Meticulous Malice

With that in mind she made reservations to go to Europe, she also made ones to return the way she had come. This might confuse someone, but if they were smart, they would figure it out quickly. Maybe she would split the two of them up, and she was almost certain there were two of them. She entered the elevator and got off on her floor. Walking towards her door she thought she heard a radio squelching noise. She continued past her room and towards the set of stairs at the end of the hallway. Using her shoulder, she never touched the door as she opened it. Going into the stairwell she simply hid behind the door. She heard rather than sensed the rush of feet that were following her. Someone looked through the square window into the stairwell, possibly hoping to see if Alice had gone up the stairs or down. She had done neither from her position behind the door. She felt the door begin to open and saw a woman come through. In an instant Alice recognized her from the plane. She turned to look up or down the stairs but never had a chance as Alice gave her a hearty push. Surprise was on Alice's side. The woman tumbled down the short flight of stairs, momentarily stunned but Alice was above her instantly, ripping a radio from her hip. Using her small clutch purse in a manner that suggested something and using the woman's imagination against she said "get up" in an ominous voice.

The woman shook off the bruises and cuts she had sustained on her roll down the flight of steps. She was still stunned though. Alice roughly helped her to her feet. Despite her small stature she was physically strong. She pushed the purse against the woman's side and watched as her eyes began to bulge in her head.

"Where is your room?" Alice asked conversationally. She hoped no one would come into the stairwell but it was late and unlikely.

The woman started to shake her head but Alice pushed a little harder with the purse against her side and the woman stuttered "up upstairs, next to yours."

Alice wondered if they had put drill holes through her wall to watch her or whatever else they had done besides rifle through her things. "Where is your key card" she said quietly. No one would guess by her tone that she was furious inside, angry at having been spied on, pissed at the inconvenience of having to take care of this incidental on her little weekend away.

"I I don't have one" the woman lied unconvincingly.

Alice pushed her purse a little harder against her side and whispered conversationally "then you better shit out one before we get up these steps. I wouldn't" she warned as the woman made a sudden move, her wits beginning to come back to her.

"It's in my pocket" she indicated her pants but kept her hands away from her body.

"Using one hand and fingers only, slide it out" Alice warned as she pushed slightly for the woman to begin walking up the stairs. Feeling like a bad B movie she added for effect "don't try anything or it's gonna get messy."

The woman slid out a key card and held it in her hand. She didn't realize that this little bit of plastic hindered her from defending herself if Alice so chose to attack. In the instant it would take to drop it or use it defensively, an instant was all someone of Alice's nature would use.

As they reached the landing on the floor where they were both staying Alice said conversationally "open the door, slowly" and then watched as the inexperienced woman did. Alice knew she had to be inexperienced because someone who was good at this, knew what they were doing, would know to attack, fight back, it was a public place, and Alice unarmed, or was she? Alice looked down the deserted hallway and nudged the woman along.

They walked without incident to the room next to Alice's. Alice was pressed to the woman's side, holding her purse tightly against the woman who had begun to tremble. The woman was instructed to use her key card and as the light turned green and the click was heard, Alice pushed her slightly and said "don't do anything foolish."

The room was nearly identical, the furniture on opposite sides of the room than her own. It was obvious two people were staying here by the clothing strewn about the room. The lights had been left on. Alice shook her head distastefully at the mess and the waste of electricity. She took the room in at a glance, looking for possible weapons and then thought perhaps they weren't THAT stupid to leave them lying about.

"Strip" she told the frightened woman who balked at the idea but the threat that was in Alice's purse seemed to change her mind and although she didn't know what Alice had in there, it had felt real to her fevered imagination, and Alice seemed pretty confident in whatever it was. She began to take off her blouse, Alice watching every move. When she stood before Alice in her underwear she must have come to senses finally from her fall.

"Wait, you don't understand" she began but Alice gave her a look that effectively silenced her.

"Do you want to explain it all voluntarily or will I have to pull it from you" she indicated her purse with her gesture. She waited patiently. People are interesting if you study them long enough and Alice was a student of humanity. She knew this woman wanted to tell her something, possibly why they had been following her, but at the same time she was frightened, hurt, and out of her element.

"You misunderstood" she began.

"Oh really?" Alice put enough sarcasm in her words that the woman was terrified.

The radio in Alice's other hand crackled "Bev, I'm going to go get a drink, let me know if she leaves her room."

Alice looked at her prisoner, standing there in grandma panties and a bra that sagged her breasts. What a good set of underwear would have done for the woman! "Answer him, and it better be the right answer or the pain you felt falling down those steps will be nothing to what I do to you" she said it without raising her voice, almost conversationally as she held out the radio but didn't allow the woman to take it.

"Okay, gotcha" the woman answered into the radio as Alice pressed the button.

There was a quaver in her voice but Alice decided to let it go. If they were cops, she should have answered '10-4' but if they were cops, they had no jurisdiction here in the Cayman's. "Finish stripping" she said as she indicated the granny panties and awful bra.

The woman's eyes bugged again and she began to shake her head. Alice never hesitated as she raised the radio and smashed it against the woman's head, stunning her. Rarely does it happen like in the movies where you knock them out with one swipe. The stunning was enough. The woman whimpered and went down clutching her head and that gave Alice enough time to grab the two hotel robes hung by the door and their ties. She tied the stunned woman's ankles together and helped her onto the bed. Using a cord she ripped from the socket and one of the lamps she tied the woman's hands above her head to the headboard. When she began to protest, Alice tied the other robe tie across her mouth, effectively gagging her. As the woman began to get all her faculties she was shocked to find herself tied up and nearly helpless. She tried to rock her body and Alice pulled the cord from the television and another lamp and tied her spread eagled on the bed, now totally helpless. Alice was a little annoyed at the extra effort it had taken. Finding a knife in one of their suitcase, probably why it wasn't in carry on, she cut off the woman's underwear and bra, scaring her prisoner further, she noted the woman must wear her underwear for a minimum of two days, it needed changing from its dingy appearance. Looking up she realized that the drapes were open, and that probably wasn't a good idea. She closed them and could hear the muffled pleadings of her prisoner.

Ignoring the woman she found in a makeup bag plastic surgical gloves and slipped them on. She carefully wiped wherever her hands had come in contact with their possessions, including the knife. The woman's bulging eyes seemed huge as she watched Alice's preparations. Alice went through their belongings with an almost professional detachment. She found identification for the woman but it told her nothing other than her name was Bev Hanneman from South Carolina and a home address. Alice looked at it closely, memorized it and put it back the way she had found it. There was nothing in their luggage that told her why they were following her, what they were looking for, or what they were doing here. She saw no signs that they had drilled into her room to look or any high tech equipment besides the radio. And that was an old Motorolla set like cops had used years ago. She thoroughly searched under the beds, the mattresses, in the dressers, looking against the air space that was between the drawers and the tops or bottoms, she found nothing. She checked behind them, she checked the bathroom, nothing. She spied two old Nikon cameras, in this day and age she was surprised they weren't digital, also disappointed. There was no way to tell what the film contained. She wound it up and removed it, slipping it into her purse for later. Frustrated she looked at the woman spread eagled on the bed

She wasn't worth looking at. The granny panties alone had given Alice a clue to the type of woman she was dealing with. Overweight, not interested in improving herself, kind of homely, she must have given up on her femininity. Alice felt that was so wrong. She herself was proud of the looks that God had bestowed on her, blessed really, she could never let herself go to pot like this woman. Whatever she was, she wasn't good at what she did. The ease in which Alice had taken her had proven that. The woman pulled at her bonds, tightening the knots imperceptibly that Alice had tied around each of her splayed limbs, making her vulnerable to her quarry's gaze.

"So who are you Bev Hanneman?" Alice asked addressing her directly.

The woman shook her head. The tie across her mouth wasn't painful as the ones spreading her arms and legs, but it was alarming, she was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

Alice approached her, playing with the small knife she had used to cut off the woman's underwear. Gently she took the tie from the woman's mouth. "Talk to me" she said quietly, authoritatively.

"What do you want to know" the woman quavered, the fear in her voice was real.

"Why have you two been following me?" Alice began, was the woman really so stupid that she would play games, make Alice wait for her answers? Her patience was beginning to wear thin. The woman had already inconvenienced her and she didn't like the way this might turn out. It might become...messy. Alice didn't like ... messy. She wasn't dressed for...messy.

"We weren't" the woman began but Alice made a gesture with the knife that had her squeak loudly.

"Shhh, talk normally or I will make sure you don't talk again" Alice told her in a gentle misleading voice.

"I I am a private investigator" she began and Alice snorted at that. The woman amended "or rather, I'm studying to be one. This was an opportunity to work for real money for a change." Alice examined her as she continued in her southern drawl. "He said it would be easy, I exchange your bag for mine, he handed it to me at the last minute."

The plane ride here, if they had gotten that bag, Alice would have been very angry at the loss of the money, but really angry over someone getting the best of her. Fortunately that scenario hadn't happened, just the casual way she looped the strap around her ankle had been enough to alert her to their attempted theft. "Why?" Alice asked deceptively. If she didn't let her anger show, she would probably get a lot more from the woman. She was beginning to make plans of what to do with her, they weren't pleasant but if the two of them were staying here together, she might not have a lot of time, although...he had gone for that drink.

"I don't know" at Alice's look she shook with fright "I really don't, he asked me to come along and watch you, thats all. He said there might be a lot of money in it for me. He paid me for switching the bag even though I didn't do that and he said I owed him."

"What's his name?"

"I don't know" as Alice looked at her again; her eyes narrowing the woman repeated "I don't know, he told me to call him Richard, that's all I know, really!" Her voice took on an increasingly frightened tone as her body shook with the shock it was going into.

"Did he tell you why he was following me, why he needed my bag?" Alice asked skeptically. The woman was proving stupid for a supposed private investigator wanna be.

"He said you were part of an ongoing case. That the bag contained documents that would help prove it but he couldn't get a warrant since you were crossing state lines."

She really was naive, and she must have been perfect to set up for this scheme. Alice was almost ashamed that this 'woman' was a member of the fairer sex. Sighing deeply she shook her head. "What was going to happen if you found the documents or did he want to capture me?"

"We weren't going to capture you, there is no way to extradite you from the Cayman's he said" well at least that was true, thought Alice, but then the man must intersperse his lies with enough truth that this gullible woman had fallen for it. "And the documents were gone when he searched..." she tried to stop her wayward tongue but Alice looked at her sardonically, almost bored in the heavy lidded look.

"So he searched my room but didn't find the documents?"

The woman shook her head. Alice could read her though, she was thinking, perhaps she could get away, draw attention to them, force Alice to do something "don't even think of it" she stopped the woman before she could try anything. "I could slash your neck before your scream was really formed, or better yet, I could tell everyone we were having wild sex and you got a little carried away, after all, do you realize how you look? I'm fully dressed; who do you think they would believe? Imagine the gossip of all the staff that would carry back to the mainland." Alice was certain that what happened in the Cayman's, stayed in the Cayman's but the woman obviously didn't know that as her eyes bugged even farther out of her head at the thoughts that Alice had planted in her head. Alice waited a few seconds, adjusting her gloves absentmindedly as she let that little tidbit sink in.

"He said he would get you when you returned to L.A. though" the woman offered.

"Get me how?" Alice was suddenly alert.

"I don't know, he doesn't tell me much" she said shame faced.

Alice couldn't imagine why, the woman was proving a font of information, she didn't hold up well to torture, and Alice hadn't really done anything...yet. "So is that it?"

The woman nodded eagerly and Alice didn't believe her. She might be uninformed, she might even be stupid, but she knew more or this man Richard would never have hired her. Maybe she was a front for something, but what?

"I think you're holding out on me" Alice said as she began playing with the knife in the light, making sure it flickered off the few lights that were left.

"I swear I don't, I swear" the woman blabbered but Alice leaned over and put the tie across her mouth again, effectively gagging her. She pulled against the ties on her wrists and ankles, trying to loosen them, only making them tighter. The ones that were wires began to dig into her skin and Alice looked on, seeing that circulation was being cut off and breaking the skin in some instances, she would either end up bleeding from these or effectively make a tourniquet of her bindings.

"Stop or you're going to hurt yourself worse than what I have planned for you" Alice told her.

The tone and the words penetrated her feverish mind. From the little Richard had told her she didn't know what this woman was capable of. All she knew is that whatever had been in the briefcase had been worth a lot of money. 'Planned for her?' This scared her even more, her chest felt tight. She had never felt more vulnerable in her life.

Alice took a sheet from the bed and cut it into strips before the terrified woman, each flash of the knife making her wonder what horrible things awaited her. Alice knew the psychological torture alone would cause this woman to blab. She untied one foot and places the strips around her ankle, effectively padding the area where the wire was cutting off the circulation. Retying the slip not, making sure it would hold, she made it so it wouldn't loosen despite the woman's struggles and thrashing. The padding would ensure somewhat less pain, but it would also catch any blood that the woman caused herself. She did the same to her other ankle, the woman tried to kick her but her ankle was held tightly and Alice quickly had the padding under the tie. "There, that's better, I'm not going to do the same for your wrists, if you continue to fight your bonds, you're going to be very sore, very sorry, and who knows how long 'Richard' will be" she said with a hint of derision. She knew she had struck home as she saw the woman calm down, Richard could either be her salvation or he could sit in the bar all night long, thinking Alice had gone to bed. "Do you have anything else you want to share with me?" Alice asked, she really had things to do and didn't want to waste any more time on this.

The woman nodded eagerly and Alice slipped the gag from her mouth, as soon as it was free, the woman attempted to scream. Alice was prepared though and shoved the woman's granny panties in her mouth and attached the gag again, tightening it so the woman could not spit out the soiled panties, she had made sure when she had padded the ankles to also cut these and the disgusting crotch. The woman's eyes flared as she realized what was in her mouth and she was gagged as well, there was no way she could spit this soiled article of clothing out of her mouth. For the first time in her life she was tasting a woman, herself and she was horrified as Alice looked on amused.

Alice went to the bathroom and returned with a disposable razor and shaving cream. Wiping a generous amount on the V between the woman's legs she warned her "careful, you wouldn't want me to cut anything down here" as she proceeded to sculpt and shave the edge of her bush. She returned to the bathroom and brought out a cuticle scissors and trimmed the woman's unruly and long haired bush. When she was finished she smiled down and wiped away the excess hair and shaving cream with a towel and then admired her handiwork, trimming here and there with the cuticle scissors and razor where needed. Returning to the bathroom she returned with some aftershave lotion. The woman shook her head fearfully, knowing that this would sting horribly, and Alice poured little bits all over. It was beyond a stinging sensation. The alcohol in the aftershave sank into the pores of her bush and the tender skin between her folds, skin that had only ever felt soap and water, now screamed out in agony at the touch of alcohol. The woman screamed into her gag at the pain. Alice watched interestedly. She looked around and saw her purse and went to it. Taking out her smart phone she clicked several pictures, including a close up of the woman's now heart shaped bush, the skin around it a fiery red from the irritation of the alcohol in the aftershave. She made sure to take several of the woman lying sprawled on the bed. Then she showed her pictures to her captive smiling evilly. "You see, I don't like to be followed, I don't like to be lied to." The woman shook her head trying to say something. "No, no, you had your chance, now you have to suffer the consequences."

Alice sent the pictures to her email address. "You see, I can use these pictures. If you tell anyone, if you breathe a word of this, you can bet I will have copies made and everyone you have ever known will see them. They will assume you are into bondage and other perverted things, imagine the scandal" she said in a conversational tone.