"That was a nice knife she was carrying. He managed to slice Richard with it before he took it away from her. He is still pretty pissed and I think he wants to exact a little more revenge on her before we are through. He already has a little fun as you can see. She screams real nice."
"Just what the fuck are you going to do? She doesn't figure into this."
"Sure she does. You got her to close. I suspect that you are banging her as well. I don't blame you. In fact, before we are done here I imagine all of us are going to get a taste of it."
Cogburn snorted.
Stu motioned to the gun Steve still held.
"Toss it."
Steve tossed the pistol to one side. It clattered to the floor, the sound sharp in the large space.
"Do you mind explaining to me just how you figure unto this?"
"Steve. You haven't the foggiest yet do you. Let me explain."
"I found about the Dashwood group almost accidentally. A friend was a member and told me about some of their activities. He put me in contact with Cogborn. I had a plan to make some extra money. Most of these people are wealthy and in very sensitive positions. You know as well as I do that cops make shit and I didn't want to spend my retirement sitting in a bank lobby somewhere nodding off in the afternoons."
"Blackmail"
"Now you are catching on. And it was going swimmingly. We had arranged a gangbang deal and were going to catch 5 of our more prominent members in the act but we needed a woman. You remember Robert, our friend from Detroit. He was our initial contact into the video black-market. Once we had our contacts in place, he became a liability with the FBI hot on his tail. Anyway, he asked around some of the swing clubs and your wife's name came up. He and Richard went to pick her up that night and bring her to the building. It was a sweet set up. She was willing and doing one hell of a job. That bitch could fuck. I got there late and walked into the scene and before I realized what was happening your wife recognized me and I recognized her."
Stu leaned back against the table, the gun still pointing at Steve but in a more relaxed way.
"We let the whole thing continue. Your wife was a trooper. She fucked like a machine. She even asked me if I was going to join in. After it was over, we bundled the marks off and secured the video tape. Then we had to decide what to do with your tramp of a wife. There was no way I could let her go now that she knew me. It was Cogborn who suggested the video. He was our contact into the market now and took care of all the business arrangements. He said if we could make a snuff video, we could make more from each video than we had doing the whole blackmail scheme. He is the one that thought up the idea of the sharp pole. I think he is probably some kind of sex pervert."
"And you aren't?"
"Hell, no! This is all strictly business. Big business. I was really upset that your wife happened into this, but, profits before personal feelings."
So my wife was just an unhappy accident."
"Yeah, if she hadn't been such a slut she would still be alive."
"So it was you who set this whole thing up."
Me and Cogborn. Poor Robert wasn't to keen. He was a career criminal but one with just a touch to many morals. He really didn't want to participate but Richard there managed to convince him. A 45 at your back doesn't leave you with a lot of choices. Like I said he was a liability anyway. The FBI was looking for him on a piracy count. We couldn't have the feds sniffing around especially now. He had to go."
"You are some sick fucks."
"Yeah, but we are making a shit ton of money. We have already sold over 300 copies of that video. It is amazing how many Arab and Chinese millionaires want that kind of shit."
"And I suppose that me and Rafferty are the next video?"
"See, you do catch on quick. We are going to make a nice long video of Rafferty up there being tortured to death. Richard is intent on making it last hours. He really is a sadistic bastard and now he has a personal interest since Rafferty sliced him up. You are going to watch and then you will be the finale. We get the video, you get dead, and we have a wind up to our case. Pervert detective kills his wife after catching her in a S&M sex scene with her partner, then kills his partner/mistress and suicides. We wrap this up in a nice neat package and send it off. We move this whole operation to a new facility and continue to make scads of money. Cogborn thinks if Rafferty last at least an hour, we can get more than a $100,000 a copy for it on the black market. You, my friend, are going to make me a multimillionaire."
"Somebody is going to figure this out."
"Yeah. you're right. I can stall it off for a while since I am in charge of homicide. Every good businessman always has an exit strategy. When the time comes, a plane ride to a nice non-extradition country on the shoreline, the millions in the bank and the continuing sales of the videos mean I get to I live like a king."
"You're a sicker fuck than Cogborn. He's just a pervert. You're a fucking bastard."
"Now Steve, no need to get vulgar. Any way, if you'll walk over there and sit in that chair, we can get you fixed up to watch your little whore in her starring role."
Steve felt the muzzle of the Glock punch his back prodding him toward the chair. He considered his options. Even if he took out Stu, the guy on the stage would use that knife on Rafferty before he would have a chance to close the distance.
He sat in the chair and again sized up the scene. He saw the guy on the stage move off several feet toward a table covered with the torture implements he meant to use on Rafferty. Steve took the opportunity. His hand came out of his left pocket with the blade held downward. He reached for the gun with his right hand and twisted it out of the way. Stu reacted just as he had anticipated by grabbing his wrist to try and turn the gun back toward him. The knife flashed over Stu's arm and slashed across Stu's face, opening his cheek from the bridge of his nose to the corner of his jaw. Steve felt the blade grate against teeth and bone. Stu howled, dropping the gun and sank to his knees trying to staunch the flow of blood with his hands. Steve dove for the gun and rolled trying to bring the pistol to bear on Richard who was turning to look at the commotion near the center of the room. Steve saw the big man spin as he realized something was horribly wrong. He leapt toward the stage with the knife still in his hand. Steve came up on one knee desperate to get a clear sight picture before Richard could get to the stage. Just as he was about to fire, a single shot came from the behind him and Richard crumpled into a heap on the stage just feet from Rafferty. Steve rolled to his other side and brought the pistol around trying to find the source of the shot.
"Steve. Its Ralph. The Geek Squad. I got 4 other officers here. We're going to come out into the light."
He watched the five men come into view spread out across the back of the room. They were dressed in black tactical gear. One of the other officers had Cogborn handcuffed.
Steve rolled to his feet. Without thinking he turned and ran to the stage. Finding the knife the dead manhad dropped, he cut the rope that held Rafferty's arms and legs to the cross. She collapsed into his arms and he carried her to the chair. Placing her in the chair, he covered her with his jacket. Only then did he look at Ralph.
"How long have you guys been on to this."
"About 36 hours after you got that video from me. Our guys cracked the payment site and tracked the funds back to an offshore bank. It took a bit of doing but the feds got the bank to give up the account holders. You can imagine the surprise when it came back to our friend Cogborn."
"I thought Stu was running the show?"
He looked over at Stu who was still bleeding on the floor. Paramedics were tending to his cut face as officers were placing him in handcuffs.
"He was. Cogborn was his front. We suspect that when it came time to run Cogborn was going to end up somewhere hard to find and dead. Stu would disappear. We would easily find out that "Cogborn" had left the country and Stu would get off the plane, ditch Cogburns passport. Stu would end up with the money from the video, Cogborn's millions and a villa on the beach in some far away country."
"Jesus. All that shit going on right here in our fair city."
"Yeah. The feds are rolling up the rest of the people involved in this. Of course, we can't touch the people in Hong Kong who are dealing the stuff, which means we can't get the videos off the internet. Even if we took them down, there are enough copies now that they will be available forever."
"Can we go?"
"We will need to get statements from you both but that can wait until tomorrow."
Roger knelt next to Rafferty.
"You sure you don't want to go to the hospital and get checked out?"
"Thanks, but will be fine."
Rogers eyes went to Steve for confirmation.
"She's a tough one. She'll be ok. I will take care of her."
Ralph looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey. We are partners. Partners look out for each other."
Steve found her clothes, or what was left of them, behind the stage. He helped her put on what was salvageable and then put his coat over her shoulders.
"You ok partner?"
"Yeah. A Little bruised but nothing that won't heal."
"Ready to go."
"Where are we going?"
"Home."
"My house?"
"No, our house."
