MJ 3: A Bad Case of Blackmail

I took off my jacket and unbuttoned the top button of my blouse. I'd pass well enough for flirting, or at least I hoped.

Turns out I didn't have to. The police were there, they'd come in the back, and the front desk was swarmed.

"Excuse me," I stopped a woman gossiping with her friend. "What happened here?"

"That old football player, Ryan something, fell off a balcony, drunk. He's dead."

No leads, my last hope was dead. Montgomery was going to kill me.

When my phone rang, I jumped. It was Montgomery.

"Jackson," I answered.

"Another demand has come through. I thought you were working night and day."

Through the open back door I saw a black body bag on a gurney wheel past. "Sir, you have no idea."

***

Montgomery showed me the demands, printed from a computer, untraceable, never mind those stupid CSI shows. His business associates had checked out, all that was left was Stephanie's friends.

"Where can I find your other daughter, Kitty?"

Montgomery was facing away from me in his greeting room, I didn't know what else to call the marble room I'd been showed into. "She has gone missing as well. The police were here this morning. A young man died in a hotel she was staying at, she was the only guest they could not reach.

"After the nasty business with her lover I have disowned her. She is not a part of my life any longer, Marly."

"I can find her as well," I offered, hoping it would stall for me.

"Don't bother. Get me my daughter's blackmailer soon, or you will disappear, Marly. Now Kitty was at a club last night the police tell me, Danny's. In your line of work I'm sure you're familiar."

Nodding, I was shocked. Cortez had lied.

***

"Where the fuck is Kitty Montgomery?"

Cortez was shaking. It had taken a lot to get into the employee lounge for Danny's, longer to get him alone, but it had paid off.

I had him up against the wall, my gun jammed into his throat. "Wh-what?"

I slammed him again and jammed it harder. "I said, where the fuck is Kitty Montgomery? You fucking her too?"

"N-no! Kitty came here looking for me, but I hid. I called your partner and told him."

I let him go. "Finn, fuck." He'd probably killed her. Disowned or not Montgomery wasn't going to be happy.

"L-look, she was asking about visitors. I overheard her mention something about letters."

"Fuck, if she knows she smells money. The woman is after it like a shark on blood. Do you know what happened to Stephanie?"

Montgomery hadn't let it get out, but if Kitty knew about the blackmail, she probably also knew her sister was dead. And finding the blackmailer would be a great way to screw me over and win daddy back in a neat go.

Cortez nodded at my question. "I helped her fake her death."

***

Stephanie Montgomery was scared. I met her in a dingy motel on Lincoln in Lincolnwood, the kind that charged by the hour. Cortez was there, guarding the door, and Finn had weaseled his way into the meeting, sitting in the chair next to me.

Stephanie was tall, slim, her hair strawberry blond, her eyes huge and blue, and filled with tears.

"My father...I knew what he was into, long ago. I knew the lifestyle. I never did drugs, Cortez made that up for me."

"Why?" I asked as Finn simultaneously asked, "Are you in love?"

She shook her head at him. "He's my best friend now. And it was to get someone to watch Kitty. Once this blackmailer is found, my father will report my death for insurance. I had a second policy in Cortez's name. He gets ten percent, and I get to be free of all this."

"So Kitty is a threat?" I asked.

"She's not the blackmailer, it's not her style. No, she's the reason I'm leaving."

"Why?"

She grabbed more tissues and at her sniffle Cortez sat and patted her hand. "I was in love with Harry Walters, really in love. I found out she was sleeping with him after he asked me to marry him. They were planning to kill my father, and when I inherited his money, kill me."

"Now that sounds like Kitty's style," Finn commented. "I had a man tailing her, but no one saw her leave the hotel. I'll get a man on Walters right away."

He stood and pulled out his cell, walking to the vanity for privacy as he called a henchman.

I watched him go and then looked back at Stephanie. "And then you 'died' and their plans went to hell. Ten to one Walters is the blackmailer."

"How could they know? My father is very secretive, no one knows."

"Did Walters have access to your house?"

She nodded. "We may as well have caught him red handed. I'll need to access his bank accounts for proof, and then we'll have him."

Stephanie grabbed my arm. "Will you keep my secret? Please, I can't go back to that life. My father controlled every moment of it until Harry came along, and look how that turned out?"

Finn came back in the room and her eyes followed him the way mine did. He oozed sex, but it made me grit me teeth. The bastard noticed and grinned as he sat.

"Stephanie, you should go into hiding, far away this time. I have a plan."

"Oh?" Finn asked.

"And you're part of it."

Something about his slow smile raised my hackles, and I wondered if what he'd said in the bathroom was really true. Did he really love me enough to want to live with me?

And just how did I really feel about Finnegan?

***

Harry Walters was easy. Well he was, after Finn got through with me. I asked him for help because I was clueless about girl things. Finn had studied the opposite sex like a predator should, and so he bought my a tight pencil skirt in leather, a loose green blouse that matched my eyes, and borrowed fuck-me-pumps from his work closet.

He didn't cross dress, but he kept a whole wardrobe for his porn company. Ironic, I thought, considering I'd seen most of the films and never noticed the actors in clothing.

He had his crew tease my hair and do my makeup, and when they were done I looked different. I looked really, really girly.

"Marly," Finn said, dripping with sensuality.

"I doubt Harry Walters will be interested in me if I smell like sex."

He raised a brow, locked his office door, and drew the blinds.

"Finn, come on."

He backed me to the couch, and when my knees hit it I flopped down. He loomed over me, tall, lean, and dark, his handsome face bore a smile equally dark and seductive.

"I need you to remember who you belong to." And then he dropped to his knees in front of me.

"Finn, I don't- ah!"

He jerked the skirt up and spread my legs. I wore stockings from wardrobe, and no panties. Considering mine said Tuesday's Child is something-or-other, he'd deemed them unfit and I wouldn't wear used underwear.

"What are you doing?"

"Jesus Marly, you think you'd know by now." He grinned and then dipped his head to lick my pussy.

Fuck, I thought, and gave in. I gripped his leather sofa tightly as he licked in dizzying moves. Up and down, swirling around my slit, teasing back the hood before delving inside of me. For long minutes he tortured me in such a way that I gripped his shoulders, jammed my pussy against him, and demanded he make me cum.

He groaned, the vibrations thrilling me, and began to suck on my clit as the tip of his tongue teased it.

The orgasm exploded from me and I hoarsely shouted his Christian name when I came. Finn pulled back with a grin, his lips, jaw, and stubble smeared with my juices, gleaming obscenely in the overhead light.

"Yes," I said, still dizzy from the orgasm.

He raised one eyebrow, still smiling.

"I'll move in with you, but don't push me any further.

"Marly? Have you been listening?"

I shook my head and looked at Harry Walters with a smile, burying the heated memory.

"I'm sorry, Harry, what did you say?"

He raised his wineglass and smiled. "You've been a million miles away."

Harry Walters was charming, in his mid forties, good looking, a silver fox I believed his type was called. I got major good-guy vibes off of him and I trusted my gut.

But if Harry Walters wasn't my blackmailer, then Kitty Hyde was, and he was the only connection I had to her.

"Harry, I'm going to level with you. I'm looking for Kitty, and I know she was your lover."

He looked truly shocked, his fork falling back to his plate of pasta. "What?"

"Wasn't she? Weren't you having an affair on Stephanie Montgomery with her own sister?"

He paled. "Oh, God, tell me her father doesn't think that, he'll kill me."

I leaned in close over the white cloth covered table. "Then what happened?"

He sat back. "Stephanie had the affair on me. Her sister discovered this and came to me with an absurd plot. When I threatened to tell her father, Kitty agreed to leave us alone. But I had Stephanie followed, and she was having an affair all right. I broke it off, I don't know where she is, and I certainly have no idea where her slut of a sister is."

I believed him, I really did. I should walk out the door, tell Finn to stop searching Walter's townhouse, and call Cortez. Blackmail truly wasn't Kitty's style, but perhaps her baby sister had more imagination than she did.

"Was she having an affair with a man named Cortez?"

"I never learned the man's name, but I have a picture." He pulled his wallet from hs jacket pocket and opened it. "I carry it with me because if I ever see this bastard again, I'll kill him."

He passed me the photo and I stared hard, memorizing every detail. "Tell me, if Stephanie wanted to hide out, where would she go?"

"I know exactly where."

***

The blackmail trail was cold. I had an idea of just what was going on, but there was no concrete proof. So I faked it.

Montgomery wanted a name, and I'd give him one. He'd kill Kitty Hyde, his own daughter, but the blackmail would stop. I knew that for a fact.

The only thing that tugged on my conscience was the workings of the Montgomery family. I had grown up in a rotten one, but the Montgomerys put the Jacksons to shame. At least our violence and passions were out in the open for the world to see, and it had destroyed us a hell of a lot quicker.

Memories threatened me but I pushed them away. Sure my life had made me hard and remote, but it honed my instincts and kept me alive. No matter what hate still lived in my heart, I would always be thankful for the hard lessons.

Lessons that let me know Harry Walters was an innocent man being set up to die. That was one thing I would not comply with. He had made the simple mistake of falling in love with the wrong woman, he should not have to pay.

Forging documents and digital files wasn't easy, and I couldn't concentrate. I needed a release of tension.

I needed Finn, and I hated that. So I called Cortez.

***

"How much?"

He blushed. Standing in my office he knew why he was there, but it bothered him, and that spoke volumes. "That's your job, at Danny's. So how much?"

"Marly, it wouldn't be right charging you. You're helping my best friend, and I think...I think you're pretty."

The compliment was sincere, and took me aback. Finn said he loved me, but never really complimented my looks. And every girl or woman needed to hear it. "So where's the 'but' I can hear coming?"

"Sexually I'm...different. Vanilla just doesn't do it for me anymore."

I peeled off the jacket to my sensible suit and kicked off my Doc Martens. "I like it rough, and I'll like whatever you want."

His eyes blazed. "Really?"

I stepped close and tossed my hair like a silly flirting female, but with the younger man it felt natural. "Really."

I kissed him then, and his lips were soft. He slipped his hands up to my arms and kissed me back, awfully vanilla for someone with a kinky streak.

"Wait, no," he panted out, breaking away and shoving me back.

"What's wrong?"

"Finnegan."

I stepped closer. "He doesn't own me."

"I see the way he looks at you. We do this, and I'm a dead man."

"What if I came to you at Danny's?"

He shook his head. "That might be different, but like this? I don't want to die, not for this."

It was patently absurd that my feelings bee hurt but I understood. A stupid, silly part of me infatuated with Finn was actually relieved.

"Fine. Go then."

"Thanks, Marly."

"Cortez?" I said when he'd opened the door and he paused.

"Yeah?"

"Don't freak if I show up to your work."

His smile didn't touch his eyes, and when the door close I threw my crystal ashtray against the wall. It shattered, pieces flying everywhere.

Fuck. I was lost to that bastard Finn.

***

"You're sure this is accurate?" Montgomery asked me sitting in the client chair.

"One hundred percent. I don;t see the need to embellish it, make it clearer. When it's family you won't want the police involved."

He nodded. "Thank you. Can I be assured of your discretion in this matter?"

I nodded emphatically.

"Good. I will give you another fifty thousand then. You have saved me an enormous amount of time, and trouble. Marly, I owe you a large favor. Any time you want it, name it."

I really hated my conscience, I really did. "I can name it now, sir."

"Oh?" He steepled his fingers as he sat back, his cigar smoking up the office with the beautiful smell.

"Cortez and Walters should live. Both men were entirely innocent, drawn into this against their wills. Let them live in peace."

His eyes narrowed. "They know things they can hold against me."

"If either one ever blackmails you I will kill him myself at your command, free of charge."

He stood then and ground the stogie out. "I have your word?"

"On my honor."

He looked me up and down not like a man would a woman, but the way a King would a knight, and I was flattered. He nodded, and once again left my office with goon in tow.

I called Finn and got his voice mail, leaving him the address to meet me at where we could talk

Finn was too dangerous for me, and I wouldn't live with him. Not now, not ever.

I was almost done, one more thing to do before I met Finn and could consider the case closed.

I drove to Danny's.

***

Cortez had been sent home from work, and for a pretty penny, his boss gave me his address. I found him deep into a fifth of gin, crying.

"Why, Marly? Why did you tell Montgomery where Stephanie was? They took her. They took her! He'll kill her!" His fuzzy eyes focused on me as I sat in a ratty recliner opposite the Davenport he perched on. "You have to get her back! She'll pay you, any price, name it. I'll fuck you, as much as you want, I'll even-"

I held my hand up. "Stop right there. Give me the gin."

"Why?"

I grabbed it from him and took a long, burning pull. "Stephanie risked your life. She lied to you. See Kitty is no mastermind, she's an evil sidekick. Blackmail? She couldn't mastermind stealing candy from a baby.

"But she could carry out a plot as directed. Nice and neat. Stephanie gets your help to fake her death. Harry Walters could prove this, and so Stephanie framed him for blackmail. Kitty got some of the cash for her help, Harry was supposed to take the fall, and Stephanie would get a nice fat settlement.

"I did you a favor. Now she's really dead, Montgomery will make it look like an accident, and you get the policy for real."

He threw the bottle and it hit the TV, shattering, cracking the screen, and sending clear alcohol everywhere.

"She couldn't have! And if she did, she had good reason. Her father was a tyrant, he ran her life!"

I shook my head. "It wasn't her original idea, but she took it and ran with it. She was far from innocent, and the apple doesn't fall from the tree. A hard lesson, but one to remember."

I stood then and pulled out my wallet, dropping seven hundred on the table in fifties. "That will buy you a nice new TV. Now lay low until this blows over, and you'll be fine."

He kept crying until he took the money and saw the photo I'd slipped into the stack. Then he picked up a framed photo of Stephanie, and I new it was time to leave.

The photo hit the door behind me with a thud.

***

"Marly, you packed yet? I've cleared plenty of closet space for you, but by my count you have what? Two suits and eight shirts?"

"Three suits, actually. Take a walk with me."

He froze. "What's going on?"

I looked around the shore. We'd stay to the sidewalk, down the way were a ton of cops, people Finn and I might have worked with, and we didn't need them to listen in. "Walk with me, talk with me."

I turned then and got fifteen steps before he moved. He jogged to catch up to me as we walked towards the melee of cops. Two news vans had pulled up, setting up in time for the ten o'clock news, and a crowd was gathering.

"What's going on?" He peered down the way as we got closer and closer.

"Finn, I'm not moving in with you."

"What?" He stopped and put a hand on my arm but I jerked it off and walked until I reached the edge of the crowd.

He caught up, his face enraged, a muscle in the jaw ticking. "Why?"

"Shh," I held up my finger as a newscaster began reporting. "You might want to listen to this."

"Good Evening, I'm here at the Jackson Park Beach tonight where the bodies of two women have been found. The identities of Elizabeth 'Kitty' Hyde and her sister Stephanie Montgomery have been found, reportedly drowned.

"Montgomery's boat was found adrift and reports say alcohol and drugs were on the boat, leading to speculations that impairment may have caused this tragic drowning. At..."

I steered a shocked and pliant Finn from the crowd, deeper into the park, closer to Michigan Avenue.

"What the fuck?"

"It worked. You wanted Kitty Hyde dead, and she's dead. You should be happy."

He paled. "I- what?"

"Bad news though, Harry Walters is very much alive. I'm surprised you let me have dinner with him, when you had to know what he'd tell me."

"Marly, it was a lie." He stopped and held me in place. "Whatever he said, it was a lie. I gave you the proof I found at his place. He and Kitty Hyde were blackmailing Stephanie's father."

I shook his hold off. "You're not the only one who knows how to fake evidence. And you should have been smarter, Finn."

I pulled out the photo Walters had given me. There, in full color, Finn was passionately kissing Stephanie Montgomery.

"You were fucking her while you said you loved me. When you pursued me, fumed at me for being with other men, you were fucking her. You used her and me to get Kitty Hyde killed. Why go to the trouble, Finn? Why not just have one of your goons kill her?"

His eyes went cold. "And have her father kill me? That wasn't the reason. Yes I slept with Stephanie, yes I arranged all of this, but I did it for you."

I barked with laughter drawing stares and turned to walk away. He grabbed me and whirled me around, his grip as unrelenting as iron. "You did this for me? How is fucking another woman supposed too help?"

"I needed to work with you again Marly. Time had passed since we brought down Kitty and her boy toy, and you wouldn't see me, talk to me. I knew the case would fall on your lap and you'd need my help. It was the only way to see you."

"What about Petrov? I know you didnt fake that!"

He dropped my arms and smoothed his hair. "Luck, but the wheels ere in motion. I couldn't stop it, then."

"Bullshit." I turned and walked back towards the crowd and he jogged after me, calling my name.

I pushed through until I saw the sheets draped over the bodies, and he drew up to my side.

"See what your greed and lust has wrought? Look at your handiwork, Finn. If you cared about Stephanie, this has gotta hurt. Fuck, I hope it does."

"Will you keep your voice down!" He whispered sibilantly. "I didn't love her, I love you. I've always loved you."

I looked at the bodies and shook my head. "If that's what comes from getting involved with you, I've had it. If I ever see you again, I will shoot you, or call Montgomery and tell him every detail of your involvement. Good bye, Finn."