The Coffee Shop Pt. 04

"No," I answered Andy. "Todd arranged have a tracer put on your car. They followed us out here on Friday night, and you can guess the rest. I suppose you'd better arrange to remove that tracer when we head back into the city. According to Todd it is somewhere under your rear bumper."

"Okay, I'll take care of that," Andy replied. "But wait a second. How did Todd get into the locked house? How did he get into the locked bedroom? Are you trying to tell me he picked the locks?"

"Well, yes," I replied. "It's not that difficult to pick a lock. Even I could do it, given enough time, and Todd had all afternoon to try."

"Okay, I guess he could have done that," Andy said as he accepted my statements with obvious reservations. His face took on a thoughtful expression as he looked over my shoulder in the general direction of where Todd was still sitting in the living room. Andy looked back at me, and his brow furrowed as he spotted the loophole in my explanation. "Hold on just a minute, here. What about the computer? I doubt that my friend would have left his home computer unlocked or have set it up without a password. So how did Toddy manage to use the computer? Are you trying to tell me he hacked into my friend's computer? How did Todd know that the digital camera would even interface to the computer? How could Todd have known that there was even a computer in this house in the first place?"

I looked blankly at Andy, as I suffered through the barrage of unexpected questions that he threw at me. I should have known better than to try to lie to a police officer about something like this. Before I could even begin to try to answer any of them Andy started speaking again. "Paul, you're lying to me, aren't you? My friend was in on this blackmail attempt wasn't he? Please, tell me the truth. Please don't try to spare my feelings. I'd rather know the truth."

"Yes, your friend was involved in the blackmail attempt," I admitted to Andy. "However, it was not by choice. When Todd found out where we were staying on Friday night, he contacted your friend and obtained a copy of your friend's house keys. In addition, Todd obtained the password to the computer, and the layout of the house."

"Why did my friend agree to help Todd?" Andy asked me solemnly, as he looked me directly in the eyes. I broke eye contact and looked away from Andy. "You know, don't you?" He asked me, in a soft yet demanding voice. Tell me, please?"

"I don't think that I should, Andy," I said as I looked at the surface of the kitchen table. "Don't you think I should respect your friend's privacy? It's a secret between him and Todd after all."

"Paul, I have to know," Andy declared in that commanding tone of his that he used when he was being completely serious with me. "I feel that there's a lot more about my friend and Todd that you're not telling me. Please, tell me the whole story, I implore you."

"First, promise me, on the love that you have for me, that you won't do anything, that you won't take any action of any kind regarding your friend," I said to Andy as I raised my head and looked Andy in the eyes.

"It's that bad?" Andy asked me, softly.

"Yes," I said and gulped.

"Okay, I promise. On the love that I have for you, I will not do anything to my friend, no matter what you tell me," Andy said softly. "Furthermore, on my honor as an RCMP Constable, I will not take any action of any kind."

'Andy, your friend Jonathan Briggs is gay, and he's in the closet," I informed Andy as I told him a bit more of what I had found during my search of Todd's mind. "That is what Todd used to obtain the keys to this, Jonathan's house, as well as access to Jonathan's computer. Todd didn't tell Jonathan why Todd wanted access to the computer, though. Your friend had to choose between having his secret revealed, and having you become the subject of blackmail. You friend chose himself over you. I am sorry, Andy."

"That son of a bitch!" Andy exclaimed fighting to keep his voice low, as he fumed there in front of me. "I saved his life. He had a gun pointed at his head, and I saved his life. This is how he repays me? Some friend!"

"Let it go, Andy," I said to him as I placed my right hand on his left forearm. "We have more important things to deal with right now. Besides, there is nothing you can do about Jonathan."

"I suppose you're right," Andy sighed. He looked me square in the eye. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I'm not asking you to like it, love," I assured him as I tried to bring his attention back to the problem at hand. "I'm only asking you to put it aside for now. We have Todd to deal with."

Andy nodded his head at me and remained silent for a second or two. "Okay. So what do we do about Todd, and his blackmail plan? Any ideas?" Andy asked me as he looked at me thoughtfully.

"As a matter of fact, I have come up with something, that I think will work. Let me run it by you and see if you can spot any holes," I said to him. "What I have in mind is this. The explanation that Todd is going to wind up believing, is that there was a problem with the digital camera. All the pictures that were taken were corrupted and could not be recovered. He did not discover this until he downloaded them from the camera into the computer and tried to view or print them. So he deleted all the files from the computer. As for the data clip from the camera, it turned out to be damaged and in his frustration over discovering that he jumped on it and smashed it into many pieces which he threw into the trash. He spent most of the evening here trying to talk you into changing your mind, and even tried to bluff you about having such pictures, but you would not believe him. As for me, I was a plain unremarkable nameless young woman."

"So, when someone, such as Todd's client, asks what happened tonight and why things went wrong, that is the explanation Todd's going to give them. Since he will believe it is what happened, it is the story that he'll stick too."

I sat quietly after I had finished speaking. I waited to see what Andy thought of this cover story. Andy looked at my thoughtfully as he went over the details in his mind, looking for any flaws or angles that I might have missed. "I supposed it will work," he said doubtfully. "Providing that you can change Todd's memories of tonight. But how do you plan to acquire the data clip, or to erase the files on the computer?"

"Simple, love," I said to him with a smile. "Todd is going to make a quick trip to his office and pick up the data clip from his office safe. He'll return the data clip here and smash it just as I described, and then put the data clip in the garbage. As for the files on the computer, Todd already erased them."

"But what if someone tries to do a data recovery on those files?" Andy asked me. "That's something that we in the RCMP, often do in a case that involves computers."

"Todd did us a favor there love," I replied with a smile. "Todd did not intend to leave the pictures on the computer for anyone to find. So, he edited the pictures. He changed all the colours to black, saved the files like that and then deleted them. If someone does recover those files, all they will get is black pictures."

"Well, it looks like a good plan, I suppose," Andy said with a shrug and a sigh.

"Did I miss something, Andy?" I asked him. "You don't seem pleased or happy with my ideas."

"Well, it doesn't seem fair to me," Andy declared with a slightly heated voice. "After all that he tried to do tonight, Todd seems to be getting off practically scot-free. Frankly, I want to beat him up as much as you wanted to earlier."

"I said that is what Todd would remember as the night's events. If asked, that is what he will say happened," I smirked at Andy as I spoke to him. "I never said that is all that was going to happen to Todd tonight."

Andy looked at me for a few seconds before his right eyebrow arched up in mock surprise. "What diabolical little plan are you contacting in that evil little mind of yours?" Andy asked me half jokingly, as a smile broke out on his face.

Well" I said and paused dramatically for a moment or two. "I did come across something that could be called a 'guilty secret desire' of Todd's. It's something that he's often fantasized about, but never acted upon."

"It's not something involving pain or inflicting pain on him is it?" Andy asked me, cautiously. "As much as I might want to hurt him, I'm not sure that I'd really want to do that to him."

"Oh it's nothing along those lines, Andy," I assured him. "I could tell you now, or you could wait to be surprised. I will give you a hint, though. Todd is going to be humiliated, and he's going to enjoy being humiliated. It's also going to cost him a significant amount of money and time."

"I think I'll wait to be surprised," Andy said as he flashed a grin at me. "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

"Well, love, we're going to need a clear area in the recreation room down in the basement and some sheet plastic on the floor," I instructed Andy as I stood up. "You'll need to take one of the dinning room chairs downstairs and be sure to drape the plastic over the chair. If you can duct tape the plastic around the chair that would help."

"When you're done doing that, I need you to look around the kitchen and see what you can whip up for me. I need something like pudding, or oatmeal or cake batter. Some canned spaghetti, canned pork and beans, canned tomato sauce, and some mustard and ketchup in those squeeze bottles would be helpful too."

"I'll see what I can come up with," Andy said as he looked at me quizzically. He didn't asked why I wanted all those things. I'm sure he was dying of curiosity, but he restrained himself from asking any questions. He headed down into the basement to set things up.

I walked over to where Todd was sitting. "Todd, open your eyes now," I said to him. "I have something I need you to do for me."

Todd's eyes popped open and he looked up at me, blinking a few times. "Yes?" He asked me softly.

"Don't you think you should show me a bit more respect, Todd?" I asked him. "I have taken you into a wonderful state where your only joy and desire is to obey and serve me. Each and every time when you obey me, a small rush of pleasure flows through your body."

"I'm sorry, sir," Todd said softly, as he looked at me apologetically. "In what way may I be of service to you, sir?"

"That's better, Todd," I said to him He beamed at me like some love sick teenager with his first crush. "Now listen carefully."

"Yes, sir. I'm listening, sir," Todd replied eagerly.

"Todd, in a few moments I will count from zero to five, where zero is this level or an even deeper level than this, and five represents the state where you are wide awake and completely normal. When you wake up you will do the following. It will seem perfectly normal to you to do these tasks. You will take great care not to call attention to yourself in any way as you carry out these tasks. If for any reason someone asks you what you are doing, you will come up with some plausible explanation."

"First, you will go to your office and retrieve the data clip for the digital camera from your safe. You will carry the data clip with you when you leave your office."

"Second, you will travel to your home and gather together a change of clothes which you will bring with you in a bag or sack when you return here to this house. The change of clothes can be anything you like, casual pants, jeans and a sweatshirt, whatever happens to be handy at the time. Be sure to bring extra socks, underwear, a belt and shoes."

"Third, you will stop by a convenience store on the drive back to this house. At the convenience store you will buy a some pies, and some canned whipped cream.. Try to get a cherry pie, a blueberry pie and a chocolate cream or lemon cream pie. Also try and buy some syrup. The type doesn't matter. Just as long as it is a big bottle or two medium bottles."

"Fourth, when you return to this house you will bring all the items I told you to collect, with you when you come in here. You will place the items on the kitchen table, except for the data clip which you will keep with you, until I ask for it." I paused for a few moments to let the instructions sink in. "Do you understand what it is that you are to do, Todd?" I inquired.

"Yes, sir," Todd answered cheerfully.

Just to be safe I had Todd repeat the instruction back to me. I didn't want any mistakes. As I listened to Todd repeating my instructions almost word for word, I remembered that I was dealing with a lawyer. I placed my fingers on Todd's forehead. Todd let out a loud but low moan at the touch of my fingers on his forehead. I probed Todd's mind and what I found was a bit more than I'd bargained for. I confirmed that Todd did indeed understand his instructions and that he would carry them out without hesitation. He would not consider his actions unusual or strange. There wasn't even the slightest trace of Todd wanting to disobey or resist me. I let out a soft sigh of relief when I confirmed that fact. It seemed though, that when I'd implanted my controls into Todd's mind they had been planted much deeper in his mind than I had intended. I had meant to shove the control deep into his mind, but not anywhere as deeply as they had been placed. On a scale of one to ten, I had been working on a level of five or six, but what I got was an eight or nine. It meant that the controls could not easily be removed by anyone, including me. To do so, would leave a pothole in Todd's mind that would have to be filled or mended to insure that Todd didn't suffer any permanent change to his basic personality or behavior. I removed my fingers from Todd's forehead and let my right arm drop down by my side.

"Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five," I said clearly and calmly to Todd.

Todd's body jerked once as he woke up, and came to his senses. "Hey, where's Andy?" He asked me as he looked about the room quickly. "He was here just a second ago."

"He went downstairs for a while," I informed Todd.

"Well, I can't wait around here all night for him to make up his mind," Todd said to me in a surly voice. Todd stood up as he continued speaking. "I have a few errands to run. I should be back in an hour or so. I expect Andy's answer by then. You tell him that." Without another word Todd turned around and headed for the front door.

I watched him walk out of the living room, open the front door and walk out. He was a good looking figure of a man, as he walked away from me while wearing that beautiful two piece dark blue double breasted pinstripe suit . I almost felt a pang of regret at what I was going to do to him in next few hours. Almost. Whatever doubts or reluctance I had evaporated quickly, a few moments later. Todd didn't bother to close the front door behind him. He called back over his shoulder at me and ordered me to close the door, as if I were his servant. He was arrogant, without a doubt. I couldn't wait for Todd to get back. I closed the door and headed off to see how Andy was making out downstairs. I knew that Todd would have no problem getting his car out of the two car garage. Fortunately, Andy had parked his car off to the side of the garage on a small carport that was intended to be used by visitors.

I arrived downstairs to find that Andy was well on his way to getting things set up. He had been lucky enough to find several room sized sheets of clear plastic left over from when his friend had painted this country house. I had remembered that snippet of information from when Andy and I had first arrived here Friday night. I had commented on how nice the place looked and Andy had mentioned that the house had recently been repainted. In the event that Andy could not find any of the large plastic sheets, I had an alternative solution in mind. We could take garbage bags, cut them open and tape them together using duct tape. Fortunately, we didn't have to do that. We finished setting up the 'stage' in the recreation room well before Todd returned. It took only a few trips from the kitchen to bring all the assorted items down into the recreation room.

To make space, we had pushed the furniture off to the side of the recreation room. The 'stage' consisted of a large sheet of clear plastic on the floor of the recreation room. Placed in the middle (or as close as we could get to the middle) of the sheet was one of the dining room chairs. A second sheet of plastic was draped about the chair and secured with duct tape. This was to insure that the chair was not damaged in any during the events that were about to unfold. There was a bar at the far end of the recreation room.

We went back up to the kitchen and while Andy dealt with the rest of the food preparations, I dealt with the photographs in Todd's briefcase, which he had left behind. I got busy with the scissors. It took some time, but I managed to reduce all the printouts of the photographs to very small and unrecognizable pieces. I stuffed all the pieces into a garbage bag, the same one that held the remnants of our suits from the other night. We planned to take that garbage bag back with us when we returned to the city. We wanted to insure that our actives over the weekend remained private. I started to carry down the food items from the kitchen into the recreation room, while Andy finished getting the last of the food items ready. Upon the counter of the bar we placed the various items that we had brought from the kitchen. We were ready. All we needed was Todd.

We went back up to the kitchen to wait for him. Andy was smiling at me as we walked up the stairs side by side, and a chuckle or two found its way out of that sexy throat of his. Andy placed his hand on my shoulder and gave me a big strong yet gentle squeeze as we walked up the basement stairs. It was clear that he was going to thoroughly enjoy tonight's main event. It took very little time to make two cups of tea for us to drink while we waited for Todd to show up. I made the tea, while Andy stood in the kitchen waiting and chatting with me. We discussed and debated what we were going to do during the session with Todd. Andy had some interesting ideas that I looked forward to trying. It didn't seem to take long for us to finish our cups of tea. Andy took the empty cup from my hands and deposited in the kitchen sink.

I stood there and watched him, relishing the feelings that the sight of Andy stirred up in me. I suppose it sounds kind of silly, that I would stand there and be satisfied to simply watch Andy putting a couple of cups and saucers into a sink. I'm not sure that I can put those feeling into words, but I'll try. As I stood there watching Andy do the most mundane and ordinary of tasks, I felt at peace, content, safe, calm and tickled pink. All seemed right with the world, because I loved Andy, and I knew that he loved me. I was happy. The small smile perched on my lips was a sure sign of my feelings. I stood there waiting patently, as I gazed at Andy with the calm confidence that comes from maturity and knowing where you stand

Andy finished up his chore and turned around to face me. He shot me a look of concern as he tapped the wrist watch on his left wrist with his right index finger while he spoke. "Do you realized that it's been a little over an hour since Todd left?" He asked me letting the concern and worry creep back into his voice. "Do you think something's gone wrong? If it has, then we could be in really big trouble."

"There's always that possibility," I admitted to him. "But I think it unlikely that anything has gone wrong. I'm sure there is a reasonable and logical explanation for Todd being a bit late. My powers have never failed me yet." I smiled at him in an attempt to soothe his worries.