Secrets Ch. 02

"That bad, huh?" I said. "I've had my run-ins with her, too."

"You have never seen such a hateful, spite-filled bitch as her." Tanya said, her cherubic face becoming dark. "She had been on the verge of being fired, but something changed. Suddenly she was protected, and she let her attitude fly in everyone's faces as if she didn't care who she pissed off. I wondered if she got the dirty pictures of Chief Malone and Julie Newton or something, but she has the power there. And I believe that if you'd been hired, Don, you could've stood up to her. Alas..."

After a pause, Tanya said "So I bailed out when I had the chance. And so have a lot of other really good Police Officers." I nodded.

I said "So let me ask you this. Did you ever hear anything about the McGinty case? And where his blackmail papers might be?"

Tanya grinned her cherubic grin and said "Don't I wish... no, that's not true. Everyone in the State is looking for that stuff, and would kill to get it... and then be killed by someone else who wants it. I'd rather steal the Crown Jewels out of the Tower of London than be in possession of those papers and everyone knowing it. If I did find them, I'd turn them over to Captain Ferrell at the SBI as fast as I could get them to him."

"And that is advice from you to me, isn't it?" I asked.

Tanya grinned and nodded, then continued: "Everyone at the Crime Lab did talk about it after McGinty was murdered. He couldn't have trusted anyone else with the location of them, and we figured that he'd have a way to get them to the Press if he was murdered... but either that didn't happen, or the Press suppressed whatever they got. That wouldn't surprise me... Jack Burke has most of the Press in his hip pocket, especially Bettina Wurtzburg and Alison McFarland. He's been giving both of them pickle tickles for years now."

"Not being faithful to his wife, eh?" I mused.

"Harumph." Tanya said. "Not that it matters. Melina worships Jack Burke. I'm sorry if this hurts you, Don, but I'm surprised Melina stayed with you as long as she did. She's head over heels in love with him... and always has been."

"I agree." I said. "But who told you about them?"

"Dr. Gloria Searles." Tanya said. "She's the TCPD's consulting psychiatrist. She despises Jack Burke, too."

"That's good to know." I said. "By the way, have you ever heard of the 'Shadow Hand'?"

Teresa glanced around the shop, then said in a near-whisper "Don't speak of him out loud." Then she moved closer to me and said "He's supposedly an Urban Legend, some big crime boss that has people in the FBI and SBI working for him as well as a huge criminal organization. There's even rumors that McGinty's Materials identifies him by name, which is one reason everyone wants them."

"Is he real?" I asked. "His name... well, the 'Shadow Hand' name... keeps popping up. And not just around here."

Tanya nodded, then said "Yeah, I think he's real... in that there is a crime boss, a 'Professor Moriarty' organizing criminals behind the scenes. But I don't think he's as big as people say. The legend far exceeds the real criminal, if you ask me."

After finishing our coffee, Tanya said she had to go. I said "Any openings in the State Crime Lab? I have a Chemistry degree, you know." As I said that, I felt my headache returning, and the ringing in my ears again. I felt dizzy.

"Tell you what." Tanya said, giving me her card. "Email me your résumé straight to that email. The State blackballed you, but I'll see if I can get around it and hire you anyway..."

Part 10 - Gloria

11:00am, Thursday morning. I went to the Psychology Building on the University Campus. I went up to the correct floor, then into the small anteroom and told the assistant I had an appointment with Dr. Gloria Searles. The beautiful blonde, whose name was Callie, buzzed Dr. Searles and announced I was here, then got up and opened the door for me to go into Dr. Searles's office, and closed the door behind me.

"Hi Don." said Gloria Searles, getting up from behind her desk at the far end of the large office room. I admired her legs in her high heel sandals as she came up to me, put her arms around my neck, and kissed me warmly on the mouth.

"Mmmm." I said as we broke the kiss, as I was sliding my hands around her narrow wait. "How are you?"

"Good." she said. "Come in, have a seat." She went back around her desk, me admiring her saucy ass and shapely legs as she did so. She sat down as I sat in the chair on the other side, having noted the three windows that reached from the ceiling almost to the floor, and a conference table in the middle of the large office room behind me.

"I'm a little surprised." I said. "I was expecting two sofas facing each other." The ringing in my ears started up as I said that.

Gloria was not prone to smiling, but she smiled a little bit and said "No, I have a couch in the back room where I can interview subjects on videotape. So... you wanted me to analyze Detective Bunson McGinty. Here's the report."

She handed me a folder, then said "The Cliff's Notes of that is that I accessed his files with the City Police as well as their Internal Affairs files and their Psychologist's records. Detective McGinty had a good Police record and numerous busts, especially drug busts, but Internal Affairs investigated him because the amounts of drugs and cash didn't always tally up right. Nothing was ever proved, but if it's true, it's suggestive that he was good at hiding things. There's one Police report that says his apartment was searched by dogs, and none of them alerted. So nothing was found there."

Gloria went on: "I thought about it, and nothing's been heard of these Materials, so they likely have not been found yet. And that means the torture used on him did not break him."

"Unless it did break him, he told the Feds where the Materials were, and they have them now." I said.

"So why send you on a wild goose chase to find them?" Gloria asked back, and I nodded at the solidity of that logic.

"Let me ask this." Gloria said. "Put yourself in McGinty's place. If it were you, where would you hide the Materials in a way they couldn't be found?"

"I've been doing that." I said. "And nothing comes up."

"My own guess," said Gloria, "is that I'd set up a place where I could mail materials as they came to me, and they'd stay there until I needed them."

"One of those mailbox places?" I asked.

"Yes, something like that." said Gloria. "Or a public storage facility where they could slip mail into it through a slot."

"Hmmm, that would make sense." I said. "But how can I access anything that might tell me where he might've rented a storage space?"

"I put what I could get on McGinty's financial records in that file." said Gloria. "Maybe you can find something in there."

"Cool beans." I said. "I appreciate this very much. So how about dinner tomorrow night?"

"How about tonight?" Gloria said. I acquiesced, then Gloria said "Let me show you that room I told you about, the one with the sofa. It pulls out to make a bed..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Her dress rustled as it fell into a heap on the floor around her ankles. I slid my arms around her and unhooked her bra, and let it fall to the floor as she reached for my belt and unbuckled it, then opened my pants.

"Unh!" I gasped as Gloria reached into my pants and grasped my already throbbing hard cock, gently stroking it as she turned her mouth up to meet mine. I lowered my head and kissed her deeply, swirling my tongue around her mouth. I reached up and pushed the back of her head into mine as the kiss deepened, feeling her black hair, which she wore very short, almost a 'shingle bob' style.

My pants fell to the floor, and I stepped out of them as Gloria stepped out of her dress then lowered her panties down her legs. Now wearing only her high heel sandals, she led me around then pushed me back onto the hideaway-bed, then mounted me, straddling me just above my aching, taut cock. She reached down and grabbed the shaft, then guided my cockhead to her swollen cuntlips, somewhere inside her thick, raven black pubic bush.

"Ohhhhh..." I gasped in pleasure as Gloria impaled her tight, sopping wet cunt down onto my iron hard meat. The warm wetness of her womanhood was as good as anything I had ever felt in my life as the gorgeous woman began riding me.

"Oh yeah, baby, you're so hard!" Gloria gasped as she began undulating her hips, grinding her cuntwalls against my cockshaft.

"Uhhh, you're so... tight..." I gasped. I realized that I wasn't going to last very long, as Gloria's clutching cunt was too much. I heard a ringing in my ears again, as my climax approached, but I was too far gone to hold back. I felt the painful contractions in my loins as my semen fired up into her womanly depths, coating her cervix with my seed...

Part 11 - Ajax

I was feeling very good but very tired as I drove to the City on the University-City Highway. Though I'd rarely traveled this road, it seemed very familiar to me.

It had not taken very long looking through Detective McGinty's financial records to find an entry every six months for 'Ajax Mail & Storage'. A part of me was wondering how the FBI or TCPD, with their considerable resources, had not found that information. Then it occurred to me that maybe they had... and that I would find the nest empty or that this was a trap of some kind for me. I also knew I had nothing to lose by walking into the trap... after all, I was a nobody. I didn't matter.

As I drove into the City, I did not feel the normal sense of Mankind's ability to produce and achieve tall buildings and a great engine of commerce, but instead a 'Gotham City'-ish doom and gloom. The cloud cover didn't help my mood as I drove through the grimy streets towards my destination.

Once I arrived there, I went inside the front lobby area. A very pretty brunette named Christy was there, with what looked like tattoos that made her eyes look like an Egyptian goddess or the Cosplay character Pharah. "Hello, sir." she said, looking flirtatiously at me. "How can I help you?"

"My name is Kyle Irons," I said, "and I'm an attorney for the estate of Detective Bundy McGinty. He was renting storage space '102', and I'm here to close it out and take possession of his belongings. Here is the probate of his will."

"Sure." said Christy, looking up the record in her book instead of my papers. "The rent is paid up through the end of June, but if you have a key to the lock on it, you can open it up."

We walked down the 'street' in front of the long building, stopping at the second door from the end. I had tools that I could use to listen to a combination lock, and tools that I could use to pick a lock that needed a key. McGinty's lock needed a key, and I had little trouble picking it.

I pulled up the aluminum door and flicked on the light. There was one box in the center of the room, the size of a normal file box. On top of it was taped a playing card from the Standard Deck, showing the face of the Joker.

I put on latex gloves and opened the box. Inside were a few papers, an amount that would fit into any briefcase. There was also a cloth bag that took up most of the space in the box, and that bag was full of jump drives.

I took the box with me. At the front desk I thanked Christy, who gave me her phone number and told me to call her, and I promised to do so. I put the box in the back of my vehicle and drove out.

I was headed for the Interstate, which would take me to the exit for the University Highway, when I noticed that the radio station I was listening to was intermittently going in and out, as if being interfered with. When the interference hit, a weird high-pitched hum could be heard. And it was happening as I passed by buildings, and not happening in more open spaces.

I stopped at the next gas station. I suspected that there was probably a transmitter among the jump drives. I had brought a roll of lead foil with me, a trick I'd learned from another P.I., and wrapped the box with it. Then I wrapped my cellphone in lead foil, as well. As I drove out, I noticed the radio interference had stopped.

I did not take the main road home, but instead went on an east-west road that took me into the City suburbs and further west. Along this state road I saw to my right a forbidding, fenced-in building that looked like an institution of some kind... and reminded me of The Asylum.

Going further along, the road dead-ended in a north-south highway, State Hwy. 141. I took it south. Driving along, I saw the entrance to an abandoned camp. The sign was faded but legible: it said 'MILLWAKEE'. I made a mental note of it, thinking that I could hide there or at that other place if Jack Burke sent his goons to kill me.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I arrived at Second National Bank not long before closing time. I still had the safe deposit box that I'd rented two years before. Mr. Harkins, the Manager, went with me into the vault and together we opened my box's door. I deposited the bag in the box, then closed and secured the door.

Back at my apartment, I made sure to wear latex gloves as I handled the papers. And I could see why the FBI was so interested in finding them... most of the papers were FBI reports of Mob activity. I was hoping to see something on Jack Burke, but there was nothing there. Maybe that stuff was on the jump drives, but I'd have to look at those later. They were clearly too hot to hold now.

It had been too easy, I realized. And unless those jump drives have a treasure trove of information on them, there really was very little in this. I looked at the playing card on the box lid; it looked pretty standard, but it could also be a message that I was being played like a fool. My headache returned, and the ringing in my ears grew louder... and painful.

And then it hit me: someone had to have found McGinty's Materials already, either by having broken him, or having followed the trail more quickly than I had. Was I sent to find this, so that whoever did have them could stay safely hidden while I'd be found with this pitifully small amount of 'dirt'?

It was beyond my meager abilities to find out. My future was either as an unimportant lab technician in a Crime Lab, or Jack Burke or Teresa Croyle really would kill me, I thought to myself as I divided the papers into manila folders.

My headache and the ringing in my ears subsided as I went into the kitchen and taped the folders to the undersides of the kitchen drawers. I left the empty box on the breakfast room table. Then I went and got ready for my dinner date with Dr. Gloria Searles...

Part 12 - Heaven And Hell

"Boy if you wait until the lights go down
I got some some tricks that'll have you screaming out
So stay awhile, stay awhile
And I'm a make it worth your while, worth your while
Oh won't you stay for awhile?"

--- Tiesto with KSHMR, "Secrets"

I awoke to the extremely pleasurable sensation of Gloria Searles lying across my abdomen and sucking my cock. I relaxed into the utter pleasure of feeling her lips slide up and down my shaft, her tongue licking the head, then her warm, wet mouth engulfing my throbbing hard rod as she fellated me.

Dinner at The Cattleman's Club had been delicious, but despite eating a huge steak and the trimmings, I still felt very hungry. Maybe some of that had been the sexual hunger for the gorgeous woman at the table with me. Gloria looked great in the black dress she was wearing that clung to her shapely curves and did not hide the swell and deep cleavage of her breasts.

She'd asked me if I'd found anything in the City, and I replied that I'd found a box, but it didn't seem to have anything of importance inside it, which led me to believe someone else had already found McGinty's Materials. She then asked me where I'd put what I'd found, and I said that I'd put some stuff in my safe deposit box, and the rest of it was at home, hiding in plain sight.

After dinner, Gloria said we should go to my place, just in case her husband decided to go to her place and harass her. We drove in my car to my place, then Gloria kissed me and we made out for several long moments before getting out of the car. Her kisses were as hot and tasty as I'd ever had.

Going inside, I looked around and saw that the box that had been on the breakfast room table had been moved. "Wait here a second." I said. I looked all through the apartment, opening all the closet doors, but found nothing. "No one here." I said.

"Good." said Gloria. "Why don't we go to bed. I'm still... hungry..."

Our mating was passionate, and urgent. Gloria had pushed her hips up to meet every one of my powerful thrusts into the depths of her sopping wet cunt, our mouths melded in tongue-twining kisses. When I felt her legs wrap around me, I couldn't hold back, and spewed what seemed like a gallon of my jism into her clutching cunt. Afterwards, we spent several minutes deeply kissing and enjoying the pleasing post-coital lassitude. Then I must've dozed off. I was feeling absolutely exhausted... even weak. I woke up to being fellated.

"Mmmm," I said, "want me to fuck you again?"

"No, baby." Gloria replied. "I am really enjoying sucking your dick. Just lie back..." I did so, and let the intense pleasure of the best head I'd ever gotten course through me. I couldn't hold back, and I fired another seemingly huge load against Gloria's tonsils, and it became near-painful as she greedily sucked me dry.

"Oh my God, that was good!" I gasped, feeling very relaxed, but getting weaker.

"Yes, baby, that's right. Just relax." Gloria said. She leaned over as if to kiss my cheek, and I felt the prick of a needle as she injected me with something. I didn't have time to move as I felt myself drifting off to sleep...

I woke up in a gray, dimly lit room. It was cold, and the metal table I was lying on was even colder. I tried to move my hands but could not; they were strapped to the rails of the table I was on... well, it actually was like a metal dentist chair, as it was hinged under my knees and butt, but set right now to have me nearly horizontal.

It was cold enough, but what happened next sent a much deeper chill down my spine. Someone walked up to me, within my sight. "Ahhhhh... I have you now." said TCPD Detective Teresa Croyle...

Part 13 - Getting the Picture

My eyes must've widened in shock, because Teresa gave me what was for her a grin... as malignant a grin as I'd ever seen, full of malicious hatred and intent.

"I have been waiting for this moment for a long... long... time." Teresa said. "I have spent countless hours lying awake, thinking of the ways I can bring you the pain you and your God cursed nephew brought to me and my life. And I am really... really... going to enjoy killing you."

"Let's get it overwith, then." I said, taking my eyes off her and looking up at the ceiling.

"Oh, I'm not letting you get off that easy." Teresa said. "And besides, there is a purpose to this. We know you found McGinty's Materials, and I'm going to make you tell me where they are."

"Ohhhh." I said as it finally dawned on me. "It was you. It was you all along, wasn't it? I was thinking... that Jack Burke had you bring me to that field... but you were directing his actions, weren't you?"

"Of course." Teresa said.

"You were his lover after he ran away from the rape charge in college." I said. "You kept him hidden, until his daddy could take care of it."

"I don't know how you know that." Teresa said as my head began throbbing with pain and the ringing in my ears grew louder with binaural tones. "But yes. What you don't know is that my father had contacts from his days in Viet Nam. Admiral Leonard Cordell was my father's medic, and he went on to become a powerful man in the CIA. After your nephew drove drunk and killed Chief Griswold and Detective Ross... and no, Mr. Troy, I don't believe for one minute the bullshit that his blood tests were forged or his car tampered with... I contacted Admiral Cordell. He was the one within the CIA that had them put out the word to destroy your security devices business, and put the FBI's useful idiots Muscone and Nash on your trail."