Missing Person

Chapter 4 -- Secret Garden

Jake Diamond woke up alone on the couch. Clearly, the movie had ended. The projector was off, and the room was dark. The only light came from the doorway, where Jake could hear moans from the next room.

Without moving from the couch, Jake realized he could see into the next room by the mirror. It was the library, and Satina was lying spread-eagled on the table, completely naked. MzDominica, also naked, was trailing Satina's satin scarf up and down, along Satina's arms, her breasts, her belly. Down to her right foot, under the arch, then slowly up the inner calf, to the knee, then around the knee, up the inner thigh, slowing as she got closer and closer to Satina's blonde pussy. Then Dominica stopped, began to trail the scarf under Satina's left foot, and slowly up the left leg. Satina moaned again, and trembled.

Jake's cock felt like it had to release or explode! And yet... And yet... He had seen Dan in that movie. Somewhere in the garden. What WAS that big, metallic door? Was it related to Dan's disappearance?

"Damn," Jake thought. "Sometimes, being a professional is overrated." He rocked himself back and forth a couple of times, and forced himself off the couch. While MzDominica was, er, "occupied" was his best chance at checking out his suspicions in the garden.

He grabbed his hat, shoved it onto the top of his head, and quietly walked to the door of the study. Slowly, silently, he pushed the door handle down, hoping it hadn't been locked. Good luck, for once. The handle went down all the way, and with a gentle tug, Jake noiselessly opened the door. He stepped out into the hallway.

From the windows, Jake could tell it was nighttime. How long had he been out, on the couch? He looked up and down the hallway, hoping there wouldn't be any more rubber maids to notice him. Nobody. Jake walked toward the garden, stopping at the pair of huge doors. Again, he grabbed a door handle and pushed gently down, hoping for the best. It caught a moment, clicked. Jake thought it might be locked. Then the handle went the rest of the way down, and Jake was able to open the door.

He walked into the garden, and looked around. Where had that big, metallic door been? Clearly, at the other end of the garden, farthest from the door. But there were only plants, there. Philodendrons. Jake smiled as he remembered the name of the plants. Another case. Another time. He quietly stepped past the planters full of flowers and ferns, till he came to the end of the room. The philodendrons, with their big, crenellated leaves, were in wooden planters. Jake grabbed the top edge of one planter, and pulled. It rolled toward him, easily. He pulled further, and the planter swung out and to one side, revealing a huge, shiny metallic cylinder behind it.

Jake let go of the planter, and walked around the end of it, toward the cylinder. It was about ten feet high, with a door on the side facing him. Clearly the same door as he'd seen in the film. He walked toward it for a closer look.

"Mr. Diamond," he heard from behind him. Jake turned, to see MzDominica in a black, silk bathrobe, her arms crossed under those gorgeous breasts. He thought she'd be angry. Instead, she still sported that amused cat smile. "I thought I'd asked you to leave, at lunch time."

Jake figured it would be better not to implicate Satina in his remaining on the estate. Partly as misdirection, mostly for information, he jerked a thumb at the cylinder behind him and asked, "What IS that?"

Dominica's smile grew broader, and she replied, "What do you THINK it is?"

"Well," Jake said, "I hope you won't try to convince me it's the water heater. For one thing, there aren't any pipes leading to it. For another, I've seen the water heater for your estate."

"Hmmm," Dominica purred. "But as you said earlier, it's a big house. Maybe I need a lot of hot water..." She looked through one of the doors in the garden. "And maybe the pipes are underground." She looked back at him.

"So what's the door for, then?" Jake asked.

"Mr. Diamond, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." Dominica gestured, and a powerfully-built man came forward from the shadows.

Again, Jake decided a strategic retreat was his best choice. "I can see it's late. And this young man here needs his beauty sleep. I think I'll call it a night." Jake began to walk briskly down the hallway, hoping he could make it to the front door before the big goon decided to "help" him. He reached the door, just as a "French" maid opened it for him, and he trotted right through. He was scarcely outside when he heard -- and felt -- the door slam behind him.

Okay, so Dan HAD been here. Now the question was, whether he had left, or was still here. And why?

Jake walked down the driveway in the dark toward his car. When he opened the door, the car still felt hot, having sat out in the sun all day. So it wasn't too late in the evening. He got in, started to put his key in the ignition, glanced in the rearview mirror -- and saw MzDominica standing behind the car. Was she there with her goon? Jake turned around in his seat, and looked out the back window. Nobody. Must have been a trick of the light. Or his nerves. He turned the key, pumped the gas, and hoped. Luckily, the car started. Jake turned on the headlights. Rather than drive closer to the house along the driveway, he backed up and around a little bit, shifted into forward again, and drove out the way he had come in.

Jake drove down Elephant Hill, his car protesting a lot less than it had done on the trip upward. About a half mile down the road, at the base of the hill, he came to the intersection with the highway.

Jake looked at the stop sign.

He found himself thinking about MzDominica and Satina, on the table in the library. Dominica drew the scarf up, up, up Satina's leg, along that beautiful smooth curve of her cream-colored thigh. Satina arched her back, thrusting her breasts forward to be touched.

Jake's cock began to swell again, oozing little droplets of pre-cum. He looked again at the stop sign. His cock felt harder. He checked the highway to the left, then to the right. Nobody. Not at this hour of night. He looked briefly in the rear view mirror. Was there a pair of green eyes looking out at him? He gazed harder, trying to see, trying to make sure.

He thought about Dominica's tongue, tracing around Satina's pussy lips. Up the left side, stopping just at her fuzzy mound. Then up the right side, along the labia, up to her mound again, then a little circle around the clit. He remembered Satina's fingernails, gently scraping up the underside of his cock. Base to tip. Base to tip. Then around and around the tip. A little dig of the fingernails in the tip of his cock, through his pants. He could feel the lubrication dripping out of the tip of his cock. Hard, so hard. The rear view... were Dominica's eyes still there? Satina... no, Dominica, rubbing up and down on his cock. Her breasts pressed against his face. Soft, soft, warm. A nipple peeked out from the top of her blouse. Jake sucked, as Dominica continued to rub her pussy up and down his cock, never quite letting him inside. Closer and closer. Satina on the table. Dominica straddling him. Up and down, up and down. Tighter... tighter... then more gently again. Another gentle scrape of Satina's fingernails along the underside of his cock. Jake began to cum -- just a tiny, little spasm. Just a little spurt. A single drop. He needed more. Satina was on her knees, now, in front of him, her mouth open. She raised her head, scraping her lower teeth along his cock, still through the material of his pants. Then she lowered her head, scraping her upper teeth along his cock. Up again. Another spurt. Just a tiny droplet. Dominica's eyes stared at him from the rear view mirror, watching him, monitoring him. Her hand traced the side of his cheek, then trailed an index finger down to his balls and squeezed, gently. Another tiny spurt. Her fingers moved lower, and began to play with his ass. Another droplet. Jake was trembling, and flushed. And couldn't stop gazing into the mirror, into Dominica's eyes.

The sudden flash of red lights, and a siren, shook Jake out of his waking wet dream, as a police car pulled up beside him. Two officers were inside.

The cop on the passenger side leaned out the window, and said, "Are you okay, buddy? You've been here at the intersection for ten minutes."

Jake realized his lights were still on, but his car had stalled. Ten minutes? "Uh, hi, officer. I'm, uh, just waiting for my engine to cool down. Old junker. Things were getting overheated." Those last parts, at least, were true. But it wasn't the car that was overheated.

"See if it'll start now," the cop replied, glancing down at the car, then back at Jake.

Jake turned to the dashboard. He twisted the key in the ignition, and pumped the gas pedal. A clunk. He tried again, and the engine started. He turned to the cop and smiled, "Ah, there it is. All it needed was to cool down."

"Maybe you should show me your driver's license," the cop said. Uh oh. Jake could smell trouble brewing.

But then the cop's partner, the one driving, peered past him, and said, "Wait a minute. I recognize him." He rolled his eyes and tilted his head in the direction of the mansion.

"Oh..." the passenger cop said. What was that about, Jake wondered? The cop turned back to Jake and said, "Well, maybe you'd better be on your way, then."

Any port in a storm, Jake thought. "Yes, sir, officer. Thank you!" He checked the highway to the left and right again, then pulled out and made a right turn onto the highway. Two seconds later, he realized he'd forgotten to signal. He kept glancing in the rearview mirror, to see if they'd decided to follow him. Apparently not. Jake continued down the highway, trying to figure out his next move.

Chapter 5 -- Hot Water

A battered-looking old desk. Two chairs -- one for himself, one for a client. A couple of old file cabinets the Salvation Army had thrown out, because they were in too bad shape to sell. Jake's office wasn't much to look at. That was part of the reason he kept it so dark. The main reason, though, was that he hadn't paid the electric bill. It was mid-morning, and just enough sunlight came in through the window that the lack of indoor lighting wasn't too obvious.

You couldn't run a detective agency, though, without a working phone.

Jake had to call his client. He didn't have much to say. But it was good practice to check in. People that never heard from you rarely paid their bills. Funny thing, that.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper with Mrs. Carlson's phone number on it. The back of a gum wrapper -- waste not, want not, Jake's mom had always said. He turned it over and looked at the bright yellow printing. Juicy Fruit. That reminded him of something... but he couldn't quite recall what. He turned the wrapper over and over again, going over in his mind what he DID know. It wasn't much.

Clearly Dan Carlson had been up to the mansion, at one time. The film proved that. So he had either left, or he was still there.

These things always sounded better in the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Jake reached over to the phone, lifted the receiver, and began dialing.

"Hello?" a woman's voice answered.

"Mrs. Carlson, this is Jake Diamond," he began.

"Oh, Mr. Diamond!" The woman sounded distraught. "What have you found out? Have you found my husband?"

"Not yet, Mrs. Carlson. But I found evidence he'd been up to the mansion." What kind of evidence, he really didn't want to say just yet.

"But what...?" she replied. "Is he still there? You make it sound like he left!"

"I'm not sure, Mrs. Carlson. I need to check something out."

"Well, I heard there's going to be some kind of big party up there tomorrow night. My hairdresser told me -- her boyfriend works for the caterer."

"A party, you say?" An idea was beginning to form in Jake's head.

"Yes. I don't know whether to be worried about Dan being missing, or jealous that he's at some big party and I'm not!"

Jake spoke some soothing words, so he could get Mrs. Carlson off the phone. He needed to think.

Definitely a town full of busybodies. Everybody knew everybody else's business, and was happy to tell you about it -- even if half of what they had to say wasn't true. It should have been a great place to be a detective. Just keep your ears open. Trouble was, there was rarely anything to find out that everybody didn't already know!

So, back to Dan. If he was still up at the mansion, why? Was he a prisoner? Was it by choice?

If he had left, it was by some way so secretive, the town busy-bodies didn't know about it. They would have said something.

Either way, the best place to pick up the trail was back in the mansion.

Jake was starting to push himself back from the desk, when the phone rang. Hmm. Maybe business was picking up!

He lifted the receiver and answered, "Jake Diamond, Detective Agency."

"Mr. Diamond?" The voice was female, and sounded breathy. He couldn't tell if she was whispering, or just trying to sound sexy. "This is Satina." Hmm. Could be both.

"What was all that about last night?" Jake asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Satina replied.

"The film. It was like you were trying to brainwash me."

"I didn't make the film, I was just showing it to you," she said. "You just fell asleep on me, so I found something else to do."

Yeah, sure, Jake thought.

"Mr. Diamond, I know you're still looking for Dan. I think he's still here -- and I want to show you the proof."

"What do you have in mind?" Jake was interested, but cautious.

"Come up to the house at three o'clock this afternoon. I'll meet you."

Well, he'd been looking for a way back into the mansion. "The side door again?"

"No, Mr. Diamond. Come to the front door."

"Three o'clock, then." Before Jake could say anything more, Satina hung up.

The '32 Studebaker seemed to have a little more power that afternoon. Probably sitting in the sun all morning had warmed up something. It was still running, instead of conking out, when he turned into the semi-circular driveway. However, Jake continued to feel cautious, and parked as far away from the house as he had yesterday.

He walked to the front door, and pulled the long rope. The door opened and the rubber "French" maid appeared again, just like yesterday. Jake forced his thoughts away from the remembered absence of underwear beneath the short, shiny skirt.

He started to say, "I'm here to see--" when Satina showed up behind the maid.

"I'll take it from here, Jessica," she said. "That will be all."

The maid looked at Satina, confused for a moment. Then she curtseyed, lifted her feather duster, and disappeared down the hall.

"This way, Mr. Diamond," Satina said. "Quickly, before someone notices."

Jake entered. Satina quietly closed the door behind him, then led him down a hallway. A different one, this time, from the one that led to the garden. She was dressed in powder blue satin, today. Jake's eyes were drawn to the shimmering light on her beautiful behind as she walked in front of him, just a little too briskly for real appreciation of her curves. Past several doors, a few twists and turns, then up a flight of stairs to another hallway. At the landing, Satina stopped a moment, checking whether they might be seen. She pushed him back, against the wall near the doorway, while another maid passed by, waited a moment, then beckoned him to follow. She led him to a door, listened a moment, then opened it inward, motioning him to go inside, quickly.

It was a bedroom. Bed, dresser, chair. A full-length mirror. A closet with a sliding door. The curtains over the window were closed. All nice and neat. On the adjacent wall was another door, probably to an adjoining bedroom, slightly ajar.

"What?..." Jake started to ask. But Satina shushed him.

"I'll stand guard at the door, while you look around."

What was this, an Easter egg hunt? Okay, Jake thought, I'll play along. He walked over to the closed, quietly slid open the door and looked inside. There were a number of those rubber maid uniforms, several dresses in different colors. There was also a man's shirt, a blue suit, and a belt. Shoes on the floor of the closet included several pairs of women's shoes -- all black, but in different styles, some with very high heels -- and one pair of men's shoes.

Okay, kind of interesting, Jake thought.

He walked over to the dresser and pulled open the top drawer. At this point, he was expecting it to be full of silk stockings, or frilly lace panties -- though the maids didn't seem to go in for undies. Instead, he found a man's wallet, made of brown cowhide. Jake lifted it out of the drawer, opened it, and found a driver's license. It was Dan!

Jake heard a noise from the partly open doorway. He looked around for Satina -- not there, he wasn't surprised to discover. But he could see through the doorway by the full-length mirror. It was the maid Jessica. She didn't seem to notice him.

As Jake watched, she slowly began to remove the maid's uniform. First, she took off the little hat with the white frill, set it aside, and shook her long, brown hair loose. Then she pulled on some laces and slipped out of the shiny rubber blouse. No bra underneath. As she bent over to undo the tiny rubber skirt, Jake admired the huge, soft breasts that hung free, swaying as she moved. Jessica carefully rolled the long, rubber stockings down her legs, leaving her completely naked, her pussy hair closely trimmed. Jake fought to keep his breathing quiet, while he could feel his cock tenting his pants again. Then Jessica vanished from view a moment. She returned, wrapped in a pink bathrobe, walked past the door, and vanished again. Jake could hear the hall door open and close.

Jake waited a few moments, to see if Jessica had really left, and to make sure she wasn't coming back. Then he quietly stepped toward the door adjoining the two rooms, pushed it open, and walked through. A suspicion was forming in his mind -- however outlandish it might seem. Jessica's room was much like the other one, and Jake walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer. Inside was a man's wallet -- black, this one. He lifted it out, opened it, and looked at the driver's license. It was Jessica. But the picture was of a man, with short brown hair, and the name said "Joseph Fowler."

Through the window, Jake heard a giggle and a splash. Then several loud moans. He quietly stepped over to the window, pulled the curtain aside about an inch, and looked through. Down at ground level were a about a dozen naked women in and around a swimming pool. It was kind of a small pool -- too small to swim in -- and he could tell from the heat waves rising above it that the water was hot. Must be one of those strange European hot spas he'd heard about.

As Jake watched, Jessica appeared from the house and walked over to a chair. She took off the robe, draped it over the chair, and joined the rest of the naked women. It immediately became clear they weren't interested in swimming. They were caressing each other, playing with each other's breasts. Three of the women ganged up on Jessica at the edge of the pool -- one sucking on each breast, and one with her head between Jessica's legs, while their hands rubbed at their own pussies. A fourth one joined them, and lowered her crotch over Jessica's face. Jake could tell she didn't need to use her hands to pleasure herself.

Jake looked past the squirming bodies and noticed that he could see the garden, from outside it's glass enclosure. What was it MzDominica had said, about needing a lot of hot water? She had looked out from the garden, right toward where this pool would be.