Chapter 10

Okay, I know a lot of you have been going along for the ride. You probably think of me as a kind of nice guy, rough around the edges, but pretty fucking decent.

You're about to learn different.

We weren't done with J. Thomas Miller. Not entirely. Because he had to tell us where Julianna Krim was buying the little girl.

I asked once, nicely. J. Thomas made it clear he didn't want to cooperate. That was a big mistake.

Like I say, Jack is my partner. And that means he does some dirty jobs, when necessary.

He doesn't like guy ass, but he's a little trooper. He'll rise to the occasion when he's really needed.

Yeah, J. Thomas Miller got his ass raped.

I'm not into it, but Muscles sure was fascinated. I've never had a woman practically attack me while I'm buggering some guy's butt. Not until now.

"I knew you were Bi," she said, kissing me hotly.

I'm not. I only fuck guys when I have to. J. Thomas was screaming bloody murder through his already torn up lips, but Jack was doing a very nice job of ripping up his ass as well.

And Muscles was a bundle of hot, aroused woman.

"Fuck him, Murray," she moaned, sliding her hand over Jack, encouraging him on. "Shove Jack up that bastard's ass. God, Jack deserves a special treat after this."

You already know I don't describe rape for fun. But this was a strange one: J. Thomas Miller sure wasn't enjoying himself, but Muscles was having a great time. And Jack was proud to be making her so happy.

"Who was Julianna gonna make the buy from?" I asked again. "Who was gonna sell her the girl?" J. Thomas was crying and moaning, but he was getting the idea he was gonna talk eventually. Hell, Jack and I were just softening him up.

Next I'd be getting out my razor. Yeah, I carry a straight razor. And no, you really don't want to know why.

"Some guy," he grunted. I kept going. "Some guy named Anton."

I slow. Jack throbs dangerously. He does a good job of being threatening when he has to.

"Anton who?" I ask.

"Just Anton," he says. "I never met him. Julia said he could get nine-year-old girl."

"You would get some of that girl too?" I ask.

"Half the proceeds," He admitted.

"And privileges?" I ask. I don't like the light that comes into Muscles eyes. I've never thought I underestimated her, but the look in her eye tells me different.

This woman could slice out this guy's guts and not feel a twinge of guilt.

"Yeah," he says real soft. "Yeah, that too."

I shove Jack home, as hard as I can, and feel flesh tear inside. J. Thomas lets out an agonized moan.

I keep going, fucking the hell out of J. Thomas' torn asshole. Then I pull out and push him to the ground. Jack is pretty nasty, so I take him in to wash him.

I leave Muscles with J. Thomas. I know what she's capable of now, but frankly, in this guy's case, I don't care.

But Muscles surprises me by following me into the bathroom and wetting a washcloth.

"Let me wash out this little guy," she says. "He's such a brave little prick."

She begins to wash Jack carefully, the conquering hero back from the wars. She washes him twice, then kisses him nicely before putting him back to bed.

"Jack gets to come inside me any time he wants," she says to me, kissing me nicely too.

"I thought you'd stay with Miller," I tell her. Muscles looks me right in the eye and her voice is very calm and stable.

"I'd have killed the son-of-a-bitch," she says levelly.

I nod. Someone like this isn't worth risking a murder rap for.

We clean up and Muscles gathers all the "girly" stuff she had bought. It was obvious she'd had fun being Miller's girlfriend, if only for a night. I can see she had enjoyed it by the bitter look in her eyes.

I lay Miller onto his side. I don't want him choking to death on his own vomit or something.

"You're on your own," I tell him. "And that eighty grand you gave me is all used up. No refunds. You want to live, I suggest you run as hard and fast as you can. Hide deep, because these people don't give up easy."

I turn his damaged face to me and look him right in his eyes, their whites now scarlet from the beating Muscles gave him.

"You divorce your wife real nice and fast. Julianna's dead and the embezzlement might even go unnoticed. Just leave it all behind. And..." I pull his face closer, eliciting a nice grunt of pain as I do, "... watch your ass. Because if you fuck up, and hurt your family or any one else, I'll just find out where you live. And I'll let Muscles come for a final visit."

I shove him back, his head making a satisfying thump on the carpet.

We leave, going down to the Jag I seem to be driving now and heading out.

"You think he'll leave town?" Muscles asks.

"If he knows what's good for him, he will," I tell her.

"What about his family?" she asks.

I shrug.

"If they're lucky, only part of the shit will bob to the surface. He gives her a clean divorce and a good settlement."

"If he will," she says, looking out the window sadly. But I know J.Thomas better than she does.

"He's a businessman," I tell her. "He'll cut his losses. He's looking at disgrace, prison time if he's brought up on tax evasion charges. And if the part about buying a little girl comes out... "

Muscles nods.

"He's better off going away and pretending it never happened," she says.

"Yup," I tell her.

We go to Lila's that night. Muscles comes in with me. She'd changed clothes before we left the apartment, but she still looks really girly.

Tina loves it. And so does Lila. And Marina is instantly in love. I watch her flirting with Muscles out on the patio and wonder about this little Russian cream puff.

Marina's our best witness, the one closest to Julia, even the one who found the body. She's pretty deeply involved in the whole mess, willingly or not.

And that's the problem. As any cop will tell you, the one who finds a body is always the first suspect you have to clear.

I hate being stupid. I like Marina. I don't want to accuse her of being involved without a hell of a lot to evidence to back it up.

But I'm not gonna dismiss her out of hand either. She could be the innocent victim, or it could go a whole lot deeper than that.

I'm gonna just keep a careful eye on Marina. Which is not all that unpleasant, I have to admit.

Lila comes over and sits beside me. She's in a white cocktail dress and looks great. She crosses her long legs toward me and gently touches my face.

"I heard about what happened," she says. "It's not your fault. He's just a client."

"Wonderful," I say. Yeah, I'm a little bitter. "My client is a fucking child rapist and all around asshole."

"A bigger asshole than he was before," Tina says with a grin, as she comes over to sit on the other side of me. Even I gotta laugh at that one.

"Yeah, I guess he is," I admit.

"Do you have any idea who tried to kill you yet?" Lila asks. I shake my head.

"I'm not holding my breath," I tell her. "The guy knew what he was doing: a pro. I doubt we'll find him, even if the car isn't compacted into a cube of nothing somewhere.

That's the problem with pros: They know their job. Hell, some of them are ex-cops. They keep up on forensics, know how to get rid of evidence, and usually make it look like an accident.

That makes it hard to even know a crime was committed, much less solve it.

Julianna was different. She was meant to be found that way. Some mob guy got it right when he said violence is like an email: It sends a message.

Julia's death sent a message.

Okay, I'm gonna piss people off again. You know: I'm supposed to write like it's all happening right now, and you aren't really reading this, but being a part of it. Yeah, that's all well and good. But sometimes I wanna tell you something, and I don't want to make up some stupid character so they can ask, "Gee, Murray, what about... ?" and I can be all wise and expository, without letting on I'm telling you something you need to know.

It's not a cop show. I watch a lot of them, where all the little strings get tied up into a nice bow, with no loose ends.

Life is full of loose ends. Fact is, I may never know who tried to run me off the road, or why they tried to hit Miller. I could never find out who Anton is or where the girl he was selling was coming from. Hell, Anton could be full of shit and not have a girl at all. Maybe he's just angling for the twenty grand, and then he'll just disappear.

The fact is, if you're reading this waiting for every little twist and turn to be explained satisfactorily in the end, go read a detective novel. It's fiction: it's the writer's job to tie up all the loose ends.

But real life don't work that way. In fact, tonight I'm wondering if this is one of those cases that's all questions and precious few answers.

I sigh and lean back on the sofa.

Lila puts her arms gently around me. She's a hell of a sweet woman, and a damned good friend.

"You know it will work out," she says, laying her head on my chest. "Good or bad, it'll happen. Don't hassle over it."

I sigh. Yeah, I take my cases personally. Any good PI does. And I end up with a piece of shit for a client and a mess for a case.

"I just want to get some answers," I tell her. "I don't really care about Miller any more. Or Julia. They both chose what they did."

"What about Marina?" Lila asks.

I look over at Lila. Lila is one smart woman. She runs her own businesses. She's not naive in the least.

"I don't know if she's involved or how deep," I tell Lila. But I'm gonna keep an eye on her."

Lila sighs softly. Yeah, Marina works for her at Dolly's. And Lila takes her work personally too. She likes Marina, obviously.

"Muscles says she wants to be your slave," Lila says. I gotta laugh. Muscles as a slave? I don't think so.

"She's just happy I ass-fucked Mr. Child Raper," I tell her.

"I didn't know you swung that way either," Lila admits.

"Hey, guys fuck some really god-awful women," I tell her. "You just close your eyes and think of Hillary Duff."

"Murray!" Lila said, shocked. "You're terrible!"

I grinned as she and Tina jumped on me.

Well, I can't complain about my bed-mates that night. Yeah, we all pile into Lila's huge bed. It's not a king: it's much larger than that. Lila had it custom made, along with the luxurious bedding.

Tina and Lila and Muscles and Marina: pretty nice little group. I wish I were more up for this, and I'm not talking about Jack.

Hey, I'm fifty. I almost got squished yesterday, when my Mustang became scrap metal. I was up most of the night, then spent the day getting my brain beat up as well.

And I did get laid this morning, remember?

But it's not like I flake out completely. Muscles is crawling over and talking to Jack. She goes nose to nose with him, teasing him with her lips and tongue.

"Jack is such a little trooper," she says. "Such a tough little guy." She slides her mouth over him, giving him a real nice sucking kiss. "You deserve to be rewarded. Would you like to come into Arnold and play for a while?

Jack likes Arnold, a lot, and despite her unfamiliarity with penises, Arnold seems pretty eager to have Jack visit.

And Muscles is just really heated up. Hell, I never knew me ass-fucking some guy would get her going like this. She's all over me, really excited and sweaty and fun.

She's kissing on me, and sliding her hands over my body and rubbing against me.

"I think Muscles likes you tonight," Tina says with a grin. Meanwhile, Marina is chasing Muscles. She's as interested in getting to know Arnold as Muscles is in playing with Jack. Muscles is down whispering to Jack. I can't catch most of it, but it's obvious something about what happened today really got Muscles going. Jack fucks a guy and a gay woman falls in love with him. Go figure.

But watching Marina going down on Muscles, and Tina going after Marina, and Lila treating the whole thing like a smorgasbord, sampling whatever looks tasty, is pretty fucking sexy.

Then Muscles is on top of me, rubbing Arnold on Jack and inviting the little guy inside. Arnold really likes Jack, and she's all damp and excited to see him. Then Jack crawls into her, and they both start dancing together and it gets really good.

But I have to admit, I wasn't really up for all this. Pretty soon, I was drowsing on the bed, while the four women were playing together. Jack likes to watch, and he kept getting petted or kissed, so he was pretty damned happy just kicking back and watching the show. Tina and Lila make a hell of a couple, Marina's just totally hot, and Muscles gets to play the guy.

So everybody's happy. And they had a great time, even if I wasn't a big part of it.

I hate mornings. I hate them anyway, just on principle. But when you wake up sore and stiff and every movement hurts, then you really hate mornings.

But Lila brought in coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts, so my mood rapidly improved.

And I start going over the case in my mind.

Since I started writing down these stories, going back and checking facts is easy. Hell, it's all written down, nice and typed and double-spaced.

But real PI work isn't all nicely written out and available like that. I have to keep turning it over in my mind, trying to make sure I haven't missed or forgotten something, something that seemed innocuous at the time but could be very important now.

Marina was possibly fronting for Julia, putting things in her own name. She may be deeply involved in the whole mess.

Which means she could also have known about the young girl they were going to purchase. Even been deeply involved in it.

Yeah, I hear the bigots firing up their grills. Damned Lesbians, right? Leave it to two women; pussy licking, perverted woman, to do something like that.

Yeah, right. Miller was straight, and he was gonna fuck the poor kid. I'm sure the customers paying to do the little girl were mostly straight, manly guys.

Real life isn't as easy as bigots would like it to be. Blame the Jews, the fags, the Catholics, the Masons: it's real easy to do. And dead wrong.

Because no one's got a monopoly on being bad, or being good, for that matter. No group, no religion, no sexual preference gets to be the bad guy. Sleaze comes in every shape and size.

And I have to deal with all of it.

"You look thoughtful, Murray," Lila says, sitting on the bed beside me.

"Yeah," I tell her. "I'm just trying to get my brain around all this."

"It's complex," she says. "I just hope Marina isn't in too deep."

"You think she's in it?" I ask. Lila sighs. She doesn't like talking dirt on her friends or her employees, but she also realizes they're human. They make mistakes, or sometimes do things on purpose.

"She's smart," Lila says. "She's not as naive as she comes off. That broken English hides a lot."

I nod. Accents and poor English can get you in trouble. You make stupid assumptions about that person, and that can come back to bite you in the ass. Hell, I know a con-artist who sees the thick Southern drawl he was raised with as his greatest asset. He sounds stupid, or at least harmless.

He's neither, trust me. Guy's got an IQ of 170 and the moral scruples of Ted Kennedy.

"You notice anything at the bar?" I ask Lila. "Marina have any odd friends or regulars who set off any bells?"