“I’m not telling you anything.” She hissed.
“Oh, yes, you are. You’re going to tell me where Natasha is or else.” I walked around the apartment and saw what I was looking for. A family photo. I snatched it off the bookshelf.
“Oh, I see you have your mom’s eyes. And little sister does, too.” Through her haze I saw worry fill Diamond’s eyes. “Yeah, little sister has quite a few of your mother’s traits. I can’t be the only man who has noticed that.”
Diamond swallowed hard.
“Tell me where Natasha is, Diamond, and you won’t have to worry about your sister.”
I watched her eyes flicker. She still wanted to be defiant. I had to slap her.
“Diamond, I really appreciate your loyalty and not telling Natasha about our first conversation. That is what really makes this hard for me.” I pulled her up by her collar and shook her by the shoulders.
“This isn’t a game, Diamond! I need to know where Natasha is!”
“Stop!” she whimpered, the blow to her head and the alcohol were making her see three or four images of me by now. “I don’t know where she is. I don’t.”
Leaning in to her I could smell the booze on her breath mixed with some vanilla smelling perfume or lotion on her skin plus the clean smell of terror and sickness.
“You are lying.” I had had enough. Pulling Diamond to her feet by her hair I yanked her into the bedroom. There I tore her computer charger from the wall and used it to tie her hands behind her back.
That was where we were right now. I didn’t expect things to take as long as they did. But I couldn’t say I wasn’t having fun. It was a lot more fun dealing with Diamond who was very easy on the eyes as compared to Denise. That old hag was like tossing around kindling that had been dried for several seasons. Even if I was sexually aroused by the power I had over her I have the feeling it would have been like humping the knothole of a tree.
Every person has a trigger that will go off when they know they cannot endure any more pain. Diamond’s hands had started to turn blue almost immediately after I had bound them together. But, that wouldn’t stop me from breaking them one at a time. Grabbing one of her own pairs of panties I shoved it in her mouth. Rolling her onto her stomach I grabbed her pinky and wrenched it free from its socket. She screamed in pain but it just came out a muffled grunt.
“Have I got your attention now?” I asked.
Crying and gasping with snot running all over down her nose and lips Diamond quickly nodded her head. I knew this would work. I pulled the panties from her mouth and held her head up off the floor by her neck preventing her from getting enough air to scream.
“Her parents. Nat went to her parent’s house.”
“And where is that?”
“I don’t know. Honest. I don’t know.”
“And you were doing so well.” I said. “Maybe you just need something to help you remember something, anything about where they might live.” I shoved the wet undies back into her mouth. This time it was her big toe. I know what you’re thinking. How odd to break this particular appendage. I agree. But how much pain that little piggy would cause would be indescribable as Diamond proved crying in great ghastly sobs. When I pulled the cloth underwear from her mouth she choked out the suburb Natasha’s parents lived in. That was all I needed.
“Now was that so hard?” Shoving the cloth back into her mouth I got up and left the apartment.
Diamond wouldn’t be going anywhere. With a little luck she’d expire before anyone even noticed she was gone. Expire. Like a carton of milk. Expire like a driver’s license. After I found Natasha and talked some sense into her I’d come back for Diamond. If she didn’t slip quietly into that dark night we’d have to have a nice long talk about the future.
Had I heard her cell phone ring I might have altered my plans just a little. We may have had that talk sooner. But I never heard it ring. Neither did she having blacked out before the front door was even closed behind me.
MARTY
“Come out with your hands up!” I heard the police officers shouting. I did as they asked. I put my hands up over my head and laced my fingers. I had to be quite a sight for them. I knew my face had to be a mess and I felt the salty sting of my own blood dripping into my left eye. My clothes were torn and stained. I was panting to catch my breath. The cold night air felt good.
I had never been to this quiet little suburb before. It was nice. There were big yards for kids to play in and the neighbors were far enough away that you had some privacy but close enough that if a half dozen squad cars pull up in front of your house they’ll see them and come outside to look.
The flashing red and blue lights made the whole street look like UFOs were landing. The police had their bright lights aimed right at my eyes and I winced and blinked as the uniformed men approached me.
“Get on the ground! Now!”
Again, I did as I was told. They wrenched my right hand from on top of my head around my back and before I could mutter another word I felt a knee in my back as they pulled my left arm, connecting them together with cold, metal handcuffs.
“Please,” I grumbled. “Help Natasha. She’s in there. Help her.”
“Who else is in there?” The faceless police officer asked with his knee still in my back.