Payback Pt. 04

"I have seen a lot of his films and quite liked him, what did you find?" Stella asked.

"One of the drawers had his stash of Cocaine, quite a bit of cash and a bag with what could be thirty small diamonds" I said.

"I don't see a problem so far, you are the owner of it now, the family should have checked it better, it's 'finders keepers' as far as I can see, so what was in the other drawer that is so bad?" she asked.

"There were pornographic photos, some were monochrome but most were colour plus there were two videos showing what I believe to be him having sex with young starlets, but the worst were the DVDs, one was of boys, the other one was similar but with girls but the last clip showed him (but not his face) with the daughter of some woman he knew."

"Oh god Daniel!" She cried, "What have you done with them."

"I brought them home to see what was on them, do I destroy them all or do I go to the cops, I mean the man's dead, they can't do anything to him and an investigation could give me a lot of hassle?" I explained.

"Give me ten minutes to talk to your father and I'll call you back Daniel" she said and hung up. It was a very long ten minutes for me but eventually she called back and said,

"Right Daniel, I've explained things to your father and we agree you should report these disgusting videos and pictures to the police, take the money for expenses, inconvenience or loss of earnings due to the investigation, it's yours now anyway. Leave the drugs for obvious reasons and the diamonds, they are either blood diamonds and therefore illegal or numbered and traceable."

"The only trouble is that I've had a couple of large whiskeys so can't drive back to work where the desk is" I said.

"Hmm, awkward, I know you won't be able to sleep but wait until morning, drive to work and then phone the police as though you have just found them, can you do that Daniel?" Stella asked.

"As you say, I doubt whether I can sleep but I shouldn't make any difference to when I report this nightmare. Can you ask Maddy not to Skype me until I call her, don't give her any details but tell her there is a problem that needs to be sorted out?" I asked her.

"Of course Daniel, please let me know how things go as soon as you can?" She replied.

"Okay but it might be a day or two, good night Mom" I said and hung up. What a massive 'OH FUCK!!' moment, I wasn't worried about reporting the find but no one needs hassle like this in their lives, if it hadn't been for the little girl I would have burnt the lot, fenced the diamonds and fed the money into my accounts over a period of time.

'Oh fuck, fuck, fuck' I thought and finished my last drink, taking the cash and putting it in the office safe, after tying it into smaller bundles and burning the bank bands. Food was out of the question, I would probably throw it back up anyway so I re-packaged the porn into the original envelope and put it in a drawer out of sight and tried to watch some TV but the sight of that girl just came back to haunt me. I went to bed and took a sleeping pill and after a while went to sleep with the alarm set for seven.

I had nightmares for some of the night but it was the alarm that woke me up, I felt fuzzy so made strong coffee and forced myself to eat some cereal and toast, it may be some time before I ate again.

I took the envelope and drove the van to work and with the envelope inside my jacket I unlocked the warehouse and put the envelope in the office safe, pulled out the desk and put the diamonds and coke back in the left one.

I put the polishing clothes and polish out and even shined a couple of the legs so I smelled of polish, then I called nine-one-one and asked for the police.

I briefly explained to the dispatcher what I had found and she said that she would send a unit to my location and ten minutes later I heard a black and white arrive.

I went out to meet them and showed them the desk and then the envelope. One officer radioed for a detective while I showed the other one the secret drawers and they checked the contents. Maybe fifteen minutes later a detective walked in, looked at the evidence and bagged it separately, then we sat down and I had to go through the whole story from who I was and what I do, right through the auction to bringing the stuff back here and opening the drawers this morning.

He made a lot of notes and asked to see all of the evidence, I set it up for him but I would not look at it again. He swore a lot as did the two beat cops who watched it too, one of them ran outside and threw up in the yard.

"He's got a daughter that wants to be an actress in the future" his partner said tightly.

"Okay Mr Cross, if you will go to the precinct with these officers and make a statement, I'll get this desk and drawers collected and taken back to the station for a forensics team to go over it and these damned disks and vids" he explained. So I went to the station and made a long statement, drank some of their so called coffee and waited for the detective to say I could go. He came in to see me an hour later,

"Did you look at all of the disks and vids? He asked.

"I put the videos on first and fast forwarded through a lot of them as they were all similar, just with different girls, some of whom I recognised from movies. Once I saw the content of the first DVD (the boys), I just sampled here and there, I did the same to the girls next but I did see more of the last one, the end was..."

I ran out of words.

"I know what you mean," he said, "I had to watch it all, the bastard! We've just got to try and find out who she was, the other people on the DVDs look like foreigners so are pretty much untraceable and I doubt whether any of those actresses will want us to talk to them about those tapes."

"Can I go now and when can I have the desk back, I don't need it immediately but I would like a rough idea as eventually I would like to sell it?" I asked.

"It could be some weeks, but maybe months, depending on the investigation, if you give me your contact number and address you can go now, I'll get someone to drop you off, oh and here are your warehouse keys" he said and handed them to me, I gave him my details and went to the desk to wait for transportation back to the warehouse.

I was dropped off and went inside and made myself a decent cup of coffee and sat at my desk to go through it all in my mind. The only good thing about it was if it becomes public news, the bed, desk and chair could be worth a lot more too some collector of infamous celebrity items.

Not that it would matter so long as the money in my safe was not known about and stays safe for me to get it in my bank account. There was no way I was going to do any more work today so I locked up and drove home and as I was feeling a bit better, I made some lunch, ate it and called Stella.

I told her what had happened this morning and she said that she would tell Maddy that it would be all right to call tonight as she was very worried. I took my mobile phone with me and sat in the hot tub for an hour and then sorted out the food I was going to cook for dinner, then watched some sport on the TV, I even fell asleep for an hour. After dinner Maddy skyped me and the first thing she said was,

"What the fuck is going on Danno?"

"Oh hello my love, it's nice to see you too... Madeline!" I snapped.

"Okay Danno, I'm sorry but Stella wouldn't tell me what was going on and I was so worried that it was something to do with that gang, I... Okay, hello Danno, it's nice to see you, now tell me!" She cried.

I told her most of the details but not graphically, I mentioned the diamonds and drugs and porn and the girl but not how he killed her or about the money.

"I asked Stella for advice and told her everything, I asked her to tell you very little and that I would say when you could call me, okay. I know you were concerned but I had to deal with it and the police so I didn't want a reaction like your opening salvo getting in the way, you should trust me more Maddy" I replied.

"Sorry Danno, I know, open mouth and insert foot in... again, I should have trusted you and Stella more, I will remember in future, maybe" she said and laughed.

"Hopefully the police will find out who that poor girl was and tell her mother to give her some closure, maybe she could sue his estate for compensation even though that won't help her emotionally but she might have other kids to bring up."

We talked about Conchita who had started her first full working week but on light duties by order of Stella,

"Carmen and me did a couple of lifts for her and that was okay and she's cooking for herself and Carmen again too but she's looking forward to starting training again next week but we will only let her go lightly on the bike and the X-trained and no swimming" Maddy explained.

"Good, I'm glad she is still being a good girl" I replied.

"Oh and she said you owe her the nice bikini that you promised, to take on holiday, what's that about?" Maddy asked.

"That was a bit of incentive when she was struggling to see a future with a flat muscled belly instead of a fat or floppy one" I answered, "I'll buy her one when we come back from Miami, next month."

"Carmen said that she walked in on you in bed with her mother on Sunday morning after listening to her mother cumming at least twice, through the wall" she said and laughed.

"And she is going to get her back at some point, for being nosey and trying to embarrass her" I said.

"I hope I get to see that" she grinned.

"Maybe you will, maybe you will... I will let you know if anything develops about the actor, goodbye Maddy, love you" I finished.

"I love you too Danno, goodbye" she answered and cut the connection. I went to bed a lot happier than the previous night but I did dream of that girl and that it was me that did that to her and I woke up in a cold sweat and it took an hour to settle again and go back to sleep.

I went back to work the next morning and cleaned and polished the actor's wooden framed bed. The statues were on pallets so my little hand electric fork lift truck easily moved them into the secure cage along with the garden ornaments.

38.

Life went on as normal for the next two weeks, I heard nothing from the police, Conchita had started light training, supervised by the girls; she was still on light duties but was progressing well. I got my car back (the repairs had cost six hundred dollars but that did include a full service and tune-up.

I had deposited ten grand of the money sitting in my safe into the business bank account (I didn't mind paying taxes on it as it was free money). I sold all the garden ornaments but only one of the four statues but they made good money because of their provenance and it would be good to shift as much as possible before the shit hit the fan.

I decided to look into who the girl at the end might have been and try and find her family, it was obviously the daughter of someone he had known, maybe even one of the starlets he had fucked and recorded, whom he got pregnant. I put out some feelers to various contacts, one of which replied that he had found that the family of a disabled girl called Alicia Carver had sued the actor for maintenance for a mixed race baby girl about seven years before.

The teenage mother was an aspiring black actress who had gotten pregnant and had a baby girl, her family persuaded her to take him to court for support. After a month the case was withdrawn and the family moved to New Orleans into a bigger house in a good area and nothing more was heard about it.

A few months later the girl had been walking home one evening with the baby in a buggy when a car mounted the sidewalk and hit both the girl and the buggy and kept going. The baby was shaken but unhurt but the mother sustained serious head and body injuries and was in a coma for three weeks.

She recovered from the physical injuries but had some mental problems, both the baby and the girl were being looked after by her parents. Then a few years later, the girl disappeared on her way home from a friend's house and a black van was seen in the area around that time.

The actor was a suspect for the hit and run but nothing could be proven and he had an alibi for the weekend of the incident. My source found photos of the girl and the baby and emailed them to me with an address, the girl looked a lot like one of the girls on video.

Maybe the actor paid someone get rid of her so he wouldn't have to pay her anymore but the driver botched it and she survived, I would continue to dig for any information that would help the police to solve the case. I asked if he would look into whether any of the actor's staff had left his employ or retired near the time and were suddenly wealthy.

I decided to write to the parents and explain, who I was and what I had found and why I was writing, I had a couple of days before I was going to Duncellin, so spent some time composing a letter that would show my good intentions and maybe give them some closure. This was the letter I sent.

Dear Mr and Mrs Carver,

I don't know you and you don't know me, so I'll introduce myself, my name is Daniel Cross (Danno to my friends), I may have some information about the late ####### ######### with regards to your daughter Alice. Please don't think that I am prying and I do not want to upset anyone. I am not a reporter, I buy and sell things for a living, from websites and auctions, sometimes to order and sometime just to speculate in the hope their value will increase.

I recently bought some furniture and garden ornaments from an auction of the above actors estate which included his writing desk. When I stripped it apart to polish it, I found two secret drawers, one contained some jewels and some drugs but the other contained videos, DVDs and photos of girls. All these items have been handed to the police for investigation but one of the DVDs showed him with a mixed race girl that may have been your granddaughter.

I do not mean to drag up old memories that are obviously very painful but maybe it could give some form of closure for you and your daughter if you contact the police. I will give you any help I can, if you wish to pursue this with them, I enclose both my address, email address, phone number and the number of the detective in charge of the case in Florida.

I am going to be at my parents for a few days and then I have to go to Miami but I will be home on Tuesday next week if you wish to reply.

This was a horrific discovery for me but must be so much worse for you, so if you do not wish to communicate with me, then I apologise for my intrusion, I just thought I might be able to help.

I hope you and Alicia have a good life.

Yours sincerely

Daniel Cross

Phone ***************** Email *********@********** Address 000, **********, Orlando, Florida.

If they didn't reply then so be it, if they did then, I would do whatever I could and probably take some flak from the police about it, but I didn't care. I called the detective and asked about the desk and he told me that it would be some months until the investigation was completed, until then it was evidence. I told him I would not be at home for a few days but could be contacted on my mobile phone.

On Friday morning I drove to work and sorted a few things out, locked up and drove home to pack a bag for five nights, three at Duncellin, one in Miami and another at the parents again. I cleared out the refrigerator of perishables, eating some for lunch, then drove to Duncellin, arriving about two pm.

I greeted my parents and told Stella I would give them some details later, then I headed for the gym to see the girls. They all stopped training to give me a hug, Maddy moaned that she and Carmen were on their periods but Conchita was on her last day so she would be okay for Sunday night at the hotel.

"Don't be jealous Maddy, it does not become you!" I snapped, then hugged her again. The girls went back to their training while I watched, and when they had finished, Conchita and I sat by the pool watching them swim while we talked.

"How are you now Conchita?" I asked.

"I feel great, the scar is still a little tender but I am still being good about lifting but I so want a bath, I wash and use wipes to clean myself but I feel as if I smell bad even though Carmen says I don't," she said in frustration. "What is this about that actor who died a few weeks ago?"

"It is a long and disgusting story and I will give a cleaned up version at dinner tonight so you and Carmen eat at the house tonight so that I don't have to repeat it, I have informed Stella."

That evening after we had eaten which I had insisted on before I spoke about it, we all sat around the table and I told them the story leaving out the graphic details, especially how the girl was killed. They were all in shock by the time I had finished and Stella ordered a round of drinks to calm us down, gin and tonic for her, whiskey for me and Konrad, red wine for Conchita and white for Maddy and Carmen. There was some discussion and a few questions which I answered carefully, then I told them about my investigation and the letter I wrote to the Carvers.

"I know how sensitive you can be Daniel so I'm sure you have not upset then too much, you have made an effort to help them and if they don't want that help, perhaps they will just contact the police and do it all officially, if it's proven, they should have a claim on the estate." Stella explained.

"Well done son, you have done your best, as usual" added Konrad.

I dreamed of that film again and woke up early, went to the kitchen, brewed a pot of coffee and did a hard training session all before eight. I was back in the house and eating a bowl of cereal when Maddy came down,

"I saw you in the gym early, trouble sleeping Danno?" She asked.

"Yeah, that DVD again, I think I'm going for a run, want to come? I asked.

"How far?" She asked.

"Oh about five miles, if you're coming, ten if you're not" I replied.

"I can manage five" she answered, I'll leave a note for Stella. So we went out into the big world and ran for a couple of miles out or so, had a nice kiss and cuddle and then came back. Maddy kept up with me all the way but was obviously exhausted by the time we closed the gates, just over half an hour later.

"That's my training done for the day and it's only nine" she gasped and we went our separate ways to shower and dress.

Again Konrad hadn't taken the girls driving this week as I would be there for the weekend so after lunch we went out. This time once we were out of the city, I let Maddy drive to Melbourne, then swopped for half an hour to Carmen for street training, then it was Maddy's turn and finally back to Carmen to drive back to just before Orlando.

They had already decided that they had used up the time we would normally be fucking, just to be consistent, so Carmen found a track through the trees and stopped and I got a double blow job, Maddy got a mouthful of my cum, so as not to make a mess and shared it with Carmen, we all arrived back home satisfied.

Sunday was stormy, there were heavy showers in the morning but just windy and cloudy after lunch, so I used the net to clear all the leaves and palm fronds out of the swimming pool.

It was too cold to swim but we all used the gym for a couple of hours, the rest of the day was spent watching TV and otherwise relaxing.

The next morning after breakfast Conchita and I said goodbye to everyone and drove to the I-95 and down towards Miami, stopping in West Palm Beach for lunch again and to look for the bikini that I had promised her. Eventually she found one that she liked in a jungle pattern in shades of green, which would cover the scar even when she stretched her arm upwards.