Hidden Lives

Twenty minutes later he was pulling up in front of a smart new build apartment block next to East Croydon station. The chat on the journey had been informal. More of a "getting to know you" than facts about the case. Both were thirty-two. It turned out that they had nearly joined the force on the same date. They must have been at Hendon Police College together, with Peter`s join date a month behind Terri`s. They reminisced about mutual acquaintances they had worked with and soon the atmosphere was relatively relaxed, as if they had known each other for years.

During the drive Peter couldn`t help himself, finding himself glancing occasionally at the shapely legs that were even more on view than before, and several times he caught Terri staring at his profile.

Peter wasn`t a bad looking man. Six feet tall, a mop of sandy hair that was unruly and never stayed combed. His face with high cheek bones would have been very handsome if it were not for the severely bent nose that he had obtained courtesy of a drunk in a Kilburn pub fight when he was a beat PC. His body was muscular, and he still played occasionally for the Met Rugby team, although now he had been relegated to the second XV.

Peter parked in the underground parking lot and followed Terri up a couple of flights of stairs trying desperately hard not to stare at the buttocks waggling in front of his eyes. Once they entered her small, but immaculately clean apartment Terri led him down a short hallway to a large sitting room. There was a tiny balcony that looked out onto the busy street and three doors led off the room. All were open. The first door was to a spotlessly clean kitchen. The second, an equally sanitary bathroom and through the last door Peter could see a large double bed that was the centre of the bedroom. The bed was made and there was not one article of clothing visible. Terri was definitely a clean freak to the point of OCD.

"Make yourself at home," she said politely. "There is tea or coffee in the kitchen."

"I´m fine," Peter said as he sauntered over to look out of the balcony window at the traffic below.

Terri disappeared into the bedroom and Peter waited for her to close the door, and when she didn`t his heart raced. As a good policeman he took in his surroundings. The room was as sterile as a hospital ward. The only picture was that of an elderly couple that Peter presumed were Terri`s parents. The art on the walls was all IKEA prints and the TV was small and obviously unimportant to the owner. As he looked around he noticed a mirror on the wall that when viewed at the right angle gave a perfect view into Terri`s bedroom.

His guilt level rose to heights he didn`t know were possible as he watched Terri slip out of the black suit, carefully hang it on a hanger and place it in the large wardrobe against one wall. Peter knew he should look away, but couldn`t as Terri`s fabulous body was revealed when she removed the scarlet blouse and placed it carefully in the wicker washing basket in one corner. Terri had her back to him as she pulled her chestnut hair back and fastened it with a bright orange scrunchy.

Her magnificent body was on full display as she stretched. She was now wearing just a lacy black underwear set with a thin garter belt attached to the black stockings he had witnessed in the car. Her feet were still wearing the red high heels and Peter couldn`t help himself from becoming as hard as iron in his Levi`s. His eyes were drawn to the bold coloured tattoo of a serpent that appeared to be entwined around her spine as it ran the entire length of her otherwise flawless back. Terri Kincaid really was every man's wet dream.

Peter tried to drag his eyes away. As he moved them from Terri`s fabulous body they were drawn to a large frame hanging over the bed. This was the only thing he had seen in the whole apartment that looked as if it hadn`t come from a show house. It contained a large pencil drawing of two men and a woman. The man was lying prone with one naked woman riding on his dick as the other woman ground her pussy against his face. A classic threesome picture that was made all the more erotic by the pencil style used to create it. It was a few seconds before he realised that the woman riding the man's groin had a tattoo of a snake running down her back. The drawing was of Terri and another couple.

Terri sat on the bed after kicking off her shoes and Peter watched silently as she unclipped each stocking in turn before rolling them seductively down her long legs. By now Peter was beginning to suspect that Terri knew he was watching, even though he was hidden from view. Once she had removed the stockings she unclipped the garter belt from her waist and deposited the three items in the wicker basket.

Terri stood in the middle of the bedroom and surveyed herself in the full-length mirror attached to one of the wardrobe doors. Peter held his breath as she first weighed her breasts in the flimsy material of the black bra, then tenderly pinched each of her nipples through the thin material. Her eyes closed as one hand left her right breast and slid down her hard tummy before one finger ran lightly over the crotch of her panties.

Peter watched open mouthed as Terri mutely rubbed her pussy through the sheer black material of her panties for a minute or two. Then the spell was broken as she pulled the wardrobe door open so she was hidden from view. When the door swung shut she was wearing a pale green T-shirt and clasping a pair of pale blue jeans in her hands. Peter watched as she pulled the tight jeans up her legs and fastened the button at the waist. Another delve in the wardrobe produced a pair of pristine white Nike trainers, and carrying these she walked towards the bedroom door as Peter hurriedly returned to staring out the window.

"Enjoy the view?" she asked, trying not very hard to hide the fact it was a double entendre.

"Great!" Peter mumbled as he willed his obvious erection to dissipate.

Terri perched on the sofa and pulled the trainers on and laced them up carefully. As she did so she said, "Shall we stay here and compare notes. Once we both know everything we can go to the Coroners. It`s less than ten minutes from here. Tea? Coffee?"

"Tea please," Peter said eagerly as he frantically tried to make the bulge in his jeans vanish.

Thankfully by the time Terri returned with two steaming mugs on a tray with a small milk jug and sugar bowl Peter`s erection had reduced enough for it to not be overtly visible, and he sat on the armchair opposite to where Terri plonked herself down on the sofa, before saying, "You go first. Tell me everything you know."

Peter had snagged the case file from his desk before they left the office so opened it now and spread the contents over the low coffee table between them. His professionalism kicked in as he filled Terri in on everything that had not been in the news.

Starting with the day before the disappearance he told her about the spa day, the fact that she had slept at home alone as her husband was doing lines and shagging a model in Hammersmith. Then her visit to the gym Monday morning and her shopping trip. She had withdrawn two thousand pounds in cash from the Oxford Street branch of her bank before beginning shopping. She had visited three exclusive boutiques and bought a blouse and jumper in one. A dress in another, and a pair of boots in the last. Strangely she had paid for these items with credit card even though she had all that cash.

Her last stop had been at the lingerie store in Bond Street. She had purchased five sets of La Perla underwear, ten packs of stockings and three packs of tights. Again using her credit card. They had followed her on CCTV to Oxford Street and then lost her behind the bus.

Peter explained that they had ruled out the husband as his alibi and the CCTV evidence were water tight, and he had to admit that the man had seemed genuinely distraught when he had interviewed him. "Now tell me what you know about this club. Dante`s Inferno?"

Terri took a mouthful of her tea and settled back in the sofa, crossed one shapely leg over the other and started with, "Not a lot really."

Placing her cup delicately on a coaster on the table she continued, "We have known of its existence for some time. Mainly through rumours. It is a sex club for the rich and famous. There is a limited membership and entry is by invitation only. It's an everything goes type of place, but as they were all consenting adults and there was no evidence of children being involved or anything illegal we opened a file and left it at that until a year ago."

"What happened a year ago," Peter asked placing his own cup on a coaster.

"One of my CI`s told me that she and several other high-end escorts had been invited to a party. It was New Years eve. There were three girls and they had been promised ten thousand each for a nights work. The only condition being they could not refuse the clients anything. My CI told me afterwards that all three had definitely earned their money. They had been picked up from a meeting point at London Bridge station and driven for about twenty minutes. The limousine had blacked out windows, so they were not sure where they were, but she knew they were in the City of London as she felt the car go over the bridge across the Thames."

"When the car had stopped they were in an underground garage. An elevator took them upstairs and they emerged into a club. It was packed with both men and women in various costumes. There were separate rooms leading off a main corridor where all manner of sex acts were taking place. The three girls were then asked to get naked, which they did willingly I am told. During the course of the evening they had sex with multiple partners, both male and female. They were screwed anally, vaginally and orally for six hours. All three were tied to a cross at separate times throughout the evening and beaten with canes, paddles and whips. Nothing terrible, but enough to cause them pain and discomfort for a few days. My CI showed me the bruising and whip marks on her body."

"Fucking hell," Peter exclaimed.

"Once the night finished the girls were each given an envelope containing twelve thousand in cash. The extra two thousand was a tip collected from the members apparently. They were allowed to dress and then driven back to London Bridge in the same car. My CI recognised more than a few of those present, even though the majority wore masks to hide their identity. She told me that when the sex built up to such a frenzy that a couple of the guests let their masks slip. The names she gave me were all serious A Listers and among the wealthiest of London`s elite. Another thing that was interesting was that the envelopes that held the cash were printed with a logo, "Dante`s Inferno".

"Did you try and locate the place?" Peter asked softly.

"Of course, but with no clues other than possibly City of London with an underground garage we had nothing to go on. We couldn`t ask the people she had identified as technically they had committed no offences that we knew of apart from shagging a few prostitutes, and these weren`t the kind of people you dragged into the nick for such a shitty crime."

"Is that all?" Peter asked trying hard to hide the disappointment from his voice.

Terri turned quiet and studied the floor for a few seconds before saying, "No. A few months later my CI told me she had been offered a new gig with the same people. It was a costume party apparently. The deal was the same. Three girls and 10K for the night, no holds barred. I asked her if she would wear a tracker in a shoe so that I could locate the club, and in return I would make a few solicitation charges vanish. She agreed. I staked her out at London Bridge and watched the car pick her up. Unusually no plates. I started to follow when my Chief Inspector pulled his car up next to mine, practically blocking off my car. By the time I had explained to him what I was doing, and he had apologised and moved his car I had lost them. That was the last time I saw Cheryl, my CI.I checked her tracker and saw she was moving down the Thames. Thinking they were maybe using a boat for the party I followed the river until it became apparent Cheryl wasn`t on a fucking boat. The dive team found her body at Rochester three days later and her tracker shoe the day after stuck in some weeds."

"What happened. Who did the investigation?"

"The investigation was shut down by the brass after three days. No clues. CCTV at London Bridge had been non-functioning at the time of pick up. All I had was London City and underground car park. The word came from very high up to close it down as she was only a fucking prostitute and we had nothing to go on."

"That`s terrible," Peter was shocked. As with most cops he didn`t distinguish between rich or poor, unknown or famous. All deserved justice. He hoped that when he found Chelsea`s killer it would also bring justice for Cheryl.

They were both in a sombre mood as Terri meticulously tided the lounge before replacing the sugar bowl in a cupboard and depositing their dirty mugs and the milk jug in the dishwasher. As they exited the apartment Peter gave a hasty backward glance and saw that the apartment was as tidy as when they had arrived. Nobody would have even known they had been there. Definite OCD he thought as he followed Terri back to his car.

The pair walked into the coroners. Chelsea Hargreaves body was lying naked on one of the slabs, the other occupied by a large black man who had sores all over his body indicating a life of living rough. Here at least there was no distinction between rich and poor Peter thought as he waited for the coroner to finish speaking into his Dictaphone whilst crouched over the black man`s corpse.

Peter and Terri introduced themselves and the coroner led the way into an office with files piled high on the desk and floor. "What can you tell us Doctor?" Terri asked.

"Chelsea Hargreaves. Forty-five. Body in tremendous shape for her age. Evidence of consensual sex with at least eleven people less than two hours before her death. The semen in her anus and vagina showed no match in our data base. The semen in her stomach was seriously degraded by the stomach acids. Although we did get a hit from the data base on one of the specimens. It wouldn`t hold up in court I`m afraid but it belongs to Kyle Jennings."

"Fuck!" Peter exclaimed loudly before apologising profusely to the two ladies. Kyle Jennings was English, but a Hollywood superstar. His latest action movie had been top of the box office on both sides of the Atlantic for the past month. Peter knew from the magazines that Lee loved to read that he had a mansion in California and also he had recently bought a large house in the commuter belt South of London.

"Why was he in the system?" Terri asked, obviously intrigued as to why a star actor would be in the Police data base.

"Apparently his first wife accused him of hitting her. The case was not pursued after she refused to testify. Rumour was he paid her six figures and agreed to an astronomical alimony after they divorced. For us though the case remains open, hence his DNA on file."

"Anything else Doctor?" Peter asked.

The Doctor looked at him with slit eyes caused from fatigue. He was sure she had been dragged from her bed early that morning to attend the site where Chelsea`s body had been discovered, then received orders from the very top to conduct a rapid autopsy. "There were marks on her buttocks and upper thighs to suggest she had been caned at least ten times. Also approximately less than an hour before death. There was also a number "22" tattooed in red on her pubic mound, which had been waxed approximately twenty-four hours previously."

"Cause of death?" Teri asked.

"Ligature strangulation. The ligature was the same thickness as those used to bind her ankles and wrists. Reviewing all of the evidence on the body that points to consensual sexual games I am not comfortable in calling it murder yet. It may have been some erotic game that went wrong, so it would be manslaughter at best, or possibly death by misadventure. I will see what your investigation uncovers before I make a definitive ruling."

They both thanked the Doctor for the information and walked out to the parking lot. Terri pulled a pack of Benson and Hedges from her shoulder bag and after Peter declined the proffered packet she lit a cigarette and blew a large plume of grey blue smoke up into the early evening dusk. Using her mobile she made a few calls until she got an address for Kyle Jennings in Surrey.

While she was doing this Peter called his office to check in, then Lee to tell her he wasn`t sure when he would be home as he was on a difficult case. His wife knew better than to ask him about his work, although she knew from his reaction that morning that it had something to do with Chelsea Hargreaves. She was off out with some friends that evening so told him not to worry and she had left a mini-Shepherd's pie in the fridge that he just needed to microwave for five minutes. Peter signed off with his customary, "Love you Baby," before turning around to see Terri staring at him with a grin on her face.

"Wife or lover?" she asked, the grin becoming wider.

"Wife."

"Picture?"

Peter opened the screen saver on his phone and showed Terri. "Good looking. You are a lucky man. She obviously doesn't mind you looking as long as you don`t touch I suppose."

Peter blustered a "What's that supposed to mean?"

Terri gave a laugh that was full of hidden sensual promise, "You know very well. You`ve been checking me out since we first met, then you watched me get undressed in the mirror."

Peter was trying to think of a lame excuse when Terri continued, "Don`t worry about it. I`m flattered, plus you`re a handsome guy and I`m a born exhibitionist. If you ever want to bring your wife around I`m sure we would all enjoy ourselves as well, she is definitely my type, now come on. I have an address for our Mr. Jennings."

Peter walked in stunned silence back to the car. His mind was now filled with thoughts of Lee, Terri and himself sharing a bed rather than the death of Chelsea Hargreaves. He really had no idea how to respond to Terri`s frank remarks, so stayed silent as Terri programmed the address into the car`s navigation system and Peter drove through the twilight towards Kyle Jennings house.

After a while he heard Terri let out a sigh. Peter nearly crashed the car when she whispered, "I`m sorry if I embarrassed you. I didn`t mean to. I have always been open and honest about sex, and I suppose working in vice just makes things appear even more normal. Just for transparency I would like to say that I find you very attractive and would like to sleep with you sometime. I am also bi-sexual so if your wife would like to join in I am up for that as well. If not, then I am also quite happy to just get the job done as you seem a more than competent detective."

When he finally got the car under control Peter muttered, "No problem. Let's just concentrate on the case." He was quiet for a few seconds before adding, "But thanks for the offer. I am also flattered, but I am a happily married man."

"All good," Terri stated, apparently not at all fazed by his refusal. "I bet she is good in bed."

"Who?" Peter asked risking a glance away from the busy traffic at his partners grinning face.

"Lee of course. I bet she fucks you stupid every chance she gets. I know I would if you were in my bed."

Peter swallowed and said in a hushed voice, "We do very well thank you, now let's change the subject, we are nearly there."

"OK!" Terri pouted comically, „But if you ever feel like it you can tell me about sex with Lee. I especially enjoy it when men describe their partners sucking their cocks. What they do, how it feels. Do they spit or swallow. It really turns me on."