And Then There Were None

"Kiss her, Dad, it will make Mom feel better than all those pills in different colors," Stacy whispered. Dave looked at his daughter's face. She was dead serious.

"Yeah, Dad, c'mon, kiss her. She'll know you're here," a voice spoke from behind him. Dave turned to see Mason rush into him, wrapping him in a tight bear hug.

"And you should also start sleeping here in this room," Mason continued in a serious tone, holding his father in a tight hold.

Dave walked over to the sleeping form of his wife. The oxygen mask covered her face so, Dave bent over and kissed her on her forehead. "I'm here baby, always," he softly whispered to her.

He walked back to his kids and hugged them.

"You guys are right, I should be here with you, but Dad has some important unfinished things to do, and I promise I will move in here in this room as soon as I'm able."

The kids were overjoyed by him being simply there with them in this hour of need. They went down and Dave spoke to his parents. Later, while the kids were watching a movie with their grandmother, he took his father aside and explained him the situation.

"I hope you don't plan on doing something stupid and then living to regret it the rest of your life. Your family needs you. Look at those two kids. The other evening, they were silent and sitting in their room. But look at them now. They're keeping their grandma busy and she loves it. Yes, Jill's medical condition will persist for some time to come, but now it's as though the last frontier to victory and fully recovery has been crossed."

"Nothing stupid, Dad, but something, definitely. Those guys drugged and then forced themselves on Jill. If I ask Detective Pete to reopen the file, then the chances are that we'll be in the local news for all the wrong reasons for a long time to come. This, I do not want to happen. But something will happen soon."

*****

HARRY AGAIN

The next evening, Dave sat in his den with Harry and began sifting thru the details collected by Harry regarding Larry Holmes, one of the guy in the drug/sex party they had inflicted on his wife. He looked closely at his photo. He was tall with a thin, scrawny look, high, prominent cheek bones and a receding hairline. Larry was smiling in the pic, with his left arm around his wife who was considerably shorter than him in height. A devil was lurking in the shadows behind that that smiling mask.

The next set of photos showed Larry in a dimly lit bar, animatedly talking to a Mexican guy wearing a baseball cap. In fact, it was the Mexican who seemed to be doing most of the talking, at times pointing a finger at Larry.

"That's Smiling Face," Harry said laconically, "He is part of the drug cartel working in our area. Of course. law enforcement has nothing conclusive to support that, and that is why he is openly moving around."

"You mean to say Larry is into drug deals?"

"Yeah, some kind of a subagent for the main guy, so whatever you are thinking of better not hurt the interests of these people."

He went over to the wife in the earlier picture. She looked like a chubby, pleasant type. So did the kids. A seemingly happy family, but those happy smiles in the picture were hiding many dark secrets.

"Does Larry's wife know about his drug deals?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if she was aware. She sure doesn't mind spending the money he brings home. She loves to shop at the most expensive malls and showrooms."

Dave didn't reply. He was thinking. He had to play on this bastard's weaknesses, then start drawing him in. He closed his eyes and remained silent for some time... 'weaknesses...'

Dave turned to his friend. "Harry, I need a really good looking woman. A real classy woman."

"What are you thinking Dave?"

"Just let me say that I want to play to his weakness, and classy women are his weakness. For now, don't ask me further. Do you know any such, um... like some location where we could like hire somebody?"

Harry smiled wryly on seeing his friend struggling to find the right word... and this guy was planning some revenge strike for what happened with his wife. He shook his head.

"If I heard you correctly, then what you are asking for is an escort. Number one, such services are expensive and what you are planning for would make the services all the costlier. I have friends who owe me some favors. Let me see. If I find one, you will have to convince this woman to go along with what you have in mind. And I repeat, it will cost a packet."

Jill's medical expenses were already costing him money. They did have insurance coverage, but since the drug factor had been suppressed by Pete, he was having to pay from her medication out of pocket. Dave thought about their family heirlooms. They had been brought over from Ireland when their first ancestors had travelled to America, and had been treasured by the family, ever since. Perhaps for a good reason. He would sell them to raise the kind of money Harry was talking about.

"Don't worry about the money part. I'll take care of it."

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "You are the guy doling out the cash; why should I complain? Let me arrange things and then we'll meet at that Italian restaurant near your office. A quick meeting."

True to his word, Harry called up two days later and they met at the restaurant.

"What about the escort service?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, I was coming to that. I checked with the better ones and explained them that the client doesn't really need the escort for himself, but might have some other reasons. They say as long as their girl is not put into any danger, they don't mind if he wants to spend the whole time just looking at their girl's face. But then they have these hourly charges ranging from a thousand to even five thousand for the classy ones."

Dave's face well. All put together he would be needing them for some hours spread thru different days. He might need to sell all the heirlooms."

"Five thousand you say; these ladies come from Mars, or Venus?"

Harry smirked. "The general thinking is that these ladies are from the rural countryside or poor background, and they're forced into this business to make a living. However, there is another side to it. Ladies from a so called "good background" sometimes start finding their well-cared-for life a bit dull. They want a change and so they sign up, so to speak. Or some good housewives are not getting satisfied in bed, so they enter this high profile life."

"This is seemingly going over my budget," Dave grumbled.

"Dave, there may be a possible way out. Some of the ladies in the escort business are freelancers, so to speak."

"What's that supposed to mean? Either they're into it or not in it."

Harry sighed before continuing," Like I said earlier, there are many shades of grey to this oldest profession. Most of the time, the escort service will call up the lady and give her the appointment coordinates. But there are girls who work on an off and on basis. They let the agency know when they would be available and when not. I spoke to one such girl, and she seems interested in this client who is paying upfront but not going to fuck her. Her name is Evelynn. She wants to meet you personally."

Harry took out a piece of paper and handed it to Dave. It was the name of a restaurant on Tennyson Street, a wild west themed restaurant quite popular as a family outing. He remembered taking his kids there.

"How will I recognize her?"

I have shared your pic with Evelynn. That's the way things happen in this line; she'll find you. Just be there at the appointed hour tomorrow evening.

The following day, Dave stopped by his parents' home. The kids hugged him. They were happy to see him and, so far, were okay with the story he had given that he had some important work going on, needed to work odd hours and so was best that he stays at their home and visit them as often as possible.

"Mom's awake every now and then," Mason said excitedly. For him, his world was seemingly returning to normal. His mother was on road to recovery and his dad was into some supercomputing stuff. Life couldn't be better.

"Yeah, Dad," Stacy said in a more business-like tone, "however, she drifts back to sleep again. The doctor says that's better so that she can continue gaining strength. They might even remove the oxygen mask in the days to come."

Dave entered his wife's room. It still resembled a private ward in a hospital, with medical equipment all around. On a table were a packet of syringes and vials to be put in use the next day for injecting medicines and multivitamins. Jill's hemoglobin was low, and her BP would fluctuate suddenly. The drug overdose had interfered with her body functioning normally.

She was shaking her head as though reacting to something running in her mind.

"Oh yes... yes, do it faster..." he heard her murmur.

She seemed to be coming out of the coma Dave thought. Were the images and memories of the back seat fuck session coming back to her? Had she enjoyed it? Dave clenched his fist in anger.

Her next words hit him hard.

"Who are you... get away... ahh," Jill ended with a cry of pain, then silence as though dealing with the now returning memories had been a big effort.

Tears ran down Dave's face. He took his wife's hand into his, leaned close to her and gently rested his head on her chest. Then he began kissing Jill. He planted kisses on her forehead and then her neck. He unbuttoned her top buttons and started placing kisses on her breasts. The bruises were healing nicely. Even the lovely birth mark on her breast looked healthier. Dave gently squeezed his sleeping wife's breasts, then kissed the birth mark.

He hoped to wash away those memories that were playing upon her mind. He hoped his gentle caressing alerted Jill that he was here with her now.

"Ummm..." Jill murmured and started breathing deeply. Perhaps this was the Lord's way of letting his Jill acknowledge his presence.

With a final pat to her hand, Dave got up and left the room. Tomorrow was going to be another busy day.

******

The next evening, Dave arrived early at the restaurant. He made it a point to leave early from his office so even if he got caught up in some traffic jams, he would still be in time for the meeting. After all, Harry had not shared Evelynn's number nor her pic with him. The deal was yet to be closed.

He was sipping his second cup of coffee when she walked in. Yes, he didn't have her pic to identify her, but at the very first glance he knew it was her. She was tall, around 5'9", long legs, nice breasts, not huge, but definitely ripe and full, beautiful brown hair falling to her shoulders. Most of all there was this attraction to her heart-shaped face and those big light blue eyes that left Dave totally mesmerized.

She was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a simple white blouse. Going by the fabric of the cloth, it was simple but expensive, and was showing just that teasing hint of cleavage. The sunglasses were up on her forehead. This was a family restaurant and she fit every part of it in her simple yet beautiful attire.

She saw him and started walking towards him as Dave continued to be immobilized and totally mesmerized. Evelynn smiled. Dave was not the first hot-blooded male who had been slain by her looks.

"Hi, I'm Evelynn," she said and extended her hand. They shook hands and Evelynn sat down across from Dave, the fragrance of her perfume gently caressing him.

"Nice place, isn't it?" she said, looking around. Dave stared at her, marveling. She might be in the escort business, but here she was behaving just like any person coming in for the first time would.

"Yes, it's a nice place to bring the family. The kids love the western theme of this place," Dave said as he called for coffee for Evelynn.

"You've been here before?"

"A couple of times with the family and..." Dave stopped short as Jill's pale face from the other evening flashed in his mind. He looked away and remained silent.

Evelynn kept watching him intently as though seizing him up.

"I'm sorry for becoming personal, Dave," she eventually said.

They both sipped their coffee quietly before Evelynn spoke again.

"Harry said you wanted my services, but you personally didn't need me. I didn't quite get him. Am I supposed to be entertaining your office clients? Will I be alone or there will be some more girls?" she asked, getting totally professional.

Dave looked into her big blue eyes and smiled inwardly. Yes, this was a professional meeting but why was he getting this gut feeling that she had deliberately started this conversion, in a way to move away from the personal side where she had seemingly touched a raw nerve.

More important, could he trust her enough to share some of the basic information she would be needing to help him in his plan? Dave continued looking into her face, gazing into the blue eyes, as if trying to take a deep dive inside them. He began telling her about the recent past events in his family's life.

They were well into their third cup of coffee when Dave finally stopped, with tears welling up in his eyes.

"I'm sorry for you, Dave. Now exactly where do I fit in? Seemingly, there's no office client to entertain, so what am I supposed to do?

" I want to destroy them financially. They love money, whether they get it from fair means or any other way. They don't care. Once they have money these bastards think they can do anything to anyone and get away with it."

"Larry is a middle rung player of the local drug network. The money he earns is lavishly spent on expensive items. His wife decorates their house with antiques purchased from this ill-gotten wealth. And then it was this drug that that they used on Jill to make her euphorically high and join them in their group sex. The amount of drug fed into her system almost proved fatal as her body organs took a bad hit from the overdose. They didn't care. They got what they wanted."

"Drug cartels can be bad business," Evelynn said in a worried tone.

Just then Dave saw a child rush past him into the parking lot, directly behind a backing car. The driver had not seen the kid and continued backing up. Dave immediately got up, jumped over the small decorative fence between them and got in between the kid and the backing car. The speed was slow and hopefully the car would gently bump into him and the driver would stop.

It turned out to be a bit more than a gentle bump. The driver did stop backing. Had it hit the small child, the car might have just rolled over him before coming to a halt. The kid's family thanked him profusely while the driver apologized and offered him to take him over to the nearest clinic. Dave refused. He didn't have time.

By then, Evelynn was beside him and she began cleaning him up.

She had a funny look on her face and was staring at him as though he was some kind of a weirdo.

"You do this all the time, superhero?"

"The kid could have been hurt."

Evelynn snorted, "I need to wash and dress that cut on your leg. Take me to your home."

"You really don't need to, Evelynn," Dave protested.

"We also haven't finished our talk," she continued, as though not hearing what he said.

Once at his home, she asked for the medical box and washed the abrasion with some antiseptic lotion. It was a minor cut and would heal up. All along, Dave kept inhaling her fragrance and silently admiring her beauty. This woman was beautiful, she was graceful and caring, too. There definitely must many guys lined up to be with her. Why this escort stuff? Dave shrugged; one thing for sure, she was way above his league. Had he happened to meet her in his bachelor days, he would have taken off in the opposite direction.

"Feeling better, superhero?" she asked with a twinkle in her eyes. Dave could feel his little fella stirring in admiration.

"You should be a doctor."

Evelyn gave a chortle and gently ran her hand over his cheek.

"Good, then let's continue from where we left off before our superhero had to perform his heroic duties for the day."

Dave got a glass of gin for Evelynn and whisky for himself. On the way, he had ordered for some pizza, as there was really nothing much in the home to offer to a guest as snacks.

"You expressed your reservations about getting entangled with the people in drug business. Let me assure you I have no intention of playing a super hero and freeing the city from drug dealers. I just want to strip Larry of his money. Now, if he were to be found in a public place with some large quantity of drugs in his possession, then he will be put behind bars and the happy days will be finished. The law is very tough on people found distributing drugs. He could be behind bars for a very, very long time. The drug bosses of the city will simply replace him with somebody else; he's just a spoke in the wheel."

Evelynn silently thought what Dave had told her. It did seem a safe game plan.

"Just how is Larry going to be found in a public place with a large quantity of drugs on him?

"I have a plan," Dave said, and leaned forward and started explaining.

"How do you like it?" he finally asked once he had finished.

"You know it just might work as you have described."

Dave relaxed. Getting her to accept the was critical for his plan to work.

"Tell me how much will you be charging me, Evelynn?"

"I will have to meet Larry at least a couple of times on different days to arouse his interest, and then we reel him in. So, those will be the days I will be taking a day off from my agency. There will be one or two other ladies playing some role. She quietly raised some fingers to indicate her fees."

He would have to sell almost all the heirlooms, thought Dave. He gave her a thumbs up, "We're on."

*****

LARRY HOLMES

Monday afternoon found Larry doing some intense calculations on his calculator. He was sitting in the back office of his jewelry showroom and working out his earning from the distribution of drugs done last week. It was Monday and the "Collector" would be around in the evening to take the collections for the last week's distribution. The rest would be his commission.

He checked once again. Yes, he had done well. His commission would be higher than that for the previous week. Beth will be happy, he thought. She had been talking about these Eastern European antiques she simply had to own. Yeah, he would give her a surprise this evening. Then he planned to use some of it to woo that new waitress in the restaurant where he took his lunch every day. She was young, with nice boobs and a cute smile. He had gotten around to talking to her and she did seem a bit hard up. A suitable reward for some pleasant services could definitely be a win/win situation for all. He couldn't wait to bury his face in her crotch and smell her arousal. He needed to fuck her soon.

Larry smiled at the thought and then looked at his watch. He still had time to have his daily lunch at his favorite nearby restaurant and return before the Collector arrived.

Dave saw Larry walk out of his showroom and start walking in the general direction of the restaurant. It was a daily habit.

He called Evelynn. "He will be there in the next ten minutes. Give him a few minutes to settle down and then you're on."

Evelyn was in a nearby parking lot. The shaded windows of her SUV were up and Larry couldn't see her if he happened to look in her direction. The car was hired by one of Harry's contacts using fake credentials, and nothing could come back to Evelynn, or Dave, for that matter.

Larry entered the restaurant, took his regular seat by the window and waited for the server to bring his lunch. He got the whiff of her exotic perfume before he felt her presence near him. He looked up to see this tall sexy woman standing next to him wearing a nice office suit, the blouse giving a teasing glimpse of what lay hidden within. The sunlight reflecting on her brown hair was making her look hot, really hot.