Witness Ch. 04

Chapter Four - Braidwood

"If you hadn't spent all your time trying to put your pee-pee in her pooper and done your job we wouldn't be in this predicament," Brett Mendelsohn was ropeable and taking it out on Elliot Granger.

"I know you're angry Brett but you better curb your mouth. The tranny cooze had changed her mind and I did everything I could to get her to stay the course," Elliot replied.

Brett eyed him suspiciously.

"Everything? What does that mean?" he asked.

"I'm saying that maybe if she was given a physical right now there might be a few bumps and bruises on her," Elliot gave him a knowing look but he was lying.

"Without her evidence I don't have a case and I'll have to drop the prosecution. The Napolitano lawyers will want prejudice attached which means that I can't charge Luca Tattaglia with the same crime again. He walks and I look like a schmuck," Brett shook his head.

"I'm going to give her one last chance," Brett sighed and opened the door to the living room.

Poppy was sprawled on the sofa in her hooker attire, micro-miniskirt, crop-top, L'eggs sheers, red heels, heavy makeup and teased out hair.

"You know that from now on your life is fucked. If the Napolitanos don't kill you to keep you quiet, your life is still not going to be worth living. Every time you show your face on the street I'll have you locked up. You'll have so many raps that you'll have to do hard time," Brett threatened her.

"That kid in the fancy school won't be there much longer, you won't be able to pay the tuition, besides which when I tell the school board that he's being sponsored by a hooker, those skinny white bitches will see to it that he's kicked out," he continued.

"If you ever finish your legal studies I'll make sure you never get a job. You'll live your life sucking off old geezers for rent money, maybe your brother will have to join you selling his ass," Brett kicked her feet off the coffee table.

Poppy glared at the ADA when he mentioned her brother.

"I'm recanting my testimony and that's that! You can't make me say that Tattaglia guy did it," Poppy folded her arms.

"Get the tranny whore packed up and drop her off at her apartment. Charge her with soliciting, she admitted that she was having sex for money at the Metropole," Brett Mendelsohn was defeated.

"Ok. Get packed up, your holiday is over. At least I can go back to doing real police work," Elliot snatched Poppy's elbow and dragged her to her feet.

When Brett Mendelsohn left both Poppy and Elliot breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well that went better than I thought it would. I thought he would throw me in the clink on some trumped up charge," Poppy said, wiping off her heavy makeup with a towelette.

"It went almost too well but I suppose there isn't much else he can do," Elliot rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Are you going to charge me with soliciting at the Metropole like he said?" Poppy asked.

"He was just angry. You made the admission during testimony that you have since recanted, the custody Sergeant wouldn't even lock you up," Elliot replied and felt instantly guilty about when he had her thrown into the tank and withheld her legal counsel.

Poppy had not told him about what she'd had to do to prevent herself from being gang raped.

"What do I do now?" Poppy asked.

"You get packed up and I take you home," Elliot replied.

"Do you think he's right? Will the Napolitanos kill me anyway?" Poppy looked frightened.

"I've thought long and hard about it. The mob is about making money not attracting undue attention from law enforcement. You and I are the only ones who know that Robert has been kidnapped and they aren't going to kill me; they hardly ever kill coppers, that draws way too much heat," Elliot explained.

"They know that it's highly likely that if they do take you out that I will testify about Robert's kidnapping and that means bringing in the FBI which they definitely don't want. Also if they kill you the ADA can use your recorded testimony as you won't be around to recant it. It's classic Catch Twenty Two. I think that once they hear that the ADA is dropping the charges against Luca Tattaglia they will let Robert go and leave you alone. They've sent their message. With prejudice attached the ADA can't charge Tattaglia again anyway," Elliot took Poppy in his arms and comforted her.

"When will I get Robert back?" Poppy began to shiver.

"The honest answer is I don't know but I'm guessing as soon as the charges are dropped, so soon," Elliot hugged her.

"Go and get packed. We've still got to play this out until we get Robert back. You're the crazy hooker who I hate and I'm the angry detective who you despise," Elliot let her go.

Poppy was far from happy with the current situation but her ears had pricked up when Elliot had used the words 'until we get Robert back'.

She packed two battered suitcases and the box of books and had to admit that she would be sad to leave the safe house. Although it was effectively a prison except for their daily exercise, it had become their home; she and Elliot had lived together as a couple. Her government stipend would cease. She would need to earn money. She would have to go back to the streets.

The drive back to her city apartment was conducted mostly in silence; both she and Elliot were lost in their thoughts.

Elliot helped Poppy carry her suitcases up to her tiny one-bedroom apartment. The locals looked at Elliot suspiciously; it was obvious to them that he was a cop.

The first thing that Poppy noticed was that there were new locks fitted to her apartment door. Strong, commercial grade locks. The keys had been left on the kitchen counter.

She looked at Elliot questioningly.

"I had them fitted today. It will give us more security," Elliot began to unpack her books.

"Us?" Poppy looked surprised.

"You don't think I going to let you live here alone until all this over do you?" Elliot smiled at her.

"I don't get it?" Poppy was confused.

"I'm going to have to work my day job; I have to keep up the façade. But I'm staying here with you," Elliot smiled at her again.

"How do you know I want you to?" Poppy sulked.

Elliot was surprised; the disappointment on his face evident.

Poppy locked the three deadbolts fitted on the door and turned to him and smiled.

"Don't be silly. Of course I want you to stay here and keep me safe. But I only have one bed so we will have to share. Why don't we go and see if we can both fit into it?" she smiled at him coyly and took his hand and led him towards the bedroom door.

"Don't you have to... you know?" Elliot blushed.

"I already 'you knowed' before we left the safe house. I always intended on throwing you a farewell fuck," Poppy was using her street voice again.

"I hate it when you talk that way," Elliot bowed his head.

"Then come and make love to me. Make me feel safe. Make me feel like you care," she looked up him with her big green eyes and Elliot's heart melted.

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her through the door and she squealed like a girl. He put her down on the bed and looked down at her. She posed for him, splaying out her arms, tucking her legs, her hair fanned out on the pillow. Elliot sat on the bed and leaned down and kissed her softly, working at the knot on his tie, then unbuttoning his shirt, all the time kissing her.

Poppy reached up and helped Elliot take off his shirt and then she reached for his belt buckle. Elliot became impatient and ripped his pants open and pushed them down where they bunched around his feet. Poppy giggled as he maniacally ripped off his shoes and socks without untying his laces.

She stopped giggling when he loomed over her, naked and rampant, his muscled torso pumped, his eyes clouded with lust. He fell on her and pulled her tank-top up over her head and then fumbled with her bra which he eventually managed to unclasp and throw across the room. Poppy lifted up her feet so that he could pull down her miniskirt which ended up being tossed next to her bra.

Poppy hooked her fingers into the waistband of her panties and pantyhose with the intention of rolling them down her legs but Elliot fell on top her and kissed her passionately as his hands went to her bosom.

Their lovemaking recently had been tender and unhurried but Poppy had to admit that she was turned on by Elliot's new eagerness and passion. His mouth alternated between her breasts and her mouth, sucking and nibbling her nipples and excitedly driving his tongue into her mouth and crushing her lips with his.

She reached for him and found him hard, throbbing and ready; precum leaking profusely from his glans. Elliot surprised her when he leapt off her and spun her around on the bed and pulled her to her knees. He yanked her pantyhose and panties down her thighs and tore away her tuck.

"Oh my God!" she gasped as he plunged his rampant cock into her anus.

She arched her back and wriggled her buttocks, pushing back against him.

"Fuck me Elliot! Fuck me!" she moaned like a slattern.

Elliot placed one hand on her hip and reached under her with the other and found her erect. He squeezed Poppy's penis and began to fuck her. He stroked her in time with his thrusts as he violated her anus.

"Yes, Elliot, yes!" Poppy screamed as his cock pressed against her prostate and stretched her sphincter.

His hand milked her, squeezing and caressing her throbbing her cock, eking pre-ejaculate from her pulsing phallus. He drove his cock deep inside her, feeling her anus squeeze his bloated organ.

Poppy's semen spattered on the bedspread as she orgasmed. She would have collapsed but Elliot gripped her hips with both hands and held her as he pounded his cock in and out of her tight passage as he inseminated her anus.

Poppy squealed and writhed as she felt Elliot's cock pulsing inside her, filling her with hot ejaculate. The last of her issue dribbled from her sensitive cock, she milked it with her fingers, relying on Elliot to keep her on her knees. She fell flat on the bed and Elliot collapsed on top her, squirming and bucking as he squirted the last of his spunk deep in her bowels. She lay there gasping, the weight of his body pressing her to bed, his breath ragged in her in her ear. He bit her shoulder, but not painfully, it was a passionate nip.

When they had their breathing under control Elliot climbed off Poppy and fell onto the bed beside her. She rolled over and clung to him and he enfolded her in his arms.

"What was that?" Poppy gasped.

"I don't know. It was just... I don't know... I just wanted to fuck you, to possess you," Elliot panted, wiping her sweaty bangs from her eyes.

"Well you can do that again but not until my ass has recovered," Poppy smiled and ran her fingers though his sweat-soaked hair.

"So you liked it," Elliot grinned at her.

"Don't grin at me like you're some champion lover," she teased him.

"I thought I was pretty good," Elliot propped himself up on one elbow.

"Well now I need a shower and I need to change the bedding," Poppy pouted.

"Oh shut up," Elliot laughed jovially.

He leapt off the bed and picked Poppy up and threw her over his shoulder.

"Put me down you Neanderthal!" Poppy beat her fists on his back and kicked her legs, but she was giggling uncontrollably.

She managed to kick off her heels before Elliot dropped her on her feet in the shower, stepped in with her and closed the door.

"There isn't enough room for both of us," Poppy protested.

"Well we'll just have to wash the bits we can't get to on each other won't we," Elliot laughed and turned on the water.

Later when Elliot was getting dressed things became serious again.

"I have to go down to the squad room Poppy and go back to work. I'll be assigned a partner and a shift and being gone from the squad for so long I will likely get the graveyard shift," Elliot explained.

"Which isn't a bad thing. It means I'll be working nights so you can stay here locked up safe while I'm working. I'll check on you during my breaks and I'll be able to spend my days with you," Elliot thought it was a good deal but when he saw the storm clouds in Poppy's eyes he realised that she was going to push back.

"You're not telling me that I've got to hold up here in my apartment while you're working? That I can't go out at night? How am I going to make a living?" Poppy put her hands on her hips.

"You're not telling me that you're going back out on the streets?" Elliot was incredulous.

"You told me I'm safe from Napolitanos so why not?" Poppy inclined her head, giving Elliot attitude.

"Because I assumed that your hooking days were over," Elliot's face was becoming red with anger.

"Robert still has a place at the Grosvenor School and I need to keep paying for it so he can go back there when he's released. In case you didn't hear your friend fuckwad Mendelsohn, the gov'mint turned off the tap honey; I ain't got jack-shit," Poppy had reverted to her street voice which irritated Elliot.

"We don't know for certain about the Napolitanos. Anyway, how can you go back to selling your body like that? How can you throw away what we have together?" Elliot was nearly shouting he was so angry.

"What he have together? You had your pretty little tranny fuck-doll all to yourself at the safe house living in our little fantasy world. Me pretending to be a housewife and you pretending to be my knight in shining armour but what did you think was going to happen after?" Poppy was seething.

"You goin' to take me home to meet mom? You goin' to take me to the annual policeman's ball? Am I going to live in the suburbs, cooking and cleaning and waiting for you to come home? You goin' to be a brother-in-law to a junkie whore's son?" Poppy was livid.

"You really are just a whore aren't you?" Elliot leaned in, his face inches from hers, his fists balled.

"And you really are just a cop. Go ahead and hit me. That's what cops usually do. They take a freebie or they give me a kicking or sometimes both. You'd know all about that wouldn't you?" Poppy glared at Elliot's clenched fists.

He threw a punch at her but he aimed it to miss and he smashed a hole in the wall beside her head.

"Fucking tranny whore!" Elliot screamed at her, snatched up his coat and slammed the door on his way out.

Poppy triple locked the door and folded herself up into a ball on the floor and sobbed uncontrollably.

Elliot took the stairs, fuming. He hated Poppy but he hated himself more. He hated that he had called her a whore, he hated that the last time they had lain together it had been a ferocious animalistic fuck instead of the tender, caring, intimate, lovemaking they usually enjoyed but most of all he hated that Poppy was right.

Elliot met with Danny Logan, the Chief of Detectives, and briefed him. The Chief was livid that Poppy had recanted her testimony.

"What the fuck happened Elliot? You had that cooze cooped up in that fuckin' holiday shack... you didn't beat her did you? I heard about what you did to her in the lockup tank... Jesus... did you knock her around?" Danny ran his hands through his hair.

"Not that I'd blame you. That fuckin' tranny hooker has a mouth on her and she had it coming, but fuck man, we don't need to get the blame for this," Danny continued before Elliot could answer.

"Chief, I think we can lay this right at the feet of the prosecutor. The cooze was ready to testify but it just all took too long. The longer she had to think about it, the longer she had to think about what would happen to her if she did. Then the fucking ADA recorded her testimony just in case she was killed. Shit, that would've scared the shit out of anyone," Elliot offered.

"Yeah, well that's the line I'm taking. The ADA is making a formal announcement this evening. He's going to say that all charges against Tattaglia are being dropped because his only witness refuses to testify. It's a fucking half-truth but it saves his face. He'll infer that the Napolitanos got to her, try to push the blame away. I don't care so long as we don't have to eat the shit sandwich. Get down to the squad room and pick up your assignments; I want you to lay low for a while until this blows over," the chief dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

*****

"Hey girl, you lookin' fine. You been on vacation, I ain't seen you in a coon's age. You nearly lost your corner sister," Latisha Collins was squeezed into leopardskin lycra leggings and a black lycra longsleeved top; her gold fuck-me heels, high hair, heavy makeup and junk jewellery advertised her trade.

"I took my brother away on an extended vacation. Lake Tahoe. Frolicking on the beach during the day and fuckin' high-rollers for money at night," Poppy hugged Latisha and air-kissed her cheeks.

Poppy was back in her hooker's livery: black velvet hotpants, a mauve satin blouse with a cheap imitation chinchilla fur coat to keep warm. She had re-dyed the blue and cerise highlights into her blonde hair. Her makeup was heavy and she was wearing cheap cherry-red fuck-me shoes and L'eggs Sheer Energy pantyhose. It felt almost like she had never left the streets but her heart sank every time she recalled her time at the safe house with Elliot so she tried her hardest not to.

All she was worried about at the moment was when Robert was going to be released and how she was going to continue to pay for his board and education.

A car backfired and Poppy ducked down and turned away. This was not lost on Latisha.

"Word on the street is that you got tied up in that mob hit at the Metropole. They say you were a material witness or some shit," Latisha came over and offered Poppy a smoke.

"They say a lot of things don't they?" was all Poppy replied, looking up when a passing man showed interest in her.

He approached Poppy and solicited her. She took him down the alley behind the dumpster and blew him for twenty five dollars. She was pleased to find that the car floor-mat was still under the dumpster and she was able to pull it out and kneel on it while she worked. The girls used it to protect their knees from the filth-strewn ground while they fellating the customers.

She was busy that night and she was happy to be. It was sorely needed money and it kept her mind off thinking about Robert, even though worrying about him took up every second of her free time. She did a few knee-trembling tricks up against the wall. It was easy work for her, lean against the wall, pull down her shorts and pantyhose just far enough to provide the john access to her ass, let him finish the job then pull the condom off his cock and flick it in the dumpster.

A few of the johns wanted full service and the comfort of a bed. She led them back to the Metropole Hotel where a new guy had replaced Stanley Britton as concierge and the bloody carpet had been replaced in the hallway where the shooting had taken place. Even murder didn't stop commerce.

One of her regular leg fetish guys paid her extra to keep her pantyhose after he had blown his load over her legs and feet. It was money for nothing because she would have changed into a fresh set of L'eggs anyway.

For a few days life returned to normal for Poppy, she worked the streets in the evenings and returned to her little apartment exhausted just before sunrise.

One morning just after she had returned home and taken off her makeup and changed into a housecoat there was a knock on the door and Poppy froze. The door was triple locked but she still didn't feel completely safe. The nearest phone was located in the corridor near the stairwell and she wished that she had paid for her own telephone to be installed but it was an expense she could do without. She doubted that Elliot would have given it to her but she wished she'd asked him for a gun.

Poppy shivered with fright waiting for the door to be forced open or for a fusillade of bullets to rip through panels but she heard nothing other another series of knocks on her door.