In Cold Blonde (28 page)

The tub had a little more time to fill up so she pulled out her cell
phone and checked her messages.  She had one from Travis Taylor.  His
message asked her to call him.  She did.  He answered on the first
ring.  “Travis Taylor.”

“It’s Anne Rogers, Travis, I hope it’s not too late.”

“Sleep is for sissies.”

Anne laughed.  “You’ve got some news on Syd Curtis?”

“I do.  Syd Curtis is quite a remarkable young woman.  She’s
from Kansas City, not Riverside.  She ran away from home when she was
seventeen, came straight to Hollywood.  She’s been connected to a pimp
named Ernesto Sian so I suspect she was a hooker at one time.  But here’s
where it gets interesting, I tracked down Syd’s mother and spoke to her. 
I pretended to be one of Syd’s classmates and wondered whatever happened it
her.  Get this, her mother hasn’t heard from Syd since the day she left
almost ten years ago.”

“She doesn’t know she’s a cop?”

“She doesn’t even know if Syd’s alive or dead.”

The more Anne heard, the happier she got.  Anne wondered if Ryan
knew all this?  Somehow she doubted it.  “Did you tell the mother Syd
was alive?”

“No.  Not sure there’s an angle in it yet.  I’ve got some more
work to do, but here’s the bottom line.  We can prove she lied on her LAPD
application so we’ve already got enough evidence to get her fired.  And
I’ve got a feeling I’m going to find another surprise or two.  I’ll call
you tomorrow with another update.”

“Great work, Travis, thank you.”  Anne hung up.   She was
hoping Travis would get enough dirt to drive a wedge between Ryan and
Syd.  Well, he’d found a whole lot more.  She was a teenage runaway
and a hooker?  Fabulous.  And lying on her LAPD application was the
icing on the cake.  All Anne would have to do is leak Travis’ report to
the press and Syd would be kicked off the force and out of their lives forever.

But then another thought struck Anne.  A much better one. 
She’d confront Syd with Travis’s report and make her an offer she couldn’t
refuse.  Ask for a transfer out of Homicide and out of the Hollywood
division.  Something in the Valley maybe, or South Central. 
Something far away from Ryan.  Ask for a transfer or Anne would leak the
report to the press.  And if Syd told Ryan about Anne’s blackmail, Anne
would leak it to the press.  Syd would have no choice.

Now the only question became when to spring the surprise on Syd. 

Anne stepped into the tub and settled beneath the churning water. 
She sighed happily as the hot water swallowed her.  And then the answer
came – she’d talk to Syd tomorrow, at the lottery presentation.  Syd
was sure to be there, and what better way was there for Anne to cap off what
was certain to be one of the best days of her life than by checkmating that
perky redhead.

It was only forty degrees outside but Ryan had the top down.  The
heater was on and kept his feet warm, but the crisp air whisked the heat away
from Ryan’s upper body and face, so he was cold.  Freezing actually, but
that was fine.  He wanted to be uncomfortable.  He wanted to suffer.

A familiar ache filled his heart.  The perfect world Anne had helped
construct in Ryan’s imagination – living happily ever after with the girl
of his dreams, millions of dollars in the bank and running a foundation for the
needy – was suddenly gone.  What was he supposed to do now about the
lottery money, about the foundation, about Syd? 

Syd. 

Jesus, before Ryan was waylaid by Rick Rogers he was checking his
Voicemail.  Ryan took out his cell phone, brought up Syd’s message. 

“Hey Ryan, it’s me,” Syd’s recorded voice said.  “Three boys raped
Alice that night: Colin, Adam and a guy named Blake Hunter.  He lives in
Malibu, 22756 Pacific Coast Highway.  It’s nine forty-five now, I should
be there in less than an hour.  Call me.” 

Nine forty-five, Ryan thought.  Ryan remembered glancing at the
clock as he was going to the bathroom.  It read nine forty-five.  So when
his cell phone rang, Anne must have heard it; she checked to see who the caller
was, saw Syd’s name and turned off the phone.

That bitch.

Okay, this was good, he thought.  I’m starting to get mad.  Fuck
Anne.  Fuck that manipulative, lying bitch.  I let her ruin my life seven
years ago but I’m not going to let her ruin my life again.  I was a happy,
satisfied man before she popped into the bullpen, so just forget about the last
forty-eight hours, man up, act like they never happened and focus on something
constructive, like catching the Lady in Red. 

Ryan aimed the Mustang toward Malibu and hit the speed dial for Syd.

Syd’s cell phone rang.  She took it out of her purse and stared at
it.  It rang again.  Syd saw the Caller ID, Ryan.  She just
stared at it.  It rang again.

“You going to get that?” the Lady in Red asked. 

“No,” she said.  “He can leave a message.”  Syd turned off her
phone. 

A lot had happened since Syd met the Lady in Red at the door with a gun
in her hand…

When Syd pulled up to Blake’s Malibu home, she saw a white Prius parked in
the driveway.  Alice’s parents bought her a used white Prius so Syd knew
she’d found her.  She pulled her automatic as she approached the
door.  She was about to try the doorknob when the door swung open and she
was face to face with the Lady in Red.

“Hello, Alice,” Syd said.  “I’ve been looking for you.” 

Oh, shit, Alice thought.  Not now, not yet.  I have one more
man to kill.

“Get down on your knees and put your hands behind your head or I will
shoot you.”

Alice looked at the redheaded cop.  She looked young, but there was
steel in her tone and a
don’t fuck with me
glint in her green
eyes.  

Alice wondered if all handcuff keys were the same.  She’d pocketed
the keys to Blake’s handcuffs after she’d freed herself.  Here’s hoping,
she thought as she dropped to her knees.

With practiced precision Syd cuffed Alice.  “Where’s your gun?” Syd
asked as she slipped on a pair of surgical gloves.

Alice’s eyes dropped to her purse.  Syd opened it, saw the Colt and
scalpel.  She took them out of the purse, slipped them into her jacket
pocket.  Then, just to be sure, she searched Alice.  And found just
one thing, a handcuff key. 

What the hell, thought Syd.

Shit, thought Alice.

Syd was about to ask about the handcuff
key when she noticed a crimson stain soaking through the shoulder of the Lady
in Red’s shirt.  “You’re bleeding.”

“You should see the other guy,” Alice said.

My thoughts exactly, thought Syd. 
Where the hell was Blake Hunter?  She grabbed Alice by the handcuffs and
pulled her to her feet.  “Let’s go,” she said. 

It was only a few feet from the entry hall to the living room and Blake’s
bloody corpse. Syd clocked the cock sticking out of his mouth.  There was
blood everywhere, his face a bloody pulp.  “Jesus Christ,” Syd
muttered.  “Not up to your usual surgical standards.”

“Yeah, well, shit happens.”

Syd checked the body for a pulse, found none.  She noticed the
playing card on Blake’s chest, four of hearts.  Then her eyes took in the rest
of the crime scene.  There was a trail of blood from the body to the
middle of the room, where a small pool of blood stained the wood floor. 
Then she noticed something shining in the doorway to another room – a
pair of handcuffs.  That explains the key, Syd thought.  Syd bent
down picked them up.  They were fur-lined.  “Curiouser and curiouser,”
Syd said. 

She needed to search the rest of the house, make sure they were
alone.  “Don’t move,” she said to Alice and then quickly made her way down
the bloodstained hall to the guest room and master bedroom, both clear. 
Then she stepped into the master bath.  “Holy shit,” she muttered as she
saw the bloodstained sink and towels. 

She hurried back to the living room; Alice was where she left her.  “You
want to tell me what happened here?”

Alice stared at Syd in stony silence.

“Look, Alice,” Syd said.  “I know what Adam, Colin and Blake did to
you.  I just came from your parents.  I know what
they
did to
you.  I understand what you’ve been through.   Why you’ve done
what you’ve done.  And I’d like to help you.  But I can’t help you
unless you help me help you.  So please, tell me what happened tonight.”

Alice could hear the honesty in Syd’s words.  She sensed she could
trust her.  “I could tell you, or you could watch it yourself.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“Blake Hunter wanted to make a documentary.  He knocked me out,
handcuffed me and was videotaping me when I tried to escape.  It’s all on
a tape, in my purse.”

Syd grabbed Alice’s purse, pulled out the tape.  Then her eyes
settled on the DVD case.  She took it out, turned it over and saw the
handwritten title,
High
School Pool Party.
 “Is this what I
think it is?”

Alice nodded.

“He was videotaping you watching yourself get raped?” Syd ask, astounded.

“That’s right.”

“Motherfucker.”

“You should watch the rape, too.  But start with the other one.”

Alice showed Syd where the camera was in the office.  Syd loaded the
digital tape.

“You’ll have to watch it on the camera’s monitor,” Alice said. 

Syd flipped open the monitor, it was a small screen, maybe six inches
wide, certainly big enough to watch the video.

“It’s cued up,” Alice said.  “Just hit Play.”

Syd did.

The angle is over Blake’s shoulder to a handcuffed and
bound Alice.  She says, “Fuck you.”

“That’s more like it,” Blake says then walks towards her
on his way to the door.  Alice suddenly kicks Blake in the back of the
knee, he falls down. 

“Bitch,” he says as he tries to get to his feet. 
But the Lady in Red has dragged her feet toward his head and she kicks him in
the head.  His head hits the wall with a crack.

“Cunt,” he says as she kicks him again and again. 
Finally his body has gone limp and she stops kicking. 

The Lady in Red crawls over him, flips onto her back and
fishes the handcuff keys out of his pocket.  She unlocks the handcuffs and
tosses them away, then quickly unties her feet and hustles out of the room. 

“I ran into the living room to get my gun out of my purse.”

Blake stirs, leaps up and dashes into the kitchen.
 

“But Blake had obviously found it earlier and hid it so I took the only
weapon I had, the scalpel.”

The kitchen is visible through the office doorway. 
Blake re-enters frame, pulls open a drawer, takes out a gun, aims and
fires. 

“He hit me in the shoulder, but I went down like he’d killed me and
played dead,” Alice said.

Blake stands there a moment, trying to decide what to
do.  He aims off screen, seems about to pull the trigger then reconsiders
and walks out of frame. 

“Fuck,” Alice said.  “He was about to shoot me from the
kitchen.” 

“Thank God he changed his mind,” Syd said, completely wrapped up in the
video.

Syd’s sympathy caught Alice by surprise.  Just who the hell was this
cop?

There’s a scream from off camera and three quick shots,
a loud THUD and the gun slid into the right side of the frame. 

“When he got close to me, I slashed his ankle with my scalpel.  I
cut him and he went down.  I jumped on him slashing his face, but he
shoved me off.”

 A bloody Blake pulls himself into frame and reaches
for the gun.  Alice suddenly appears and jabs the scalpel through the back
of Blake’s hand.  He screams in agony as she picks up the gun.

He looked at her, terrified.  “Don’t shoot.  I
know people.  I can help you get away, out of the country with a new
identity and plenty of money.  Just please, don’t shoot.” 

Alice slowly lowers the gun, Blake looks surprised,
pleased; then she quickly raises the gun and fires.

Blake Hunter’s head jerks once then drops to the floor.

Syd hit the stop button, looked at Alice.  “You’re lucky to be
alive.”

“I’d be luckier if you weren’t here.” 

Syd turned off the video camera.  Her eyes fell on the DVD. 
She picked it up.  “You sure you don’t mind if I watch this?”

Alice was surprised by the compassion in Syd’s voice.  She really
didn’t want to see it herself again, but she wanted this cop, this woman, to
understand exactly what happened to her.  “I don’t mind,” she said. 
“In fact, you need to see it.”

Alice pointed out the DVD player, Syd loaded the disk.

“You know,” Alice said.  “Every time I watch this DVD I’m in
handcuffs.  Kind of ironic, don’t you think?”

Syd smiled cheerlessly.  “Yeah.”  Syd picked up the remote
control and hit Play.

A hand held camera sweeps across Colin Wood’s game room and
comes to rest on an unconscious Alice Waterman.  Adam and Colin kneel next
to her.  “Fuck, that shit works fast,” Colin says.  “Help me get her
on the pool table, Adam.”

They pick her off the floor and lay her on the pool
table.  Colin holds her neck but he lets go too soon and her head thuds on
the table.

“Careful,” Adam says, looking very uncomfortable. 
He looks directly into the lens.  “You sure taping this is a good idea, Blake?”

“It’s a brilliant idea, bro.  When we’re old and
gray and snorting Viagra, we’re going to cherish the chance to relive our glory
days.”

And that’s when Syd’s phone rang.  She hit Pause.

“You going to get that?” Alice asked. 

“No,” Syd said after fishing out her cell phone and checking the Caller
ID.  “He can leave a message.”  Syd turned off her phone and looked
back at the screen.  She hit Play.

“Get her clothes off,” Blake says from behind the
camera.  Colin pulls off her sandals as Adam peels off her tank
top.   

“How convenient,” Blake says, zooming into a close up of
Alice’s bra.  “It unhooks from the front.  She was making things easy
for you, Adam.  She wanted you to suck her titties.”

Blake zooms out as Adam says, “Shut up.” He unhooks the
bra then lifts her back up a bit and slips it off. 

“Nice,” Colin says cradling her breasts in his
hands.  He sucks on her left nipple. “Hey, she put some perfume on her
tits.”  Colin looks at Adam.  “She went all porn star for you,
buddy.”

Adam leans down, sniffs her right breast.  “Wow,”
he says surprised.  Then he looks at her face.  Blake follows his
look with the camera and zooms in on Alice’s face.   Her eyes are at half-mast
and her mouth gaps open.  She looks drunk. 

“She looks bad, man,” Blake says.  “Maybe we should
stick her head in a bag,” Blake says.  He zooms out, pans to Adam.

“You are such an asshole,” Adam says, but he’s smiling
as he says it.

“Bet she doused her pussy, too,” Blake says. 
“Colin, get her panties off.”

Blake pans to Colin as he unzips her jeans and pulls
them off revealing black boyshort panties.   Blake zooms in, black
curly pubic hairs stick out from the sides of the panties.  Colin peels
off the panties revealing a thick black patch of hair trimmed into a
triangle.  Colin leans down and smells it.  “Yep, perfumed for your
dining pleasure.”  He takes another sniff.  “I think its ode de lick-my-clit.”