Keyholder Demoness Ch. 13

Early in the morning an officer with a food cart came by Charity's cell. "You had quite the bender last night, didn't you?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Charity was happy that she could actually formulate words. She had been worried that she had lost the ability to speak.

"Well, this is the drunk tank. Luckily for you, Detective Tumalo is not going to file any charges, so you should be able to collect your personal effects in a few hours after the bureaucrats are satisfied and head on home. I believe that Detective Tumalo, herself, is going to come and collect you."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Charity said as the officer handed her a protein bar, a bottle of water, and ibuprofen.

Charity lay back down on the fold out bed and tried to calm her racing mind. Hope was still missing. Blue was still missing. And Charity was terrified by her actions the night before - at least, what she remembered...

She felt like she couldn't understand what people were saying. She couldn't form the words she wanted to express. She had been incredibly horny - kissing every woman that stepped near her. She had been so quick to anger. She had never felt the need to physically attack someone ever in her life before. Was the belt turning her into an animal? Was it stripping her of her ability to reason? She was extremely afraid. "I've got to get out of here and get a dose of the medicine," she thought. Anything to prevent her from losing her humanity.

After a couple of hours, the officer returned with a set of full prisoner restraints. "It's policy," the officer explained as she cuffed Charity's hands to a belt which had another chain descending to a set of ankle fetters.

Charity was escorted down a hall into a room with a table and two chairs. Charity sat down and the officer linked Charity's ankle chain to a loop on the floor. After waiting another ten minutes, Detective Tumalo walked into the room and sat down. She placed a phone on the table. "I think this is yours."

Charity started to reach for it, but the chains prevented her from succeeding. "Yes, Ma'am."

Tumalo picked it up and activated the screen. "You should protect your device with a pin, or something. Otherwise, anyone can thumb through your phone."

"I do," Charity said nervously.

"Doesn't look like it," Tumalo said, swiping from screen to screen. "I took the liberty of reviewing your text log. Seems like you kept a good record of last night's activities... which bars... how many drinks... You're a buck 10? A buck 15? Your blood alcohol content was quite high..."

"Yes, Ma'am," Charity said. "I don't usually drink. At all."

Tumalo kept scrolling through the text stream. "I don't really understand this thread though," Tumalo continued. "Some messages are listed as being from 'Keyholder', but they are sent from your phone. Are you 'Keyholder'?"

"Am I supposed to have my lawyer with me if you are asking questions?" Charity asked.

"Don't worry Metolius is on her way... and your boss, too... Perit..."

"Why Perit?" Charity asked.

Tumalo ignored Charity's question. "These web links in your text messages are pretty wild." Tumalo seemed to be watching some kind of video on Charity's phone. "What is this? Lesbian body modification hardcore porn? Heh... These two women have their tongue piercings locked together. Do you like this stuff?"

"I've never seen anything like that," Charity said, staring at the table.

"It looks like you stored it in your message history. At least your 'Keyholder' personality did," Tumalo said.

Finally, Tumalo put the phone down on the table. "You've been exhibiting a string of erratic behaviors recently. I'm kind of concerned about how well you are holding up to all the stresses in your life."

"Have you found Hope, yet?" Charity asked, trying to gain some sort of control of the conversation.

"Are these activities that you believe are normal?" Tumalo continued. "Painting yourself green? Is that something normal people do?"

"It's temporary," Charity said.

"How about running around naked in public places?" Tumalo asked.

"I was drunk last night. I don't know what got into me," Charity responded.

The door opened and Metolius and Perit entered the room.

"Oh, hello," Detective Tumalo said to the newcomers. "We were just talking about how Charity has a habit of running around naked in public places."

"That was just..." Charity started, then she looked up at Metolius who was standing with her arms crossed, frowning. "Where is Hope, is she OK?"

"You seem to be wearing a very strange pair of underwear," Tumalo said. "We couldn't really figure out how you take them off."

Charity stared at the table.

"Can you take them off?" Tumalo asked.

Charity mumbled, "I don't have the key."

"You don't have the key?" Tumalo laughed. "Well, that's quite a predicament. Who has the key?"

"Blue has the key," Charity whispered.

"Blue? Blue, who has been 'missing'," Tumalo used air quotes, "'missing' for over four months?"

"Abducted!" Charity said, inadvertently rattling the chains of her bonds. "If you would quit spending your time investigating me, maybe you would be closer to finding her. Obviously, it's in my best interest to help you in every way that I can. And every time I try, I feel like you simply turn your focus on me."

"I have no doubt that you are a victim, Ms. McKenzie," Tumalo said. "My concern is that the stress is causing you to make some very poor decisions. Unhealthy decisions. Decisions that endanger others. For example, I have a question for you to answer... Where is the decorated woman? Where is 'Hope', as you call her?"

"I don't know," Charity said, tears beginning to fall suddenly from her eyes.

"Well, it's kind of convenient that you've misplaced her as soon as we expressed interest in communicating with her!"

Charity looked up at Perit briefly. She was frowning too.

"It seems," Tumalo continued, "that you told Perit that 'Hope' was incapable of surviving alone in the city, but it looks like she is doing a damn good job of disappearing into it. I certainly wouldn't think that she is easily camouflaged!"

"I'm... I'm really worried about her..." Charity whispered. She occasionally forgot her hands were bound to her waist and tried to unsuccessfully wipe her eyes.

"There are no charges pressed against you," Tumalo said, finally. "So I can't keep you here. But the three of us have talked and we are concerned about your mental health. We have decided that we are going to send you up to the asylum for a mandated 72 hour observation period."

"What?!" Charity said, looking up at Perit. "That's not necessary!"

"Said the green woman who consensually locked her own sex away," Tumalo mumbled.

"Charity," Perit said in a calming tone. "It's going to be ok. This is the best thing for you."

"What if Hope decides to return to my house? I need to be there!"

"We have people staking out your house," Tumalo said. She turned to Perit. "A prison transport is ready to send Ms. McKenzie up."

"Do you have any required medication that you are taking?" Perit asked.

"Yes, it's on the top shelf of my refrigerator," Charity said as her anxiety began to rise.

"We can provide whatever you need from the pharmacy at the asylum," Perit said. "What's the medication called?"

"Faith can bring it to me," Charity said.

"Outside medicine isn't allowed," Perit explained. "What is the medication that you are taking?"

"I... I don't know what it is," Charity said.

Tumalo snickered.

"Are you self medicating?" Perit asked.

"No. I... I just don't know what it's called..."

"Aren't you licensed as a psychiatrist to prescribe medicine?" Tumalo asked.

If the medicine prevented Charity from becoming some sort of animal, she couldn't imagine what would happen if she stopped taking it for 72 hours.

"Faith will bring it to the asylum and you can figure out what it is," Charity said to Perit.

"OK," Perit said. "But regardless, I cannot administer non-FDA approved medications at the asylum."

"What? No! I have to have the med... the med... the drugs!" Charity screamed. She was becoming frantic.

Tumalo pressed the button on her police radio. "Send two escorts to room 5 to assist prisoner transport."

"What? Perit, please," Charity said. "This is important."

"Shhh... Calm down, Charity. Everything will be alright."

"The Fed's arrive early next week. I'll have them come up to the asylum. Maybe they'll know how to break open that chastity belt," Tumalo commented.

"Next week?! That's more than 72 hours! Perit!" Charity screamed, struggling against the chains holding her to the table.

<>--+-

Two officers arrived in the interrogation room and escorted Charity in prisoner chains to the transport bus where she was secured within a small, single seat cage. The bus ride was only fifteen minutes, so in the end they spent more time locking and unlocking her restraints than anything. Charity believed Tumalo was just trying to scare her. It was working.

Charity was taken to a processing room where all her restraints were removed. She was stripped of her prison uniform as well. Luckily Perit monitored Charity as she showered so she wouldn't have to explain the reason why a strip search was unnecessary.

Finally, an ugly red jumpsuit was issued to Charity and she was escorted by Perit and two orderlies to a private room where she ate some bad institutional food and was forced to take some anxiety medicine.

Perit tried to explain that the 72 hour observation wouldn't begin until the next day, which upset Charity once again. She felt a fog descend on her brain as the medication took effect. So, she was unable to express her concerns. Soon the door to her room was shut. There was a small barred window in the door and another high up on the opposite wall that allowed daylight to enter.

Charity lay on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

Someone was shaking her, when she woke up. No light was shining through the exterior window. It must have been dark outside.

"Charity, wake up, baby."

"Faith?" Charity asked.

"Come on. We need to get out while we can," Faith said.

"How...?" Charity started to ask.

"I remembered that you have a set of badges and asylum keys in your office," Faith said. "Let's go."

To Charity, everything seemed very surreal. Faith led them through quiet low-lit halls of the asylum and they slipped out the front door unchallenged. "My car is just down the street," Faith whispered.

"Slow down!" Charity whispered. "I'm barefoot!"

"Sorry, babe!"

Charity was feeling a little more clear-headed by the time they were in Faith's car. "What the hell are we going to do?"

"I think I know where Blue is being held," Faith said. "And maybe Hope too. We need to drive about an hour out of town into the mine country."

"OK," Charity said. "Can we stop by my house? I need shoes and some mmm... m... drugs."

"Sorry, babe. There's cops all over the place watching your house."

"I'm definitely going to jail for this," Charity whispered.

"If we save Blue and Hope, it'll be worth it. If not, we'll both be going to jail."

As Faith drove into the night, she began to explain what she had found out.

"Last week I staked out Fedea Whychus's house - you remember - my ex-coworker slash hacker suspect friend?"

"Yeah, yeah, the woman with the frizzy hair."

"Yeah, I watched her place. She was there. The car was there. But nothing strange seemed to be going on. I even spied through her windows. She was playing a video game for hours. I was racking my brain about some of the clues that we have been given. Whoever has Blue wants us to find her obviously. Stalking Fedea was getting me nowhere. I tried to crack that coded message about the sutured mouth. I tried to crack the cipher."

"Ciph...?" Charity asked, confused.

"Yeah. No luck," Faith continued. "But then I remembered how your underwear drawer had been... uh... vandalized. All your panties had been torn apart and a word had been cut out of the gusset."

"Gus...gusset?" Charity asked.

"Yeah. You know. The bottom of the underwear," Faith said. "Words like 'blue' and 'mine' made us think that the kidnapper was bragging about abducting Blue. Actually though it was a collection of words that had to be unscrambled. And I did. I unscrambled them: 'Four Sisters Mine. Mine Shaft Blue Two'. I figured that out yesterday evening at your house! I was waiting for you to come home, but you never did. Anyway, I also discovered that your neighbor has a Clang doorbell - you know, the doorbell with a camera. Your neighbor let me look at the footage during the time period you were stuck on your rack. Well... a car showed up in front of your house. Fedea's car! She went in your house with a suitcase and then came back out with the exact same suitcase twenty minutes later. But, it was obviously much heavier."

"Hope!?" Charity said.

"Seems like that is her default mode of transport. Anyway, I emailed the footage to Tumalo, but they are too slow. She probably won't even get the video until tomorrow. We need to go get Blue and Hope now!"

"Oh, hell yeah!" Charity said.

They were outside the city limits heading up the dark twisty roads into the mountains. "Faith," Charity said. "I love you. You're the best sister ever."

"I love you too, babe. I've got the coordinates of the Four Sisters Mine - Mine Shaft Blue Two in Goze right now. We'll be there in a half hour."

<>--+-

"Look!" Charity whispered. "There's Fedea's car." They had parked Faith's car around the bend and walked along the logging road.

"Yeah. I see it," Faith acknowledged.

"Ooo!" Charity cursed. "I think I just stepped on a banana slug. Gross. I wish I had shoes."

"Shut up, babe," Faith responded. "I can't see any activity through that window. Let's sneak up to the door."

They crept through the moonlit night to a small shack that must have once housed workers when the mine was operative. There was a dim light emanating from the window. Faith stuck her head up to look into the window and quickly ducked back down.

"What?" Charity mouthed.

Faith held up one finger indicating Charity to wait a second, then slowly raised her head again. This time she looked around for a bit before crouching back down. She pointed to Charity and indicated that she should look through the window.

Charity raised her head. The interior was old and rundown. There were rusty looking tools lying around and wooden furniture. Toward the back of the room was a large cage with heavy iron bars. It was about three feet tall, maybe eight feet long. There was movement in the cage! Charity ducked, then cautiously looked again. There was a naked woman in the cage.

She ducked down again and turned to Faith. "That's Fedea!" she whispered. "What the fuck?"

"I know," Faith whispered.

"What are we going to do?"

Faith crawled over to the door and gently tried the doorknob. "It's open!"

"Don't just go in there," Charity whispered. "Someone else might be there."

Faith reached down to her hip and pulled out a revolver.

"Faith! Where did you get that?!" Charity whispered.

"Shh!"

Faith stood up with the gun out and slowly opened the door. She stepped into the shack.

Fedea saw Faith immediately and scrambled around in the cage to get as far away from Faith as she could, but she remained quiet. Charity looked around Faith through the open door. Fedea definitely seemed terrified. She also had something wedged in her mouth. A huge green ball gag. Charity could hear Fedea's panicked breathing whistling through her nose.

"Come inside," Faith whispered. "Let's close the door."

Charity took one last look behind her. She saw a flash of blue light. More than a flash! She slipped in and shut the door. "Cops!" she whispered.

"What?" Faith said. She stepped over the window. "Fuck! Fuck! OK. It only looks like one car. I'm going to go buy us time. You figure out where Hope and Blue are."

"No! Faith!"

It was too late. Faith slipped out of the door and into the darkness with her gun raised.

Charity turned to the cage. Fedea was still crouched toward the back. There was a huge padlock on the cage door. Charity yanked at it hopelessly. Charity also saw a padlock dangling on the side of Fedea's head. Her gag was part of a head harness and it was obviously not coming off without a key.

"Where are Hope and Blue, Fedea?" Charity hoped that Fedea would be more helpful if Charity called her by name. Unfortunately, Fedea simply shook her head, "no". Her eyes were huge. She was obviously terrified by something.

Charity looked around the shack a little more. There was a hall that led further into the building, but there were no lights and, seemingly, no doors either.

"Fedea! Please! I love Hope and Blue. I need to find them!"

Fedea kept shaking her head.

Outside, she heard raised voices screaming, arguing. One voice was that of Faith. She recognized that the other was Detective Tumalo.

There was a sudden buzzing sound, then machinery started whirring somewhere behind the shack. Fedea looked fearfully towards the hall, then back at Charity. "Are they back there?"

Fedea was crouched in a ball shivering.

Outside Charity heard the sound of a gunshot, followed by two more.

"Faith!"

She tried to look out the window to see what had happened. A light turned on behind her. Its source was somewhere down the hall. Charity turned. At the far end a door had opened. It was a mine shaft elevator.

"Fuck!" She looked at Fedea who started trying to say something into her gag, enthusiastically shaking her head. She looked at the open elevator. There was a buzzing sound. The same as she had heard before. The door to the elevator started to slide closed.

"Fuck!" Charity ran down the hall and slipped through the door at the last second. A metal clanging sound echoed from below. There was a rattle of chains. Then the elevator began to descend into the darkness of the interior of the mountain.