The Ideal Woman

"Kendricks. Hmm, hmm. Yeah, yeah. All right he's on his way." Kendricks hung up the phone and stared me straight in the eye. "Get over to Ben's. You boys have yourselves a suspect."

I hurried over to Ben's and ran up the stairs to his apartment. Ben had a huge grin on his face as he opened the door. "We've got ourselves a live one, partner. I was going through more of the tapes and came across some of them where Greer is the dominatrix. All of them were pretty much the same thing, her bossing people around just like our mystery lady. That was until I stumbled upon this one." With that, Ben hit the play button on the VCR remote and the tape picked up where Ben had rewound it to. On the bed was a balding, overweight man, wearing nothing but a huge diaper and one of the leather hoods that seemed to be the standard.

"Case, do you believe this shit?"

"I'd believe just about anything these days, Benny." As I finished my sentence, Rachel came within view of the camera. She was wearing a hood as well, but the body, the walk...they were undeniably trademarks of Rachel Greer. She wore large black leather boots that rose above her knee and were anchored on four or five inch stiletto heels. Black thong panties revealed her shapely ass. She wore a black leather corset that stopped just below her breasts and revealed her nipples in all their glory. She spoke like a mother talking to her infant son. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

The tape was near its end when the real action began. Rachel left the room and in walked our mystery woman, her face again partially obscured. She removed the hood from the "big baby's" head and tossed it aside. "Fucking A," slipped from my lips as I watched what was unfolding on the screen.

"That's what I said too, Case." Staring us in the face was Randall Worth, who was appropriately named because he was worth more than some small countries. Worth was CEO and founder of TCC's chief rival in the telecommunications end of the business, NNTI. The woman began talking to Worth and the look on his face was both one of fear and shock.

"Ben, rewind it a little and turn up the sound." As the tape played, a plan of blackmail was being laid out to Worth.

"You're on Candid Camera right now Mr. Worth," our Mistress started. "Right now copies of this tape are being made and prepared to send to your wife, you stockholders, your board of directors, maybe even some talk shows as a goof."

"What the hell? What do you want from me?"

"It's quite simple Mr. Worth, unless you want your family and the world to know about your little fetish, you will stop your company's bid to buy out Telecommerce."

"You're crazy; my board of directors would never stand for that."

The Mistress grabbed Worth by throat as the words left his mouth." This coming from the man acting like an infant? "I am NOT crazy!" Screamed the Mistress. "You WILL find a way to make this work or you will be ruined forever. You like money don't you, Mr. Worth? Just think about how little you'll have left after the lovely Mrs. Worth takes you for everything you've got."

Worth began sweating profusely. I wouldn't be surprised if he had wet his diaper. He was being confronted by a tough as nails, cruel, ruthless woman. I didn't mean the Mistress. Rachel Greer had become or always was someone who did whatever it took to get her way.

"All right I'll do it!"

"That's my good boy. Now lie down and take your nap." Ben shut off the VCR and looked at me with a grin that ran from ear to ear. If he were Irish, I think he would have danced a jig."

"It gets even better Casey. I spoke to a broker friend of mine today. This tape was marked Feb 9, 2000. One week later NNTI pulled out of the buyout of Telecommerce. One month after that TCC stepped into the picture and picked up where NNTI left off. The sale was to be finalized in two weeks. With Greer dead, it looks like it will fall through. You think he did it himself or put out a contract?"

"Neither. I don't think Randall Worth has anything to do with Greer's death."

"Case, what are you talking about? This is the perfect motive, greed! This deal is worth hundreds of billions of dollars to the company taking over NNTI."

"Let's assume that until TCC stepped into the picture, Worth had no idea who was blackmailing him. If he knew it was Rachel Greer he could have risked his reputation and gone to the FBI, the SEC, any number of organizations, and blown the whistle on her. The house is a dilemma too. How did he get in and out of there without knowing whose house it was? No Benny, I don't think he is our killer, but he holds an extremely valuable piece of information."

"What's that?"

"He can identify our mystery lady. We find her, we find Greer's killer. I guarantee it."

"If you're guaranteeing it, I'm buying into it. I'll call Kendricks to tell him were bringing him in for questioning."

"Do me a favor, Ben. I think you can bring our Mr. Worth, diaper and all, in by yourself. I've got to go take care of something. I'll meet you downtown in about two hours."

"Aye aye sir," Ben replied with a mock salute.

I snickered and said, "Benny, I may not have told you this, but it's been a long time coming. You are the best partner I've ever had. You're a fine detective and an even better person. Don't ever change that."

Benny had a look of bewilderment mixed with that of a look of accomplishment that might be more associated with a child having just been told by his parents that they were proud of him.

"I, I won't Case. Thanks."

"Good, I'll see you in a little while." I took the stairs down from Benny's third floor walk-up and walked out into the sunshine. It was a beautifully sunny day with a warm breeze blowing. I inhaled deeply and thought things aren't so bad. Matter of fact they were damn good. It was time to go tell Jaynie about Rachel Greer and take care of one other item.

While Benny drove down to the financial district to pick up Randall Worth for questioning, I stopped at a local florist shop near our house. Jaynie loved yellow roses and though a bit pricey, I bought a dozen. When I pulled into the driveway, our van was not there, which was fine. Before I spoke with my wife, there was some cleanup I needed to do. I went up to the attic and dug behind the cartons that blocked its viewed, finally extracting the shoebox from the back of the pile. I opened it and dug down to the picture of Rachel and I. Man, did I have a lot less gray in my hair back then. I did a double-take as I looked at the picture. "FUCK!" I shouted. There it was staring me in the face every single time I looked at this picture and it never hit me.

I threw the bubble siren on top of the car and sped downtown. I have to admit I was driving pretty recklessly considering all things. On the way, I kept thinking about the pictures and the video. That's when it occurred to me that she was the one whose reflection I saw in the mirror in Florida too. She may not have been the killer, but she could definitely hold the key to who was.

I pulled up in front of the precinct and ran up the short stoop and through the entryway. When I got inside, Benny was already in the process of questioning Worth, who of course, was accompanied by a pair of high priced lawyers. Kendricks sat outside the room, looking through the two-way mirror and listening to the questioning.

"Casey, are you sure about this thing with Worth?" Without answering Kendricks, I sped by him and burst into the interrogation room and slammed the picture down on the table, covering the photo of Rachel and me with my fingers.

"Mr. Worth, the woman in the corner of this picture, do you know her?" One of Worth's lawyers leaned towards him and whispered something in his ear.

"No, I don't know her. And by the way, who are you?"

Ben answered for me. "This is Detective Reynolds, he's the lead on this investigation. He's also seen your diaper act." Worth turned slightly red at Benny's characterization. "Good man Benny!" I thought.

"Mr. Worth I don't give a rat's ass what you do in your personal life. Is this the woman that threatened you on that tape?" Worth again replied negatively. "Worth, if you had nothing to do with Rachel Greer's murder than you have nothing to hide here. I promise you that the press will not hear of any of this. If you're silly enough to protect your reputation in order to protect a possible murderer, I'll make sure the SEC and your stockholders question why you pulled out of the NNTI deal.

One of the suits spoke up. "Detective, are you threatening my client?"

Worth put up his hand to stop his legal eagle. "It's all right, Henry. Bear in my mind detective, I don't like to be threatened and I'll be sure your superiors, as well as the mayor, know of your actions in this case. But to answer your question, yes that is the woman that was on the videotape." Worth's top lawyer momentarily closed his eyes at his client's reply.

"Where do I find her?"

Worth slipped a card out of his pocket and slid it across the table. Hard to believe he would keep it after all this time and all the problems his rendezvous had caused. "Mistress M, 800-555-WHIP." I picked up the card and the picture and turned to leave.

"Thank you Mr. Worth, you're free to go for now. Please don't do anything silly like leave the country to avoid further questioning. Ben, let's rock and roll." I turned back, "Mr. Worth keep in mind if I find out that you did have anything to do with Rachel Greer's death, you'll rue the day you were born."

Worth sneered back in anger as Ben and I walked out of the room. As we walked towards our desk, Ben grabbed me by the arm to stop me.

"Casey, what in God's name was that all about?"

"Here," I said and handed him the photo from Florida.

"Hey who's the babe?"

"Rachel Greer."

"What? Get out of here." My look told him I was serious. "Damn Casey, when was this?"

"Early '80s, in Florida. Rachel Greer and I got it on for a couple of days. More importantly, the woman in the corner of that picture is our Mistress M, from the videotapes. Her name is Michelle and she's a friend, or was a friend, of Rachel's. She and another woman....Jillian, that's it, were down there for Spring Break. I didn't interact much with Michelle, but the more I look back on what little bit of time I did spend with her; she didn't come off as the most pleasant of people."

"So you really think Worth had nothing to do with the murder?"

"He definitely had motive, but no, I don't believe he had anything to do with it. He may have lost out on that merger, but NNTI is still booming. He may be greedy, but I don't think even Worth would kill over that amount of money. I'm going to go down to Rachel Greer's apartment and see if I can find out any more information on Michelle's whereabouts. Somehow, I think she holds the key to the person we are looking for. Call the phone company in the meantime and see if you can find out where that 800-number is routed from. I doubt you'll come up with anything, but try anyway."

"All right, I'm on it. I'll page you if I come up with anything."

"Sounds good, talk to you in a bit."

As I drove to Rachel's apartment in the city, I pondered the possibilities of how someone could have gotten into the building undetected. Had one of the guards assisted the murderer? But, then the videotapes would have shown someone entering the building. None of the tapes from the building showed any missing time and there was no time to alter any of them. Did Michelle or any of the men in the sex tapes have anything to do with Rachel's murder? At this point there were too many possibilities to consider. As I parked the car in front of Rachel's building, I nearly ran up onto the curb. The doorman was waving a brunette woman, wearing sunglasses and a hat into the building. Whether her outfit was a deliberate attempt to conceal her appearance or not, there was no mistaking the fact that it was Michelle.

I got out of the car and approached the doorman. "Jim, I believe it is?" I said as I extended my hand. He nodded, shook my hand and I continued, showing my badge. "I'm Detective Reynolds. We spoke earlier about Rachel Greer's murder."

"Yeah, I remember. What do you want?" Jim snapped back at me. Doormen are supposed to be friendly I thought to myself.

"The woman who just entered the building, who is she?"

"None of your damn business." Yeah this guy certainly did seem to have a way with words.

"That's not real nice there, Jimmy. Thing is I need to talk to her and I don't take kindly to people obstructing justice. So either I go question her or you come with me. You make the call." He buckled under much quicker than I thought.

"All right, all right. I didn't mean anything by it. Her name's Ms. Lyle. She lives in 3B."

Ms. Greer lived in 3A. The coincidence wasn't lost on me.

"You don't know her first name?"

"Hey I'm just the doorman, not the social director, and most of the people living here could care less about knowing me." With that attitude, I thought to myself, it's no wonder.

"Thanks Jim. It's always nice to meet an upstanding citizen."

"Yeah, whatever." As I went through the door and started up the stairs it never occurred to me that some people just don't look the same with their clothes on. As I approached Michelle's apartment, I had no idea, as I would find out later, that she had just hung up the phone from Jimmy. As I went to knock, I noticed the door was slightly ajar. Right then and there I should have called for backup. My adrenaline must have gotten the better of me. With my weapon drawn, I entered the apartment. I made way to the bedroom and stopped short.

All over the walls were pictures of Rachel. There were personal photos, some with Michelle, covers of magazines, Internet downloads. It was a fucking shrine. And, it made me let my guard down. My eyes closed as I felt the pain of a blunt instrument strike the back of my head.

Things were hazy, my vision slightly blurred I as began to gain consciousness. It was clear that someone was in the room, but who it was, was not clear to me. As a few minutes went by, the pain returned to my head and I began to remember what had happened. As the haze in my brain faded, I saw Michelle seated on the edge of the bed that I was laying on. She wore a tight black corset and satin gloves. Her breasts spilled over the top of her bodice, exposing her nipples.

"Well, well Mr. hot-shot detective is awake. You know breaking and entering is against the law."

"The door was already open," I managed to gasp out.

"True, true. Yes, for a minute I forgot that I set you up. Well me and Jimmy. He may not have much in the way of brains, but he has a huge dick, so at least he's good for something."

"Fuck," I thought to myself. He is the son of a bitch from the sex tapes. I then realized where I was, that I was naked, and that my arms and legs were shackled. "How did I get here?"

"That's not important. The important thing is that you're here now and like everyone else who has entered this room, you'll be punished. Only you'll be punished more than others."

"Where's Mrs. Borman?"

"That old hag? Who cares? I hate her and she hates me. She doesn't know about this room or how to get in here. I might have to just kill her anyway." She let out a sick laugh at that last statement.

The thing was though that Theresa Borman did know of this room and how to get in here. After much querying, Ben and I had shown her the secret room.

"So Casey, here's a present for you." With that, Michelle dumped a pile of papers on my crotch. "Don't recognize them? You should, you wrote enough of them." My God, they were my letters. Dozens of pages that I had written to Rachel. Dozens of pages that went unanswered.

"Where did you get them from?"

"Rachel always had them. Kept them in a box in her apartment. You're probably wondering why she never wrote you. You had a big thing for her. Maybe even still do." I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of answering.

Michelle's tone changed abruptly from calm to anger. "You ruined her life you son of a bitch. She was meant to be with me!" She then struck me in the chest with a riding crop like we had seen in one of the videos.

Through stinging pain I said, "How did I ruin her life?"

"The baby changed everything." I sat there in stunned silence for a moment. "That's right you asshole, she had your baby. She gave her to her aunt to raise as if she were her own daughter. She loved you, why I'll never know, but she did. But you nearly ruined all of her plans and if I hadn't gotten her back on track for her career she probably would have chucked everything."

"I have a daughter? Where's is she?" Now, I was the angry one.

"She's not yours and she never will be. And like I said, Rachel was always supposed to be mine."

"How do you figure that?"

"And, you call yourself a detective. We were a couple! Those men she dated, that she went to movie premiers with, the endless parties, it was all for show. She and I were in love."

"Maybe you were in love and she wasn't. Maybe that's why you killed her."

"Shut up," Michelle screamed and swung her right arm out at me. This time the riding crop struck me in the jaw, causing it to instantly go numb.

"You want to see true love, look! She pointed at the television in the background. A tape had been playing all along on it as we spoke. As my eyes focused, I saw Michelle and Rachel in a "69" position, going down on each other. "That is what is beautiful. That is what was meant to be."

"If that what was meant to be, than again I ask you, why did you kill her?" As soon as the words finished leaving my lips the crop struck me in the stomach, temporarily knocking the wind out of me.

"I told you not to talk like that. Someone in as a precarious position as you are, should watch their mouth. Now just relax and watch me finger your girlfriend. This is a really good scene. Maybe if you get aroused I'll even take care of it for you. Hell, I think I'll take care of myself." I wanted to reply, but I was worried where that crop my strike next. Michelle started masturbating as she watched the tape of her and Rachel. At least this gave me some time to think. I spotted the tattoo on her lower back. There was no question that she was the woman on the videotapes. After Michelle reached orgasm a few times she shut off the tape and was about to leave the room.

"So did you really love her?" I asked.

She turned back, looking morose. "Yes, I did. She was everything to me. It sickened me when she would go off with someone, like she did with you in Florida. I pleaded with her not to keep fucking all those men. She was meant to be with me." Tears started to roll down Michelle's cheeks as she continued. "She and I touched each other in ways you could never imagine, and I don't mean just sexually like all guys think." Michelle sat on the end of the bed for several minutes in an unnerving silence before she went on. "You think you were special? You were just another notch on her garter belt. Baby, or no baby."

I took the next pause as Michelle continued to cry to find out more information.

"How did you get in?"

"Rachel owned the office building across the street from TCC. There was a tunnel underground connecting the two. I just took the service elevator from there straight up to her office."

"And there are no cameras in the service elevator or in the upper offices. Michelle, if you loved her so much, than why did you kill her?

"

Michelle wailed as she went on. "I didn't kill her, she killed herself. She kept yelling at me. Telling me that it was her life and she would live it the way she wanted. That I should stop coming to see her at her office. I got so angry as she yelled at me." With that the tears stopped and anger began to re-appear on Michelle's face. "I loved her and she was pushing me away. There was no way anyone else was going to have her if I couldn't. I didn't mean for it to go so far. I just wanted to scare her, to make her change her mind."