No marks or scars or anything. I mean, wait, maybe her knees were a little red? Her lips were kind of pouty and loose like uhhhh. Does that help?”

Not even a little. “Yeah. Did you see what happened?”

“No, but he totally fucked her. I could hear it even from the closet.” She’s trying to be helpful at least. Of course, she didn’t have to go into detail. “You could total hear her go like, ‘oh, oh, oh god, yes!’ and there was some slapping sounds, but I think that was spanking maybe? They were at it for a while, I even get out of the closet and went to the door to listen closer. Her voice got higher like-”

“That’s good information.” He interrupts her since he is starting to get a mental picture and God help him, her voice is kind of sexy. He shakes that thought off; It’s not appropriate at all. “Do you think you can get something? Maybe a name or a picture of one of his victims? Maybe access to his emails? Maybe a thumb drive?” If she can provide a lead, just one solid lead, he might be able to get the Special Agent in charge over at Missing Persons, to open an investigation.

“Maybe. Yeah, I think I could. I mean, sometimes he types his password in while I’m around. I bet if I watched closely I could figure it out, maybe?”

“Okay.” He nods and takes a breath. “Okay.” He’s a little wound up, time to calm it down. “We should get together again, for sure. And if you ever feel like you’re in danger, I will make sure you get out of here.” He puts the coffee cup back on the service and slings his bag over his shoulder.