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Searching for Sheila Ch. 01

By: beware



Tobe Lanscott tilted the metal chair back, hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans, crossed his leg, his work boot dangling off one knee, and said without much interest to the man across the desk, "So what flavor is it today, Lieutenant? "

He was referring to the red lollipop in the mouth of Lt. Ralph "Red" Redding, detective with the City of Ravensfield P.D., assigned to missing persons. Redding took the candy from his lips and scrutinized it as if it were evidence in a murder case.

"It's either cherry or strawberry. I can't tell which, I've sucked so many of the damned things. You lose your taste after awhile. You know what I mean? "

Tobe only nodded.

"You know I'm trying to quit smoking, "Redding went on, running a hand through thinning pale reddish hair.

"Yeah. You mentioned that last time. Is that working for you? Sucking on those things? "

"Haven't had a cigarette in three weeks. 'Course my teeth are rotting. It's always a trade-off, ain't it? One step forward and one step back. "

"You're lucky if it's only one step back, "Tobe commented.

"Yeah, "Redding said wearily. He let a couple of beats go by, stuck the lollipop in an empty glass

ash tray, and said with no emotion, "I think we found your wife. " 

Tobe came forward, almost colliding with the desk.

"Well, tell me, man! Where is she? Is she all right? "

There was a desperate tone in Lanscott's voice that Redding didn't like to hear. He thought: I never have good news for anybody. He said as dryly as he could, "Well, we don't actually know where she is at this moment, but we know what she's been doin' and probably where she's been doin' it. "

"What the hell does that mean? " There was now anger in Lanscott's voice and Redding knew he was about to make the big man angrier.

"Let's take a trip down the hall. "

Tobe Lanscott was half a head taller than Redding and two strides ahead of him going down the corridor to an empty conference room. The cop motioned him into a chair at the end of a long table in front of a large screen mounted on the far wall. Redding punched a key on a lap-top on the table and flicked the lights off. He left the room saying over his shoulder, "When you've had enough of that, I'll be in my office. "

The title on the screen read "Cock Lovin' Bitch starring Serena. " Something punched Lanscott in the pit of his stomach. The opening shot showed two naked men stroking their already hard cocks. They were standing by a large bed in what appeared to be a hotel room. One, who had a lot of muscles, said, "Damn, when's Pharaoh going to get here with the bitch? "

A door opened behind them and a third man came through it. He was taller and bigger than the other two, dressed in a multi-colored silk robe, with dark glasses wrapped around his large hairless head. He held a leash in one hand. The leash was attached to a collar. The collar was around the neck of a woman. She was wearing a black corset exposing large breasts, garter belt, black stockings and high heels. The heels were sharp as daggers. Tobe sucked in his breath and held it. She had changed a lot in a year and a half, but he recognized her immediately. The woman wearing the collar was Sheila, his missing wife.

She was now a blond with hints of dark shadows in her hair. Her lips were thick with excess lipstick. She had enough purple gook on her eyes to stop up a sink. Her breasts were unnaturally large and they weren't Sheila's. They had been planted on her by some surgeon.

The other smaller man, hairy and beefy, nodded at the big man in the robe and said, "Hey, Pharaoh. "

The big man said, "Showtime, bitch, "and pulled Tobe's wife to her knees before hairy-man who was still gripping his swollen cock.

Pharaoh leaned over Sheila's head. "She wants to suck your cock. Don't you, bitch? " He yanked the leash hard and repeated, "Don't you, bitch? "

Tobe hardly recognized Sheila's voice it was so faint. "Yes, Pharaoh. I'll do anything you say. I love sucking cock for you. "

"Then go to it, bitch. "

Without hesitation, Sheila took hairy-man's flesh into her mouth, seemingly eager to press her mouth back and forth over its length. Hairy-man placed his hands behind Sheila's head and brought her mouth to his cock with increasing force. In short order the man with muscles took a step forward and yanked Sheila from hairy-man's cock and brought her mouth over on his own. He threw his head back muttering, "Man, this bitch can suck. "

Hairy-man grabbed Sheila's free hand and made her grip his thick meat. For a time she stroked one cock while sucking the other. Soon hairy-man said, "My turn "and pulled Sheila's mouth back on his cock, and gripping her shoulders, he thrust his hips cruelly into her face.

"Take it, bitch, "he grunted. "Take it all. "

The camera came in showing Sheila's lipstick smeared over hairy-man's cock, turning it blood red. Then he pressed Sheila's face hard into his groin and cried "Ah, shit! " His cum ran down her chin and dribbled on her large breasts. The camera stayed on close-up and Sheila's mouth stayed on hairy-man's cock.

Something large and dry lodged in Tobe's throat and invisible ropes tied themselves tightly around his chest. He could hardly breathe. His stomach churned with nausea. Part of him felt he was being held prisoner in the chair, forced to watch the screen. But another part told him he was not being forced. He wanted to watch. And that thought made him feel sicker.

The camera pulled back as muscle-man brought Sheila to her feet and pushed her on the bed.

"Stick your ass out, bitch, "he ordered. "My cock's going right up your ass-hole. "

Sheila dutifully assumed the position, spreading her knees and spreading her ass-cheeks with one hand. Over her shoulder she told muscle-man, "Oh, yes. Fuck me like that. I want you to fuck me that way. "

The camera came in and caught muscle-man's cock slowly being fed into Sheila's tiny hole. As the camera pulled back, he grabbed the inside of her thighs and pumped her hard, his abdomen smacking against her firm ass. The one called Pharaoh took a chair near the bed. He leaned forward and said,

" Fuck her hard, man. Fuck that bitch hard. I know she can take it. " 

Then he stood up and threw his robe behind him. His thick hard cock jutted out like a fleshy spike.

Tobe became aware that he himself was hard, that his cock was seeking release from his tight jeans. He swallowed painfully as a ghost of a thought floated across his mind: You son of a bitch. You're turned on by what these men are doing to Sheila. The shame of that thought burned for an instant.

"Get a towel, "Pharaoh ordered hairy-man. "Wipe the bitch's face off. "

For a moment the action on the bed was obscured by hairy-man's back. When he stepped out of the scene, Pharaoh grabbed Sheila's hair and tugged her face to his waiting cock.

"Suck me good, bitch, "he barked. "And maybe I'll eat your pussy. "

Tobe watched in a kind of shameful fascination as his wife was captured between these two men, one holding her legs, bringing her ass over his cock, the other with a fist full of her hair bringing her lips over his stiffened flesh. Her large breasts, swaying to an insistent rhythm, Sheila was a manic thing, tugged back and forth between them, feeding their lust, and seemingly her own as well. The scene seemed to last forever.

For a moment, the camera, as if its operator in his excitement, lost control, panned to the left of the bed and went out of focus on a window. Outside it was night and a pinkish neon sign flashed off and on. Tobe could only make out three of the blinking letters. R-U-N-S.

The he began to gag with an overwhelming sickness. It came on him suddenly and he fought it back. He punched a key and the screen went blank. He tried to stand, but couldn't. Then he let his head down on the table. He tried to cry, but no tears came, his shoulders shaking in anguish.

II.

Redding was bent over his desk, trying to get interested in a report on a missing teenager. But his mind was on Lanscott. Then the door was thrown open and the big man himself almost fell through it. Redding looked up, took the candy from his mouth and said evenly, "You better sit down. You don't look so good. "

"Where in the hell is she? "Lanscott demanded.

"I said sit down." Lanscott collapsed in the chair, letting his head fall into his hands. Redding sat there listening to Lanscott make sounds like a wounded animal. You poor son of a bitch, he thought. He almost said it out loud. Instead he said, "Here's some advice. You won't take it, but here it is anyway. You'll never forget what you've just seen back there, but you'd better forget that you were ever married to her. Walk out of here, divorce her and never look back. And thank God that you never had children with her. "

Tobe looked up. His eyes looked bleary and unfocused. "I've got to find her. Bring her back home. "

For a time Redding couldn't look at :Lanscott, this big man suddenly gone to pieces. He got interested in his finger nails and took a couple licks on his sucker. Finally, he said, "Believe me, Lanscott. You don't want to find her and you don't want to bring her home. "

Tobe shot up from the chair. He paced the room and drew his sleeve across his eyes which had suddenly become wet.

"You don't understand. That wasn't my wife on that screen. That wasn't Sheila. That was somebody else, somebody who'd been kidnapped, who was being forced to do those things. "

"Look, Lanscott. She wasn't kidnapped. She wasn't forced, not in the usual sense. I admit she wasn't getting down on her knees and crawling into bed totally of her own free will. She probably hasn't got any free will. She's submitted her will to somebody else. She's left you far behind. She doesn't care if you even exist anymore. You're out of her life. You've got to get her out of yours. "

"How could I do that? She's my wife. "

"Not anymore she isn't. She's somebody's slut now, doing what he orders.. "

Tobe turned and started to come over Redding's desk. The cop had his gun out in a heartbeat.

"I wouldn't if I were you, Lanscott. Taking a swing at me could ruin your whole day. And you got enough shit comin' down on you already. Now sit down and I'll tell you what I know. "

Tobe fell back into the chair. "Start talking, man. "he said.

"The big man who came in wearing the robe and holding the leash is Teal Maggard. He likes to be called 'Pharaoh. ' He got run out of Detroit some years ago for being a nuisance to the really big boys. So he set up shop upstate in Piedmont. "

"The crookedest city in the state. "

"You got that right. Pharaoh's not as big as he thinks he is. He operates around the fringes - drugs, gambling, prostitution, and lately he's got into that kind of flick. It's probably the most legitimate line he operates. "

"You call that legitimate? "

"Hey, there's a market for it and he supplies the product. As far as anyone knows, he's not into the kiddie stuff. "

"How does a creep like that keep walking around? "

"What a stupid question. You know why. He keeps a money pipe line open to the right people in Piedmont. "

"The cops and the politicians. "

"As long as he doesn't get too big, he's no problem for the good citizens. Sure, he's dirt under their finger nails, but they don't mind tolerating a little dirt. And besides, the cops up there score a few points once in a while. They caught Pharaoh's brother, Doke Maggard -- they call him Little Pharaoh -- in a drug bust a few years ago and sent him away. I don't think it broke Big Pharaoh's heart and it kept the politicians happy. "

"So now we know where Sheila might be. What are you going to do about it? "

"Nothing. As far as the department's concerned, she's not a missing person, not the kind we build a case around. She's left you, but that's a problem for you, not the police. As far as we can tell, she's not in any danger, at least not the life threatening kind. "

"So as far as you're concerned, Redding, this is just a domestic situation between Sheila and me. "

"That's it. I'm sorry, Lanscott. My advice still stands. "

Tobe stood up. Redding noted that his eyes were dry and clear now.

"Can't take you advice, lieutenant. Sheila's my wife, and I'm going to find her and bring her home."

"Because you still love her, is that it? "

"I dunno. It's just something I gotta do. "

"Like maybe you think it's your duty, huh? "

"Maybe. I guess I'll find out."

When Lanscott was gone, Redding stared at the closed door and said, "You might find her, Lanscott, but you'll never get her home. "

The search for Sheila continues in Chapter 2, Love or Duty.

Searching for Sheila Ch. 02



The response to the beginning of my "Sheila" series was encouraging. However, most who left comments thought chapter 1 was too brief (which, to my mind, is a more favorable opinion than finding it was too long). In any case, the point is well taken. So for this segment, at one reader's suggestion, I have combined material from what was to appear in two chapters of my original plan into what I hope is a more acceptable length. (See there? Writers do occasionally listen to their commentators.)

To those readers who took exception to the reaction of my protagonist in seeing his wife degraded before his eyes, I can only say his arousal is in keeping with the ambiguous feelings I have given him at this point in the story. My hope is that I'll be able to make Tobe Lanscott more interesting and complex than just another angry avenger or another mere wimp. 

"Sheila" is my attempt at a "hard-boiled" crime story, the kind that used to appear in pulp magazines (with an erotic slant, of course). In keeping with that style of writing, I've tried to move the story along largely through dialogue and action, and have accordingly minimized interjections, explanations and background.

In addition to the main plot idea -- a man tracking down his runaway wife -- I'm introducing several subplots in this installment and the next, all of which will be resolved in the last chapter. I'm a slow writer, so I hope "Searching for Sheila" will be of sufficient interest to earn your patience. Unlike my "Mrs. Sutton" series under the "mature" category, in which I intended each installment to be self-contained, in "Sheila" my intention is to present one continuous narrative.

I've been carrying this story around in my head for weeks, so I know where I'm going (I think). Anyway, I've found all comments, of whatever persuasion, to be helpful. Thanks for listening.

Beware

*

Three days later Lanscott was headed north to Piedmont, hardly hearing the rattles of his eight year old panel truck. To keep his mind from thoughts of Sheila, he went over the two jobs he had just completed - kitchen cabinets for the Suttons, and new paneling downstairs for the Cochrans. Both were routine jobs, but finishing them up occupied him the last couple of days, keeping his mind off where he was going and what he thought he had to do. And, yes, off those images of Sheila being ravished by Pharaoh and his men -- and seeming to enjoy it. He couldn't bring himself as yet to dwell on what he had felt while watching those images - that incongruous combination of anger, humiliation and undeniable arousal.

Approaching Piedmont, Tobe noticed changes in the landscape. Passing through flat farmland he entered an area of evident economic depression. He glanced at a drive-in that hadn't shown a movie in years. The front gates to a cavernous empty factory were padlocked. A strip mall was largely boarded up with grass growing in the parking lot. The large windows of a car dealership were smashed and its expansive lot empty. The road to Piedmont was bordered with busted dreams. And maybe that's what I'm bringing here, Tobe reflected -- a busted dream.

A mile or so from Piedmont's corporate limits, Tobe pulled into a motel which looked as though it might have been built about the time Nixon was resigning. It looked like another dream about to go bust. The man behind the counter seemed surprised he had a customer. He was pale and thin with cheeks sunken from missing teeth. His breath came at Tobe in equal amounts of alcohol, tobacco and a stale life.

" Where you from, buddy, if you don't mind me asking? "

" Ravensfield. "

" No kiddin'. And you're stopping here? You got friends around here? "

" Don't know a soul. But I heard if a man wanted to get laid he could do worse than come to Piedmont. "

The man grinned, revealing about as much space as teeth.

" Buddy, you got that right. Maybe I could help you out along those lines. What's your pleasure, if you don't mind me askin'? "

" Anything, as long as it involves a woman. " Tobe gave the man a broad wink. "My wife left me about a year ago, and I'm so dumb, I've been faithful to her ever since. "

" That's not only dumb, buddy, but downright unhealthy, if you don't mind me saying. A man's gotta get his horns trimmed regular, if you know what I mean. "

Tobe signed the coffee-stained ledger and put some money on the counter, saying, " You said you could be helpful. "

" Sure, buddy. But it'll cost you more than that. I get a hunerd up front myself. For my services, you understand. "

" No problem, " Tobe said and laid out more bills. The man looked down and then up at Tobe as if he hadn't seen that much money in one pile before.

" Hell, buddy. For that I can get you a real high class whore. "

Tobe wondered what passed for "high class" in Piedmont, and said, " That's what I'm looking for. "

" I'll give you the room at the far end. What time would you like company to drop by? "

" Say, about nine. "

" Nine it is, buddy. "

Tobe gathered up the bills, leaving enough for the room and the service fee.

" Hey, buddy. Where you goin' with that? I'll pay her. You can trust me. "

" I'm sure I can. But tonight I'll have the pleasure of paying the lady myself. "

The room wasn't exactly flea-bag material, but it was working on it. The air smelled as stale as the manager's breath. The single window wouldn't open and the air conditioner was about to end its feeble life. The bathroom looked as if it had been cleaned a week ago and the sheets replaced about the same time. Tobe pulled a bottle of whiskey from his back pack, poured a couple of fingers into a plastic cup and sat on the edge of the bed. He took a sip and once again considered what he was doing.

If this Pharaoh was into prostitution, as Redding had told him, the way to get information was possibly through one of his women, Tobe figured. It was likely that the woman being procured by the motel manager would have direct ties to Pharaoh's mob. But even if she didn't, Piedmont wasn't all that big,and the women who practiced the "oldest profession" here probably knew each other and would have some knowledge of Pharaoh's operations. That's the game plan anyway, Tobe thought.

Then a disturbing thought hit him. Suppose the woman coming here tonight turned out to be Sheila herself? Was he ready to face her now? Would he be able to control the anger and pain he had been feeling the last few days? Remembering Sheila on the screen being degraded by those men and now the thought of her possibly being involved in nightly prostitution compounded Tobe's despair. What kind of woman had she become? Did he truly want to find her and urge her to come back to him? Tobe took a swallow which emptied the cup. The liquor soothed something way down inside and suppressed both the hope and the hopelessness of his mission. He poured another drink.

Tobe found a mom-and-pop home- cooking restaurant down the road. He hardly tasted the food, but the noise of the place helped him relax. I'll have another drink when I get back to the room, he thought. He was back in plenty of time and took the drink he had promised himself. He stretched out on the bed and was surprised he was brought out of a hazy doze by a light tapping.

Tobe got up and opened the door to early evening dimness. He couldn't make out the woman's features in the motel's weak outdoor lighting, but he knew, with some relief, that she was not Sheila. He heard her say, " Well, you don't look like an ax murderer, honey. "

Tobe smiled and said, " I haven't used an ax on anybody in years."

" A girl can't be too careful, you know. " She was serious, Tobe realized.

" You'll be safe with me, " he said. " All I have tonight with me is a strong urge to fuck you, to put it bluntly. ". 

" Say, I like the direct approach, " she said lightly. " I think we'll get along. "

She turned and signaled to a car across the lot. It went slowly away, driven by a dark shadow. Was the driver one of Pharaoh's mob, or even Pharaoh himself?

" Well, aren't you even going to ask me in? "

" Was that your bodyguard out there? "

" Forget about him. It's just you and me now, baby. "

She was about thirty-five, Tobe judged, a couple years younger than himself. She wore a fur coat even though it was warm outside. Clear glass earrings, not quite glittering in the dull light of the room, almost reached her shoulders. She had an abundance of dark hair which had recently had professional attention. Her eyes had too much make-up in an effort to make them look larger. Her nose was a trifle too prominent for her high cheek bones and her mouth was not generous. But her figure was good and her legs exquisite. Tobe thought she would turn heads whenever she walked into a room. She undoubtedly was what passed for "class" in Piedmont, Tobe decided.

" Aren't you going to help a girl with her coat? You're forgetting your manners, " she said playfully.

" Excuse me, " Tobe stammered. " But I wasn't expecting someone so attractive. " And he meant it.

" Baby, you know just what to say. I have the feeling this is going to be a lovely evening. "

He took the fur from her shoulders and draped it over the back of the chair. Her dress was simple and black and low cut, showing off her large, well-proportioned breasts , which prompted Tobe to recall Sheila's. Was this the handiwork of the same surgeon? The hem of her dress barely met the tops of her stockings held up by a garter belt. Again Tobe was reminded of Sheila's black corset and garter belt in the film. He felt his excitement rise. She struck a pose and said, "Leonard said you wanted class. Is this classy enough for you, baby? "

Tobe felt that old warm churning inside that he hadn't felt in well over a year. For an answer he went to her and roughly embraced her, putting his open mouth hard on hers. He tasted her open mouth and felt her body melt into his. He held her for a long time.

" I can see you're not interested in preliminaries, and, my, you are pleased to see me, " she said placing her hand over his growing hardness. " How long has it been for you, baby? "

" Forever. "

" Well, we'll have to make this a very special evening then, won't we? You can call me Angel What shall I call you? "

"Tobe."

"Tobe?"

"My real name's Elwood, but my parents nicknamed me Toby, thank God. It sorta got shortened to Tobe."

"Well, let's get comfortable, Tobe."

She helped him undress, letting her hands roam over his body and caress his cock with long, slow strokes. Tobe brought her to his nakedness and lost himself in her neck and hair. Angel pressed her thigh against Tobe's hardness, her hands sliding down his back and then grabbing his ass. Tobe almost forgot what he wanted from this woman -- information which would lead him to Sheila. He quickly put that thought away, far away, and pulled Angel's dress over her head. "Let's get you out of this," he said.

He pulled down the lacy cups of her bra and fondled her large, firm tits. Angel drew her arms behind her and unfastened her bra, letting it drift to the floor. With her tits fully exposed, Tobe locked his mouth on one nipple, swirling his tongue around the sensitive tip.

"Oh, Tobe. You're so gentle with me. I like that," Angel said. But after a few moments she said, "You can use your teeth, Tobe, just a little."

Tobe obeyed, taking her tender nipple between his teeth, teasing it with a slight pressure. He did the same with the other. With her free hand Angel kept up a slow, but incessant stroke on Tobe's solid cock, brushing its head against the entrance to her pussy.

Tobe soon went to his knees and pulled her cunt to his mouth. Angel wore no panties and her cunt was shaved. With two fingers she spread her pussy lips apart. Tobe brushed her hand away and brought his tongue to her pink flesh.

"Yes, Tobe. You know what I want. Make me wet."

Her voice urged him on. He grabbed her ass cheeks, forcing her cunt into his face, working his tongue and lips in and over its warm, smooth surface, making it slick with her pussy juices. Tobe's fingers worked into the crevice of her ass and sought her ass hole, at first rubbing it gently, then entering its tender darkness. Angel cried "Oh!" and set her hips in motion as if she were being fucked standing up. Tobe felt her unsteadiness in her high heels, but he held her in place, tonguing and sucking her cunt. Then he got to his feet.

"No," Angel pleaded. "Do me more like that. I was almost there."

Tobe felt himself going a little crazy. It had been so long since he had had a woman, and this woman, this Angel, had a warmth about her which made his brief time with her more than just a casual fuck. Tobe eased Angel onto the bed, and she lay there before him, her hair now wild about her shoulders, her hips contorting to a rhythm only she heard, her large tits now reddish from his sucking, wearing garter belt and dark stockings and black stiletto high heels. An image of Sheila in her similar outfit flashed before him. He got on his knees and pushed Angel's legs apart, then fell forward on his hands. He felt Angel bring her cunt up underneath him to capture his cock. He felt her hand bring his cock to her wet pussy and draw it into its warm recesses. Then he was completely gone.

He met every lift of Angel's pussy with hard downward thrusts, forcing his cock deep inside her. She took his ear lobe between her teeth and then took deep bites into his shoulder which he hardly felt. He closed his eyes, rocking harder and faster. Their fucking seemed to go on and on. He was pleasantly surprised he was lasting so long since it had been well over a year since he had fucked Sheila. 

Angel breathed "Oh, God!" and shuddered under him , bringing her hips up from the mattress and tightening her legs around his. Tobe felt himself responding; he could hold his climax no longer. He stiffened his arms and threw his head back. He seemed to thrust his cock even deeper into Angel. Then his whole body shook with three long, hot, wet explosions. In a voice which seemed to come from another dimension, he called Angel's name, and not Sheila's.

A little later Angel said,"I knew you would be just right for me, Tobe."

"Is that what you say to all your customers?"

A cloud passed over her face. "I ought to slap your face for that remark. Your bedroom manners need work."

"You're right, Angel. Go ahead and slap me. That was completely out of line."

"I forgive you. I'd rather kiss you," Angel said as she positioned herself on him and darted her tongue into his mouth. Tobe kissed her for a long time, letting the warmth of her body blend with his inner euphoria.

"How long are you going to be here, Tobe? I'd like to see you again, and not in my -shall we say? - professional capacity."

Tobe took a deep breath and said, "You may not want to see me again when you hear what I have to say. I've got to be up front with you, Angel. I'm not just a guy passing through. I came here to -"

"You're looking for your wife, aren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"A good guess. You mentioned to Leonard that your wife had left you. I think she's probably a fool. But I envy her. I wish someone loved me so much he'd come here looking for me and take me out of this town."

Tobe let that pass, and said, "I was hoping you could help me, Angel."

"Help you how?"

"With some information you might have."

"I see. Besides using me for sex, you want to use me for information. I'm not sure I like that."

Tobe felt Angel's body tense. "Maybe I've gone about this the wrong way. If I've offended you, Angel, I apologize. Will you at least listen to me?"

"I'm not sure I want to. Let me think."

Angel gathered her clothing, dressed with her back to him and then reached for her fur. She came back to the bed and held out her coat. "Here. Be a gentleman."

After Tobe had performed his duty, Angel said, "I've never had a naked man help me on with my coat. I think I like it. I think I like you. So I'll listen to what you have to say."

"Thank you, Angel. You mind if I put my pants on? I'm starting to feel a little embarrassed."

"Not on my account, I hope," she smiled.

Tobe stepped back into his jeans and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Three days ago a cop down in Ravensfield showed me a video of my wife Sheila, being -- that is - getting it on with several men. He told me that one of them operates up here in Piedmont. His name is Teal Maggard, but he goes under the name of 'Pharaoh'."

Angel sucked in her breath and let herself down on the only chair.

"So that's it. Your wife has become one of his women, one of his princesses. Tobe, Pharaoh is bad news. You'll only get hurt going up against him."

Tobe shook his head. "But that's not why I'm here."

"Doesn't matter. You're here to take away one of his women, even if she is your wife. He won't stand for that. You'll be lucky if you only take a beating. He'll think nothing of doing away with you and dumping your body out of town. And he'll get away with it. He's connected in this town. Believe me, Tobe. I know what I'm talking about. I used to be one of those princesses -- the blond hair, the big boobs, all of it. I never made a video, thank God. Pharaoh thought my butt wasn't big enough."

"But you got out."

"Not all the way, as you can see. Besides, I've got protection now, the kind of protection Pharaoh respects."

"The guy in the car."

"He's none of your business. And keep it that way. He's a good man. If you cross him, you'll have trouble coming at you from both sides."

Tobe went to the back pack and came back with a photo of Sheila and him down at Barrow Lake the last summer they were together.

"Do you know her?"

Angel took a hard look. She shook her head.

"Take a good look," Tobe urged. "Of course she's blond now, wearing a lot of makeup."

"You both look very happy. But I'm sorry, Tobe. I've never seen your wife. My friend got me free of Pharaoh's paws more than a year ago."

"Your friend sounds like he's got his own connections."

"He does."

"I'd like to meet him."

"That would be up to him."

"What if you encouraged him to see me?"

"I wouldn't. I don't want him involved with you at all. You're dangerous, to yourself and maybe to your wife. Get out of town, Tobe. I've changed my mind. I don't want to see you again. And now there's a little matter of money for my services."  

Tobe took out the wad of cash from his jeans. He had pulled out a good part of his savings. He had thought he would need it. When Angel counted the bills, she stood up and said, "This is a hell of a lot of money. Are you feeling sorry for me, Tobe? I don't need anyone feeling sorry for me."

"I'm still after information. For chrissakes, Angel, give me something to go on."

She looked away and was silent for a time. "All right. Pharaoh used to do some filming and hold his parties for his political friends in an old closed factory that he bought and had renovated on the inside. It's out on the old highway. I heard he hasn't used it much lately. If you could get in there, you might find a clue as to where he's keeping his women. I'm not doing you any favors by telling you this. You'll probably just get yourself killed. And if I hear about it, I won't feel one twinge of guilt I won't be one little bit sorry. You understand?"

"Thank you, Angel."

As Tobe opened the door, she turned and placed her hand on his cheek and brought his face to hers. He wanted the kiss to go on, but before he could get his arms about her, Angel broke free and said, "I lied when I said I wouldn't be sorry. I wish you were here for me, Tobe."

She turned and started for the black car which was parked where it had been earlier.

"One more thing, Angel," Tobe called softly.

She stopped and turned.




Searching for Sheila Ch. 02



"Yes?"

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with your butt."

Angel laughed, wiggled her fanny and blew Tobe a kiss. He closed the door, still hearing the click of her high heels. He went to the window and watched her get in. The car's overhead light came on for a second and Tobe caught a glimpse of Angel's savior. He had short light hair and broad shoulders and he did not look back as he took Angel away into the night.

II.

Tobe followed the limo all night. It was as long and black as a string of bad luck. It led him through the twisting streets of Piedmont and then out on dark country roads. Several times he got close and Sheila would look out the back window and laugh at him. Somehow her laughter echoed in his head, daring him on. After what seemed hours and interminable miles, the limo stopped behind what appeared to be an abandoned factory. He ran to the car and looked in as Sheila lay across the lap of the big faceless man called Pharaoh. She opened his slacks and took his large, thick cock into her mouth, stretching her lips so wide her face became distorted. But she sucked Pharaoh with abandon, keeping her wide, taunting eyes on Tobe watching helplessly outside. He pounded on the window, screaming words he himself could not understand. His screaming was lost in the dissonant bleeps of the car's alarm, which in turn became the hushed beeps of the alarm in his watch. He sat up, called Sheila's name, and let the fading traces of the dream disappear into the dim corners of the motel room. 

His watch said 2:30 a.m. It was time. Tobe went to the shower and let cold water trickle over his head and upper body. Without drying, he dressed, took a .38 out of the back pack, checked its rounds and went to his truck. He went south on the old highway he had come in on, and after some miles, came upon the gated factory he had passed the afternoon before. He turned around and in about a mile found an unmarked service road. 

He killed the lights and ambled through a couple of empty fields, coming out on the edge of a woods of thick trees. He pulled off the barely paved road, spotting the rear gate of the factory through the trees. For a moment he thought he was back in the dream. Tobe slid open the door of the truck and took out a long- handled flashlight, metal clippers and a crowbar, sticking the .38 in his belt. He scaled the fence, clipping the strand of barbed-wired at the top. Around one corner of the building he found a set of double doors which appeared to be a delivery entrance to the factory's cafeteria. After several tries, he wrenched the doors apart with the crowbar, sending out a grinding sound into the night. He waited for any reaction. I shouldn't be making so damn much noise, Tobe thought. But he was finally taking some action, and he didn't care. He entered, pulled the doors closed behind him and let the inside darkness shroud him for a few moments. He thought: Well, Sheila, I guess the search starts here and now.

In the flashlight beam, the kitchen looked large, shiny and well-equipped The commercial sized refrigerator had little in it, but the walk-in pantry was well stocked. Through a pair of tall, bronze swinging doors brought Tobe into a spacious dining room full of heavy glass-topped tables and dark brown padded chairs on rollers. An imposing dark mahogany bar ran the length of one side of the room with many long-legged stools lined up before it. At the far end of the room was a large stage with poles from floor to ceiling and built-in lighting equipment. Tobe didn't need to guess what the entertainment would consist of. He ran the flashlight around the walls revealing large black and white framed photos of men and women, and women and women, in various sexual positions. 

Tobe walked through the dining room and came out into a large foyer with a wide carpeted staircase to the left. He mounted the steps to a dark-paneled hallway which ended on his right with a tall, thick door designed to resemble a medieval castle portal complete with a long wrought iron key in the key hole. Over the door in olde English lettering painted in gold leaf, someone with a lopsided sense of humor had carved: Pharaoh's Good Time Torture Chamber. Down the hallway to the left were locked doors which he supposed led to rooms where guests were entertained by Pharaoh's princesses. It was all here, Tobe thought, the state's largest, most luxurious whorehouse, no doubt. But where was some sign of Sheila? 

With mounting agitation, he passed the locked doors and went to the other end of the hallway and looked through a thick pane of glass in a heavy metal door. It too was locked, but Tobe could make out the lights, cords, cameras and sound recorders Pharaoh used to film the sexual exploits of his princesses. Tobe slammed his fist against the glass.

He went back downstairs to the dining room to take a closer look at the photos. All the women mounted on the walls were blond and well endowed from surgical procedures. One, who could have been Sheila (but Tobe hoped was not) was on her knees surrounded by four men offering her their stiff cocks, two of which she had stuffed in her enlarged mouth, her eyes bright with lust. A short stocky man, who could have been a member of Piedmont's City Council, Tobe supposed, stood behind the woman, his cock buried in her thick blond hair. In another photo, a blond was suspended from the ceiling by her wrists, her vertical arms obscuring her profile. Behind her was muscle-man, fucking her up her ass, and another unidentified man in her pussy. Tobe swallowed hard and made his way around the dining room. A picture at the far end showed one blond's face buried in the pussy of another. Tobe let his light play on the two women for some moments and he felt relief that neither appeared to be Sheila or Angel.

Then finally he was looking into Sheila's face. There she was in a blown-up photo at one end of the bar. Three couples looked into the camera. All the women were, of course, blond and big-titied, wearing skimpy shorts and high-heeled boots. Tobe recognized all three men -- Pharaoh, still in dark glasses, and hairy-man and muscle-man. Pharaoh was on the left, a possessive arm around Sheila, his hand on her breast. But it was the building they were standing in front of that held Tobe's focus. A vertical sign read: B

R

U

N

S 

W

I

C

K 

H

O

T

E

L 

Tobe's eyes went to the window just left of the letters R-U-N-S. The unforgettable image of Sheila fucking on the bed burst into his head, and then the image of the window with those three blinking pink letters. This was it -- the place where the video had been shot, the window to the room where his wife had wantonly given herself to these three men in the photo. A cold sweat wet Tobe's forehead. He had to brace himself against the wall with one hand.

Perhaps part of him was hoping he would find no trace of Sheila here, that his trip to Piedmont would have been for nothing; that he could return home feeling justified that he had done all he could have done; and, knowing that, he could rid himself of her forever. But now none of that was possible. The trail to Sheila was marked with this picture. Should he follow it? Did he want to? Was it his duty?

He brought the light to Sheila's face, looking for the features of the wife who had disappeared from his life so many months ago. She was looking at the camera, and at him, almost defiantly, like in the dream, seeming to glory in this gangster fondling her body, daring the world to judge her or him. Her eyes held no warmth and her smile was tight and humorless. Redding was right. The woman in this picture was not the woman he had married, not the woman he had fallen in love with. So what was the use of continuing this search for Sheila? He suddenly wanted to leave this place and never look back.

Tobe took a step away from the photo and started to turn. He heard a footstep and felt something small and hard stab him in the back. He knew instantly it was a gun barrel. His hand went to the .38 in his belt and froze as a voice hard as slate said,"Don't be stupid. Lanscott!"

To be continued...



Searching for Sheila Ch. 03



Tobe's hand hovered a couple inches over the butt of the .38 in his belt. He felt sweat worm its way down his back. He could smell it. The gun barrel pressing against his spine drilled through his plastered shirt. The room was dead quiet, but laughter filled his head. It was Sheila's laughter, laughing at him, just like in the dream, that goddamned dream. The laughter seem to come from the picture in front of him on the wall, from Sheila's face in the flashlight's beam, from those hard eyes and vindictive mouth. He wanted to shut off that laughter, he wanted the voice behind him to shut off that heartless laughter. He'd have to do it himself. He heard his own voice say, "What do you want me to do? Raise my hands like in the movies?"

The gun barrel took a couple steps back. The voice said," Take the gun out of your belt with just your thumb and index finger on the grip, and raise it to your shoulder."

Tobe felt the gun taken from his fingers without feeling the touch of the hand that went with the voice.

"Now reach up and switch on the light over the picture and drop the flashlight. You can turn around real slow and raise your hands -- just like in the movies, Mr. Lanscott."

The man with the gun was dressed in a gray business suit and a tie with no color. He was an inch or so shorter than Tobe with light hair cut military style. He had the solid build of a man who had spent a good part of his youth on football fields. He held Tobe's gun in his large palm as if it were a toy and said with a smile that wasn't quite a smile,"You know how to use this, Lanscott?"

"I saw a diagram in the army once. I think I remember which end the bullet comes out."

"You got a permit?"

"What if I don't?"

"Then you'll be charged with illegal possession along with breaking and entering. That oughtta get you twelve to fifteen at least."

"You a cop?"

"You'd better goddamn well hope I' m a cop instead of one of Maggard's boys. 'Cause right now you'd be dripping blood on the floor, just for starters."

"If you're trying to scare the shit out of me, you're doing a great job."

"Really? Somehow, I don't think you're the scared-shitless type, Lanscott. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. By the way, just why are you here?"

"Angel sent me."

"Angel?"

"Yeah, the classy lady who came to visit me at my motel room earlier tonight. If I'm not mistaken you're the guy in the car, her escort. You're Angel's guardian angel." 

"Very good, Lanscott. Maybe you're a detective."

"And if you're a cop, I think I'm entitled to see some I.D. "

The man in gray pocketed Tobe's .38 and brought out a billfold and unfolded it close to Tobe's face. It read: Thomas A. Lundsford, Chief of Detectives, City of Piedmont Police Department.

"Impressive, "Tobe said. "Angel told me she had protection with juice. "

"I'll make a deal with you, Lanscott, since we seem to have Angel in common. I'll put my gun away, and you can lower your hands. Maybe we can start co-operating and you can tell me what you expected to find in here."

"Sure. I'm just doing your job, acting like a detective, digging up clues in this whorehouse which seems to be operating right under your nose, Lundsford."

"You can save the bullshit. All right. Angel said you were trying to reach your wife, that she had been -- shall we say- inducted into Maggard's ranks of blonde bimbos. "

Tobe nodded over his shoulder to the enlarged photo behind him. "Allow me to introduce you to

Sheila, the faithful Mrs. Lanscott. She's the one with Pharaoh all over her. "

"I see. Very attractive."

"She was. Now she looks like anybody's common slut." Tobe paused and said under his breath, "I never thought I would say anything like that about Sheila."

Lundsford took his eyes from the picture and said, "And how do you feel about that?"

Tobe took a breath and cast a glance at Sheila and her gangster-lover. "You name it, I've had every feeling in the book, from rage and bitterness to acceptance and resignation to what-the -hell-am-I-doing-here. I think that's where I am now."

"Really. I would think most guys in your position would be here to get even. "

"And what's that going to get me? "

"I dunno. Satisfaction, maybe. Revenge, self-respect. "

"All I want is some kind of closure to Sheila and me, to find out what happened to us, to our marriage, and especially what happened to her. But now I don't think I give a damn anymore. Being in this place and finding this picture puts it all in perspective. Why should I care after a year and a half? I'm thinking the best thing for me to do now is get the hell out of Dodge, go home and get on with the rest of my life."

"You disappointment me, Lanscott. When Angel told me about you, I thought maybe you were the man for the job."

"And what job is that?"

"The job of bringing Pharaoh Maggard's house of shit down and everything that goes with it."

"And how would I do that?"

"You're already at it, nosing around, asking questions, breaking into his den of iniquity, trying to contact your wife who's become one of his women. You could become a real pain in the ass to him. Sooner or later Pharaoh's got to take some action. Maybe he'll make a wrong move. Which could lead to his demise. "

"And which could lead to my own demise. No thanks, Lundsford. I didn't come riding in here on a white horse. I'm not interested in cleaning up your cesspool. That's your job. "

"It's kinda hard to clean up a cesspool when you're standing in the middle of it."

"That's your problem. Mine is Sheila, and only Sheila. I want to find her and then . . . Well, I guess then I want to lose her. Forever. And be gone from this place. Unless you're taking me in."

"You're no good to me incarcerated, Lanscott. I want you out on the street, being a pain in Pharaoh's royal ass, searching for Sheila. Maybe you and I can bring Maggard down. " Lundsford nodded to the picture. "Brunswick Hotel. In case you don't know, it's on the north side of town on Victoria. Is that going to be your next stop?"

"I think I might put it on my itinerary. "

'"And I think I might put a man on you. "

"I appreciate you letting me walk, Lundsford. But I don't want anybody tailing me. "

"You're going to need someone to wipe your nose. You're sticking it in some pretty dangerous places. As long as you're in Piedmont, you're going to have a shadow. " 

"As long as I'm sticking my nose in dangerous places, I'd like to have my gun back. And I do have a permit for it." 

"And you did say you knew which end the bullet comes out. Here. Turn off that light, will ya?"

In the darkness Tobe picked up his flashlight and turned it on. He said, "I notice you didn't bring a flashlight, Lundsford. You must know your way around this joint. "

"I've been here a time or two, for dinner and drinks. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I'm not going to pretend I have perfectly clean hands. But I've never taken any money from the son of a bitch and I haven't used any of his women. "

"Including Angel? "

"Including Angel. "

"I guess that makes you a boy scout, Lundsford. I'd like to get out of here now. "

Outside Tobe brought the doors together with the add of the crowbar.

"Don't worry about it," Lundsford said. "Pharaoh will know about the break-in soon enough."

"Alarm? "

"Apparently not. I know he's got a team of cops on the take patrolling this place regularly. "

"Where are they? "

"I dunno. I'm surprised we got in as easily as we did. But lately Pharaoh's pulled in his dogs, keeping below the radar screen. "

"Why? Because I hit town? "

"I'm assuming that's a joke. No, my guess is that it's because Maggard's brother, Doke, got an early release. Somebody pulled strings with the governor. The drug division took Doke down on a bust just a couple years ago. I can't prove it, but I'm willing to bet that the informer was his big brother, and I'm willing to bet that Doke believes the same thing. There's no love lost between them. "

"Lundsford, that's perfect. There's your cesspool cleaner -- Doke Maggard."

"I've thought of that, but Doke's gone to ground as well. Besides I don't want to replace one Maggard brother with another. "

When they were on the other side of the fence, heading for their vehicles, Tobe said, "As long as we have Angel in common, you mind me asking a question about where you stand with her? "

"What you really want to know, Lanscott, is where you might stand with her. "

"You in love with Angel, Lundsford? "

"I won't deny it. But there's nothing I can do about it. I'm married, two kids, one on the way.

Denise loves and trusts me and I won't betray her trust. So I've got no real reason to leave my marriage. Sure, I'd like to have an affair with Angel, but I won't let it happen. "

"Why not?"

"Well, for one thing, she doesn't look on me as her lover. I'm the guy who helped her get free of Pharaoh, who looks after her, doesn't judge her. And besides, an affair would be hurtful to Angel. She seems brash and confident on the outside, but on the inside she's very fragile. If you have any feelings for her, Lanscott, you'll keep that in mind."

"I can see she's in good hands," Tobe said. 

"I can see that you wouldn't hurt Angel. The very fact that you're here trying to find your wife tells me that."

"How's that?"

"You're doing the honorable thing, coming here and reaching out to your wife, no matter what she's done to you, to your marriage, and especially to herself. My guess is you want to end the relationship

on some high note, if possible, a respectful way, so you can walk away from it with your honor intact. I have to ask myself if I were in your position, would I have a strong enough sense of honor to do what you're doing. Or would I let the pain and the hatred make me my own victim. I think it's your own sense of honor that brought you to Piedmont. Maybe you did ride in here on a white horse. I'll get off my soapbox now." 

Tobe grinned into the darkness. "You do marriage counseling on the side, Lundsford?"

He could just make out Lundsford's smile. It was a cop's smile, but it was a smile. He said,"Every man is an expert on marriage -- his own marriage. And I'm going home to mine. Goodnight, Lanscott. And good hunting."

II.

He was lying on a strange bed in a strange room and there was pounding on the door. Then there was a voice, high and thin: "Hey, Mr. Lanscott. It's me, Lenny, from the office. Open up, will ya? I gotta talk to you. It's real important. Unlock the door, okay?"

Tobe swung his feet to the floor. His watch told him it was almost noon and he thought he had never felt so tired. He called out "Just a minute", but the pounding went on. He went to the bathroom and threw cold water on his face and neck. Looking in the mirror he realized he was still dressed and there was the .38 in his belt. He shook his head, ran a hand through wet hair and dropped the gun into his back pack on his way to the door.

There was Lenny, his eyes wide, his almost toothless mouth open and suddenly soundless. The skinny man was pushed aside by a broad man in a shiny blue suit and a tie full of pink flowers. He shoved his way into the room like a man coming through the swinging doors of a saloon. He was followed by a man who looked as thin and weightless as Lenny. The smaller man slammed the door.

"See if he's packing," the big man barked.

The thin man had little hands and they went over Tobe, hardly touching him. He had a narrow face almost hidden by the wide brim of his hat and his shoes were shiny and pointy-toed. He seemed disappointed that he couldn't find a gun on Tobe, but quickly went to the back pack and came up with the .38. His smile was thin, but full of satisfaction. The big man, who looked like a refrigerator crate in an expensive suit, waived the gun back into the bag as if it were not worth considering. He backed into the chair, cocked it against the wall and folded his hands in front of his considerable girth. He looked around the room as if it were below his dignity to be there.

"You guys from central casting, or what?" Tobe said.

"Whadayamean?" demanded the small man.

"Haven't I seen you guys in the movies? Which one of you is Al Pacino?"

The refrigerator crate snorted, but the smaller man said," You got a smart mouth on you, mother-fucker."

"Just ignore it. I do."

"I think you need to learn a little respect."

The little man pulled a gun out from somewhere and made it point in Tobe's direction. The gun looked like a .45 automatic, the type Tobe carried in the army. In the small hand of the thin man it looked like a large machine tool.

"You're going to need both hands to operate that thing, sonny."

Cold steel met Tobe's forehead. It was the second time in a matter of hours that he had felt the press of a gun barrel, but this time he didn't sweat. 

"I only need one hand, mother-fucker. And one finger to blow your fuckin' brains away."

The refrigerator crate laughed softly and said, "All right, Arnold. You can put it away. You ain't made the guy piss in his pants yet." He turned to Tobe. "How you like his act?"

"He's good. I guess you keep him around for laughs."

"I keep him around because he's good. Know who I am?"

"I'll take a wild guess. You're Doke Maggard. You got a brother named Teal who's called Pharaoh."

"That's right -- the guy you're looking for."

"Maybe."

"No ' maybe' about it. You come in here yesterday, tell Lenny your old lady's left you, which probably means you're here lookin' for her, hire a piece of pussy who used to be with my brother, pump her in more ways than one -- and here I'm takin' my own wild guess -- find out that your ex-old lady is one of my brother's whores. How I'm doin'?"

"You connected a few dots. Sounds like you made my business your business. The question is why."

"Because your business is my business. I want to find the son of a bitch worser than you do."

"Shouldn't be too hard. This town's not that big, I hear. And you've been around."

"Not lately."

"That's right. I heard the state's been supporting you."

"Support you call it. Listen, this hole you been staying in looks like the fuckin' Ritz compared to where I been."

"Then you ought to get out more. Have Arnold show you all the fun spots."

"Yeah? Well, we been around some and the son of a bitch ain't showed up. We got a little matter between us. He disappeared and nobody's talkin', not even Hogg."

"Who's that?"

"My brother's partner. Big guy. Thinks with his muscles."

An image of Sheila being fucked by muscle-man flashed across Tobe's mind.

"I think I know who you're talking about."

"Seen him?"

"No. But he's probably as charming as you are."

"Well, I figure a smart guy like you who wants your old lady back will find her. And when you find her, you find him. And when you find him, I find you."

"Sounds complicated. How's that going to work?"

"Arnold's going to be your tail. Like I say, he's good. You won't even know he's around."

"He's going to have to get in line. I already got me a shadow."

"Oh,yeah?" 

"Detective Lundsford's already got a man on me. It's starting to get crowded."

"Lundsford, huh? You're a popular guy."

"At least I won't be lonely. What makes you think I'll have any better luck finding your brother than you would?"

"First off he's lying low because of me, I figure. The second thing is that he prob'ly already knows you're in town and why, and sooner or later either him or Hogg'll have to deal wit' ya."

"How would your brother know I'm here?"

"Easy. 'Cause Loose-Lips Lenny prob'ly told him. He tells my brother everything. In fact, he'll tell anybody anything. I think Teal owns this place. Lenny's pro'bly on the phone right now telling him me and Arnold are paying you this little visit."

"That makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over."

"Well, Lanscott, if you ain't up to do what needs to be done about your old lady, then maybe you better start headin' south. Think about it. We gotta be on our way."

Maggard pushed himself from the wall and got up with some effort. He straightened his tie which didn't need straightening and brushed off his suit as if something had contaminated him.

"Well, nice doing business wit' ya, Lanscott. Try to stay alive, will ya? You're no good to me dead."

"That's comforting," Tobe said to himself, as the door slammed behind them. But he was smiling when he said it.

III.

Tobe sat near the end of the bar in the Estabrook Lounge on Victoria Avenue. The place was cool and dark enough to almost hide its shabby décor. The blinds on the front window were up, but very little of the late afternoon sun seemed to make it through to the Estabrook's dim interior. From where Tobe was sitting he could make out the Brunswick Hotel across the street. Judging from the guests going through its revolving doors and its weathered exterior, the Brunswick seemed to be sliding into a rather ungraceful old age. In the background Johnny Cash was singing in a bewildering tone about being sucked down into a ring of fire. Tobe thought he could relate.

The bartender looked to be about the same age as the Brunswick with a face that had seen all the trouble there was to see in this City of Piedmont. He approached Tobe and wiped an invisible spot away.

"Looks like once upon a time the Brunswick was an elegant place," Tobe commented.

"Yeah. Once upon a time. Used to be a nice place, nice people, respectable people. Like this place, like the people who used to come in here."

"What happened?"

"What do you think happened? Shit happened. The Maggard brothers came to town. Hell, I dunno. Things change. You'd like to think things always change for the better. But they don't."

"I've heard of the Maggards. They come around much?"

"Never see them, except in the papers. They got their own places. Some of their women and cronies stay over there, but they don't come over here. Anyway, one of' the Maggard boys is in the pen. Lady down there wants to buy you a drink."

Tobe turned in his seat. He had been so occupied with the Brunswick, he hadn't seen the woman come in. Her hair was red and worn casually as if all she did in the morning was run her hand through it. She was dressed in a dark blue skirt of business-like length with matching jacket, a lime-colored blouse, cream-colored high heels and no stockings. She nodded to him and smiled. Her smile said: I'd like to meet you. Her eyes said: Be careful.

Tobe approached her and said,"Thanks. I was starting to feel lonely down there."

"No need for that. I'm Cordelia, friends call me Delia."

"I'm Toby, formerly Elwood. Now everyone calls me Tobe."

"Pleased to meet you, Tobe. What are you drinking?"

"Well, when I'm buying, it's beer. When someone else is buying, I'd like a Manhattan. On the rocks. Okay?"

The bartender, who had followed Tobe, said, "Say, I ain't built a Manhattan in years. This crowd don't drink'em. Tell ya what. It's on the house, mister. What'll you have, lady?"

"The same. But I'll be glad to pay."

The bartender held up his hand with no trace of the previous sorrow on his face.

"Wouldn't hear of it. Two Manhattans comin' up."

"Well, you certainly made his day," Delia smiled. Tobe decided she had a nice smile and nice legs, 

but what the hell was she after?

"Well," Delia said, "I think this is where one of us says 'come here much?' "

"First time for me."

"Me, too. I was a few blocks over making a sale. Thought I'd stop in for a drink to celebrate."

"Good for you. "

"Don't take this personally, Tobe, but you don't look like the Manhattan type."

"I used to be in middle management with Essential Insurance. You know, suit and tie everyday, a Manhattan in my hand at every cocktail party. I quit a few years ago to start my own home improvement business. I found out I'd rather build something than push papers all day."




Searching for Sheila Ch. 03



When their drinks arrived Tobe touched her glass with his. "To many more sales. "

"Thank you, kind sir. Are from around here, Tobe?"

"Ravensfield."

"But you're meeting someone from the hotel. " It wasn't exactly a question, Tobe thought, and it wasn't exactly making conversation. But it was a try at getting information. 

"I couldn't help notice that you were interested in what was going on across the street, "she went on. Tobe thought, well, what the hell, let's go for it and see what happens.

"Actually I was hoping my wife would come out of the hotel with her boyfriend. I'm up here on a tip from a detective."

"Oh, I see. And what would you do if they did come out?"

Tobe smiled and said, "I dunno. What are my options?"

"Well . . . unless there's children involved, the best one is to walk away. I speak from experience."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. It was the best thing for both of us, certainly for me. I made more money than Brad, had a more responsible position. He couldn't accept that. He started seeking the company of other women, I suppose, to console himself. He's undoubtedly better acquainted with this side of town than I am."

Delia took a sip and added," Wouldn't it be a coincidence if my ex-husband walked out of the hotel with your wife?"

Tobe stared at his drink for a moment and said, "Knowing what I've found out about Sheila recently, that could very likely happen."

"Well, maybe we're not just two ships passing in the night. Look, Tobe, I'm not usually what you would call 'fast'. I didn't come in here to pick up somebody and I've never bought a drink for a man before. But I know a nice guy when I meet one and I know a nice restaurant in another part of town and we could go there and commiserate. I'd appreciate some company tonight. Are you up for it?"

She's good, Tobe thought, she's very good, and very fast; well, let's see where it goes.

"Sure. But I pick up the tab," Tobe said with a thumb to his chest. "Maybe I'm like Brad -- can't stand the woman wearing the pants."

"You're nothing like Brad, Tobe. Believe me."

They finished their drinks with Tobe laying down a tip on the bar, and walked out the back of the lounge to the parking lot. Delia's car was a good sized sedan, all silver and shiny. She reached in her black handbag and tossed Tobe the keys.

"Why don't you drive? I'll tell you where to go."

"Taking me for a ride, eh?"

"Something like that."

Delia directed Tobe off Victoria onto a ramp to the interstate. After a mile or so, he said,"Aren't you taking an awful chance with me, Ms. - may I know your last name?"

"It's Riley."

"Cordelia Riley. Nice name. Mine's Lanscott."

"Lanscott. Mmm -- rhymes with Lancelot. Are you a knight in shining armor, Tobe?"

"My armor's got a few kinks in it these days. But suppose I were a knight. Didn't knights go around

and deflower virgins back in the old days?"

"Oh, no. A good knight always protected a woman's virtue."

"Suppose I'm a knight who jumped the reservation, and now I'm taking you to some secluded spot to take advantage of you?"

"Would you like to, Tobe?" Was she serious?

"The thought's crossed my mind."

Delia looked straight ahead and was silent for a while.

"Shall I tell you a secret, Tobe?"

"It won't be a secret anymore, but go ahead."

"I've had this fantasy -- maybe all women do -- of meeting a stranger and having sex with him. I might not even know his name, or anything about him. But we fuck each other's brains out and go our separate ways -- no pronouncements of love, no commitments, never to see each other again. What do

you think, Tobe?"

He took a breath and thought, here we go. He glanced at Delia with a faint smile and said,"I think I'd like to be part of your fantasy, Delia." 

"Then take the next exit."

"Why?"

"'Cause that's where my apartment is." 

IV.

The garage to Delia's apartment complex was deserted and the lighting was not bright. She had him take a spot where the light was particularly poor. Before the engine was off, she was out of the car leaning against the passenger door. When Tobe walked around the car Delia came into his arms, pressing her body and open mouth against his for a long time. 

"Take me now, Tobe. Take me here." 

Was this woman crazy? Well, Tobe thought, after all, this is her fantasy. His head was swimming and he fumbled with the handle to the rear door. He felt like some high school kid about to have his first fuck. Maybe it was the anticipation of fucking this woman in a deserted garage which made him so excited. Delia got in and pulled her skirt up to her waist. Tobe followed, bumping his head and leaving the door open to accommodate his long legs. He reached for her.

"No. Not that. I'm ready for you now, Tobe. I want you to fuck me now."

"Delia, I'm embarrassed to tell you I'm not quite ready."

"I'll get you ready."

Her hands worked deftly, bringing his jeans and briefs down to his ankles. Delia's mouth immediately encircled his cock, and Tobe could feel himself growing in its warmth. Her red head bobbed before him until he thought he would explode.

"'That's enough," he said with some effort.

Delia lay back on the seat, her skirt still around her waist. She started to bring her panties down her legs when Tobe leaned forward and kissed the wetness between her legs. His tongue pressed against her pussy through the fabric and her hips came forward off the seat.

"Oh, lovely, Tobe. That's so lovely."

She let him do that for a while, but then pleaded,"I need you inside me, Tobe. Please fuck me. Fuck me now."

He guided her now drenched panties down her legs and over her high heels. He hoisted himself above her and came down slowly, Delia taking his now fully extended cock and letting it glide into her expectant pussy. She immediately went into a silent frenzy, her eyes closed, her mouth clenched, pumping her pussy up and down his cock as if it were a piston delivering as much pleasure as she could take. He set his hips to her quickened rhythm and drove his cock into her, trying to drive his flesh far up into her body. She responded to his every thrust with her own and just as forceful. Then she called his name quietly and opened her eyes into his. Tobe felt her tremor under him. The moment of release came upon him as well and he pressed his cock far into her beautiful warm juices, bringing forth his own.

Delia kissed him tenderly and said,"I'm glad you're the knight who jumped the reservation and decided to fuck a damsel in distress."

"Either that or I'm the stranger in the night who hopefully helped fulfill a certain woman's fantasy." 

"I haven't been with a man in so long, Tobe. Brad wouldn't touch me the last few months we were together. And after the divorce, I just wasn't interested. But now . . . And my fantasy's not over. C'mon."

They were alone in the elevator, and Delia opened her blouse and pulled her bra down. She reached up and brought his face down to her chest. He braced her against one wall and took each nipple in turn into his mouth and used his teeth and tongue. She reached for his hand and placed his fingers to the entrance to her pussy. Tobe could feel that Delia's cunt was drenched with both their juices and his fingers entered easily. She glided her hips back and forth over his fingers.

"God, I need this."

When they reached her floor, she fumbled with her key card and Tobe had to take it from her to open the door. Then they were in her bedroom. Delia threw her purse across the room and said, "I'm on fire, Tobe. Undress me. I want to be naked for you."

Tobe stood behind her and took the jacket and blouse from her shoulders, unclasped her bra and pulled her skirt to the floor. He started to remove her high heels.

"No. I want to wear my heels when you fuck me. I feel so decadent."

Delia flung herself on the bed, brought her knees up and opened her legs.

"Get naked, Tobe, and come to me."

He pulled his shirt over his head, slipped his sneakers off and yanked his jeans to the floor, all the while watching Delia manipulate her wet pussy with two fingers. When he was between her legs,she tugged his head forward bringing his mouth to her waiting cunt.

"Do me like you did in the car. I want your mouth on my pussy."

Tobe cupped Delia's ass cheeks and raised her saturated cunt to his lips. He swirled his tongue over her well lubricated pussy lips which now felt enlarged. Her hips rose and fell with an increased rhythm. Her taste was not pleasant, but he soon put that thought aside knowing he again was bringing this woman to a frenzied heat.

Delia gripped the back of his head, pressing him harder against her cunt.

"Tongue me. Put your tongue inside me. Oh, god, just like that."

Tobe was so hard against Delia's cunt, he was only able to breathe in gasps. She placed her legs on his shoulders, clamping his head in place. Tobe felt her hips come up from the bed where she held them while her body trembled with a second orgasm.

They were quiet for a while and just held each other. Delia whispered,"I don't think I can let my stranger go his separate way."

"Well," Tobe said, "if I'm a knight, there's a lot of damsels out there who are going to need my help."

"For right now, Mr. Knight, you just concentrate on this damsel. Let's have some wine."

He listened to her heels going down the hall and went to her hand bag on the floor by the dressing table. He came up with a policeman's special in a clip type holster and a black billfold similar to the one Lundsford had carried.

"Oh, shit," he heard himself breath. He stood in the middle of the room with the gun and badge in each hand, letting what he had just learned sink in.

"Find anything interesting?" She was at the door behind him with a bottle of red wine and two long-stem glasses - this Sargent Cordelia Augusta Riley, Detective with the City of Piedmont Police Department, naked in high heels.

"Delia, you're a cop, a goddamned cop."

"That doesn't make me a bad person, does it?"

"You're working with Lundsford, aren't you? You're my tail. Did Lundsford tell you to fuck me?"

"No. He just told me to follow you. Fucking you was my own idea. I presumed you wanted red."

Tobe took the glass and laughed. "Well, here's to Piedmont's finest, and the joke on me." 

"And here's to you, my knight in shining armor. Come back to bed and fuck me properly."

"I think I want to fuck you the way a cop should be fucked."

He led her down the hall to the kitchen and flipped off the light. He turned her around and brought

her ass to his cock, letting it settle between her ass cheeks where her warmth made him hard again. He took her breasts in his hands and gently kneaded them, and kissed the back of her neck and shoulders, using his teeth just slightly. She turned her head so that her lips and tongue could find his, and brought

her hand behind her and softly gripped his cock. He breathed in her ear, "Reach for the counter, Delia,and give me your ass."

"Yes, Tobe. Fuck me like this. Take me like this."

With one hand he leveled his cock to her cunt opening, then with both hands slowly brought her ass

back easing himself inside her wet darkness. His strokes were slow and smooth and gentle. After a time he felt Delia's hand on his hip.

"Let me." she said quietly.

While he stood in place, she moved her ass and pussy back and forth over his cock, at first slowly and evenly, her ass cheeks gently touching his abdomen. Her rhythm quickened until Tobe thought he would go mad with its pleasure. He wanted to take this woman forcefully, and he did. He brought her to him without mercy, crushing her ass against his body, forcing his cock far up into her.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he chanted through clenched teeth. An irresistible thought of Sheila came over him, Shelia, the wife he was seeking who now wanted to be fucked by other men, a lot of other men, and have herself filmed while doing it. The anger he had felt often before now welled up in him. That anger came together with his desperate need to cum. A voice inside him said,"When I find you Sheila, you fucking bitch, I'm going to fuck you and fuck you and fuck you and then I'm going to leave your pitiful ass so you can go on being the filthy slut that you've become and I'll never look back." That thought brought with it a scorching release, replacing his anger momentarily with a touch of shame that it was Sheila who had entered his mind at the instant of climax and not Delia. 

V.

"I promised you dinner, remember?"

"That seems like a long time ago."

"Let's fix something together, shall we, Tobe?"

"Sure. In the nude."

"Definitely."

An hour later eating at the counter, Tobe asked,"So what did Lundsford have to say about me?"

"He told me to stick close to you."

"Well, you've done a pretty good job of that I'd say. In fact, I don't think you could have got much closer."

She kissed him and said,"Silly."

"Did Lundsford say why you were to stay on my trail?"

"Sheila. He thought if you made contact with her, since she's Pharaoh's current woman -- I'm sorry to be the one to tell you - that would start something and Pharaoh would show his hand, you know, do something stupid."

"Like kill me?"

A darkness entered her features. "That crossed my mind, too. Tom thinks you can take care of yourself."

"That's right. I'm the knight in shining armor."

"Listen, Tobe. I'm not like Tom. I don't want you taking unnecessary risks. Maybe I'm sticking my neck out, but if I could arrange a meeting between you and Sheila, and you were satisfied that she wasn't coming with you, would you get out of town and forget this whole thing?"

"How would you do it?"

"Bring her in on some trumped up charge. We've done it before. A couple years ago we brought a woman in named Angel Dearsing. Tom offered her protection in exchange for information about Maggard and his mob. Angel took his offer, I think to get away from her abusive husband who's sort of Pharaoh's right-hand man."

"Who's that?"

"A man named Calvin Hoagley. He's known as Hogg. Like the name? Quite a gentleman. He practically sold his wife into prostitution. Tom's been looking after Angel, in a brotherly sort of way. How he keeps it from his wife I'll never know. Anyway Tom got her a divorce from Hoagley and she's gone more or less straight. We've learned a few things about how Pharaoh operates from her, but Tom hasn't the heart to make her a witness before the grand jury. I can't blame him for that. Tom's really a soft- hearted guy underneath that gruff exterior."

"You said you also brought in Sheila later. What happened?"

Delia took a breath and let it out slowly. "Well, Sheila was a different story."

"I want to hear everything you know. I have a right, don't you think?"

"I don't know much. It came in bits and pieces. I guess it started with an affair she had with a man named Bullock."

Tobe stared at his plate. "I know the man. Sheila was in a secretarial pool in a firm and he was one of the lawyers. Lou Bullock. He was a criminal attorney. I think he's been disbarred."

"Anyway, apparently this Bullock had connections with certain people -- I suppose they were his clients - both in Ravensfield and Piedmont and he ran what was -- for want of a better name -- an escort service. Sheila allowed herself to be recruited. One thing led to another. She soon wound up here as part of Pharaoh's scene."

Tobe shook his head in frustration and brought a fist down hard on the table. "Where in the hell was I when this was going on?"

Delia covered his fist with both hands and said," You shouldn't berate yourself. I think you know how deceitful Sheila could be. She never mentioned you by name, but she said -- and I know that this is going to upset you -- that she had left her poor, pitiful husband -- that's the phrase she used -- because he was boring her to death."

"That doesn't make sense. You mean to tell me she's letting herself be used by other men out of boredom?"

"Something like that. My guess is that a woman like Sheila doesn't think about being used. She only thinks about the sexual power she has and can exert over men, all types of men And it's not even the sex she wants -- it's the feeling of power. She probably gets off in matching her power with what she perceives as a powerful man, like Pharaoh Maggard. She's not turned on by the sex this man allows her so much as she's turned on by her perception of power in him."

Tobe shook his head again. "Sounds Freudian. It's too complicated for me. So you think Sheila left me so she could feel powerful with other men?"

"Sex and power can be potent drugs in some people, especially those with low self-esteem. I would put both Sheila and Angel in that category."

Tobe got up and paced the kitchen. When he finally sat down he said,"Whatever it is that took her from me, I can't fight it. Or I don't want to fight it anymore. I sat across the street from the Brunswick

for hours, hoping to spot her, when I could've just walked in and made inquiries. Maybe I don't even want to confront her. Maybe I'm just putting off the inevitable, getting her out of my life for good. My feelings about this whole thing have been ambiguous from the start. Well, I've made up my mind. The search for Sheila stops here and now. I'm outta here in the morning. It's over. I can't go on.

I don't want to go on. Whatever was between Sheila and me is all used up. I feel so goddamned empty inside."

Delia could only nod in silence.

VI.

Delia pulled into the lot behind the Estabrook sometime after midnight She took Tobe's hand as he 

leaned into her open window and said,"I wish we had met under different circumstances, Tobe."

"I'm just glad we met. I'll never forget our little fantasy."

"Me, too. You're a real stand-up guy, Tobe. And for it's worth, I think you're making the right decision."

She kissed him lightly, then was gone. Tobe braced his shoulder against the truck and watched Delia's car disappear down Victoria. He stood there for a time and let the warm darkness comfort him.. He thought he had never felt so alone. 

Tobe took it slow and easy on the ride back to the motel, feeling his loneliness now tempered with a kind of relief, a relief that came in knowing that his search for Sheila was over. He now knew, or thought he knew, the full extend of Sheila's depravity, and now he could truly leave her to the life she had apparently chosen. Lundsford had thought that his mission was honorable, and maybe it was. It was certainly necessary, he thought, I needed to come here and find out for myself. And I met two fine women, he reflected warmly, one, Angel Dearsing, who had largely managed to escape Sheila's downward spiral by her willingness to let Tom Lundsford rescue her from the degrading clutches of Pharaoh Maggard and her husband, Calvin Hoagley, called Hogg. And with Lundsford's further help, Angel might yet leave that "life" behind her for good. But to now regret that Sheila had not been the one to have been rescued was dead-end thinking, he knew.

Tobe smiled grimly as he thought of the attempts by Lundsford and Doke Maggard to suck him into a confrontation with Pharaoh Maggard, to be the catalyst for that crook's undoing and the undoing of his operations. "I'm no hero," he said into the darkness. "I know now that there's nothing in this town worth risking my neck for." And then he was surprised with a thought of Angel. But he shook it off.

After all, Angel was Lundsford's concern, not his.

Tobe frequently checked his rear view mirror, but no lights appeared behind him. Maybe Arnold's as good as Doke Maggard said he was, he thought. Well, it was a big so-what now. In the morning he would be gone. When he got back to Ravensfield he would call Charlie Sutton, his old boss at Essential Insurance, for a referral to a good divorce lawyer. Then his marriage to Sheila would be over legally as well as in fact. Maybe he ought to check out of Lenny's motel and find another for the night. Oh, hell, he thought, in a few hours I'll be out of here for good. He supposed he owed a call to Lt. Redding since the Ravensfield detective was in at the beginning of this odyssey. He was thinking what he would tell Redding as he pulled into the motel. In his mind he was listening to Redding: "Didn't I tell you that it would be all for nothing? You shoulda listened to me, Lanscott, save yourself a lot of trouble."




Searching for Sheila Ch. 03



Tobe noticed that the light in Lenny's office was still on and so was the no-vacancy sign, although there were only a few cars in the lot. He yawned, rolled up the window and locked the truck. That tune Johnny Cash was singing back at the lounge popped into his head and he started whistling as he stepped up to the walkway. They came at him out of the darkness - heavy, hard-breathing phantoms. Something which felt like a pile-driver struck him over his kidneys. His knees buckled, but he managed to stay on his feet. He got off a chopping punch into a fleshy neck and heard an explosion of breath. He turned away from a fist and took it under his ear, then counter-punched the chin of a phantom who grunted in pain. A fat arm came around his neck, but it was removed when he managed a kick to the groin of the phantom behind him. He heard the phantom hit the pavement and he cocked his fist to get at another. But both arms were quickly pinned behind his back by a hundred grasping fingers.

A phantom faced him and said "Fuck you, Lanscott! "and applied his fist forcefully to Tobe's stomach and kept doing it. Tobe knew this phantom - Calvin Hoagly, called Hogg, the muscle-man who had fucked Sheila, who had corrupted Angel into prostitution. A spike of rage flashed through Tobe and he brought his knee up into Hogg's groin. But then all the pain that was ever created erupted in his head. He felt himself topple over a ledge, hearing voices all the way down. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but it didn't matter, because the voices went away. Then everything went away.

The search for Sheila continues in chapter 4 in which patient readers who want to stay on the search will finally meet Sheila herself. Promise.

beware



Searching for Sheila Ch. 04



I regret the weeks it has taken me to post chapters in my "Sheila" series. I gather from certain E-mails, the loss of a significant number of votes, and being dropped from favorite authors lists that I have tried the patience of some readers and lost the attention of others. Of course, maybe the reason for the drop-off in interest is simply that the story sucks. In any case, I intend to finish "Sheila" and will take the advice of one reader for my next project: complete the story in full before submitting the chapters. In the meantime, for those of you still hanging in there, here's chapter four, which I hope will intrigue you enough to come back for, as they used to say on radio, the exciting conclusion. 

*

He was in another dream, in an unknown place. He vaguely wondered if Sheila would show up in this dream, would show up with Pharaoh with the big man's cock once again in her mouth. Then a curtain of pain came down before him and he disappeared behind it.

He came back and now through the curtain he could make out a bed across a room. He was certain he had never slept in that bed. The room was painfully hot and a fire was burning in his head. He disappeared again.

When he returned, the curtain of pain and the burning in his head had subsided somewhat and all he wanted to do was crawl onto the bed. He tried to move, but couldn't. He tried harder and suddenly left the room.

He came back and for a while he did nothing. He felt the pain, but now it was in the background. This time, he thought, I'll try to move just a little. He leaned forward and thought he was going to disappear again. But he didn't and now he discovered that his arms were pinned behind him and he couldn't move his upper body. He tried his legs but they too were bound. He then realized he was tied to a chair.

And he realized something else. Just beyond the bed was a window with shear white curtains and through the curtains he could make out pinkish blinking lights. He somehow knew that the lights were letters, part of a name of a hotel. B-R-U-N-S-W-I-C-K, that was it. Then in anguish he heard his voice utter"goddammit!" and Tobe Lanscott knew he was not in any dream. He was in that room where the search for Sheila had begun for him, the room in the video in which Sheila had fucked Pharaoh and his men, the video that first showed him just how far Sheila had fallen. And now, realizing he was in that very room, he knew how far he had come -- fallen? - in his search for her.

The door opened and one of those men in the video came into the room -- hairy-man.. He was dressed in sweat pants and a sweat shirt that didn't match. He had the beginnings of a colorful bruise on his jaw and Tobe knew he himself had put it there and that knowledge made him smile. Hairy- man had a bottle of whiskey and he tilted Tobe's head back and poured some down his throat. It burned all the way down and burned in his stomach, but Tobe didn't care. He wanted more and said so to hairy-man. More whiskey went down, dowsing the burning. Maybe the pain was still there, but now Tobe didn't care. He was even grateful for the whiskey. Though tied to a chair and physically sore as hell, maybe the way out wasn't going to be so bad, he thought.

Hairy- man said "Compliments of the house." Then he put a hand to the bruise on his jaw.

"I owe you one, you son of a bitch. But Pharaoh said to lay off you for now on account of your old lady," hairy-man grumbled.

"When do I meet the royal couple?" Tobe managed to say.

"It's almost showtime, asshole," hairy-man said, and left the room.

The whiskey tried to make him go away again, but Tobe willed himself to stay awake. For a while

he concentrated on the blinking lights, but his eyes grew tired and heavy. He closed his eyes and let his chin down on his chest. Well, he thought dimly, if they wanted me dead, I'd be dead by now. I guess I'm not so hard to kill. I guess I'm not so hard to take down. What a joke -- I was all set to leave this goddamned town, and they brought me back. Let's get this over with, Pharaoh. Make your grand entrance and then I'll crawl away just as you want. He heard the door open and close. He thought it was hairy-man with more whiskey and he raised his head and opened his eyes.

And there she was.

How appropriate, he thought, to finally catch up with her in the room where he first glimpsed her new life. Her hair was blonder than ever and cascaded down her back. She wore a tight leather dress which barely offered cover for her ass and pussy or contain her heavy surgical tits. Her leather boots had four inch heels like ice picks. Her face, once again accented with heavy purple around her eyes and a garish shade of red on her lips, made her look harder in person than she had in the video. She looked more used as well. 

For a few seconds they just stared at each other, she leaning with her back to the door and he straining against his bonds. Tobe tried to bring all the Sheilas he knew together: the Sheila he fell in love with, the Sheila who was his wife, the Sheila in the video, the Sheila in the photo. They were all there in front of him, and he looked up at all the Sheilas he had ever known as if from a hole dug with his own wretchedness. But he couldn't let her know that, couldn't let her see the hopelessness he was now feeling, couldn't let her know that, now that he had found her, all he wanted to do was get the hell away from her. He gave her a painful smile and dredged up from somewhere an attempt at glibness.

"Sheila. Baby. Long time, no see."

" You poor dumb, pitiful son of a bitch. Why did you have to come here after all this time? Couldn't you just write me off? Believe me, Tobe, I wrote you off a long time ago."

"I saw you in a video recently, Sheila. You're a star. I thought I'd come up here to get your autograph."

"Still the comical asshole. You know how close you are to getting yourself shot up? I'm all that's standing between you and a hole in the ground."

"Why don't you untie me, baby, so I can properly show my appreciation?"

"They'll come for you soon enough. Take your ass out of town. If you're smart, you'll never come back ."

"Sure. But I'd hate to leave without saying good-bye to your friend, Maggard. I haven't had the pleasure of his company."

"Right now Pharaoh wants to blow you away. I don't know why I should care about you at all -- maybe I just pity your poor ass -- but I've persuaded Pharaoh to let me handle this my own way." 

" Thanks. I'll try to remember to say something nice about you in the divorce. I won't use words like 'slut' and 'whore,' " he said, hoping the smile was still in place.

"Fuck you, too, sweetheart." She pushed herself away from the door and came across the room and stood before him. She put her hands on her hips which pulled the hem of her dress back just enough to expose her shaved pussy. Tobe nodded and said,"There's something different about you, Sheila. I guess his highness likes you shaved."

"There's a whole hell of a lot that's different about me now, Tobe. How do you like the new me?"she asked sarcastically.

"You look fabulous, baby. Just like something out on the street corner, waiting to be fucked, sucked,

eaten, and thrown back into the gutter where you belong."

He saw her hand come at his face, but he did not turn away. Her hand stung one cheek, then the other, with a crack like a whip. Then her nails came down the side of his face, just missing one eye. His face burned, but he did not feel the wetness of blood. He made an effort to keep his lips stretched across his teeth in some resemblance of a smile.

"Did that make you feel better, baby?' he jeered. "That certainly brought me back to reality." 

Their eyes locked for a few seconds. Sheila looked away, stepped back and folded her arms. Without looking at Tobe she said, "I'm sorry I did that. I don't hate you, Tobe. But apparently you hate me."

"Maybe I just hate what you've become."

"What I've become, or what you think I've become, doesn't mean shit to me. This is what I want. You might not understand it. But I'm with a man who really loves and understands me. He gives me things, nice things, expensive things, things you could never give me. I have a penthouse suit upstairs. And I'm enjoying a life that's fun and exciting. You're a good man and all that, Tobe, but I was dying inside with you. Living in that little two-bit house, you driving around in that beat-up truck all day. I deserved better."

"This is better?"

"I'll show you what's better."

Sheila opened the door and hairy-man came in wearing a robe. 

"This is Mr. Hicks. I believe you've met. Mr. Hicks likes to fuck me, and I like being fucked by Mr. Hicks. He fucks me better than you ever could, you poor, miserable worm."

Now Tobe knew what was about to take place before him -- his own humiliation. Hicks threw his robe to the floor and from behind pulled the top of Sheila's dress down exposing her large, heavy breasts. He cupped them and played with them forcefully, his hands barely covering their firm flesh.

"Mr. Hicks likes to play with my big tits. Remember when I let you play with my tits? I bet you'd love to get your hands on them right now."

No, Tobe thought, I don't even want to touch you -- anywhere.

"Remember when I let you suck my nipples? Mr. Hicks likes to suck them, too. He gets my nipples

all wet and hard. He uses his lips and tongue and teeth. He makes me tingle all over. You never could do that for me, you miserable piece of shit."

Time seemed to stand still for Tobe Lanscott. He was trapped in some sort of warp, watching Sheila purposely degrade herself before him. He tried to remember what Delia had told him earlier about sex and power and how some women got off on one over the other. It didn't make much sense to him then,

but now a realization was setting in. What he was watching was Sheila exerting her sex over Hicks, subjecting him to her perception of power, and demonstrating her total rejection of Tobe himself.

Sheila was on her knees and brought the head of Hick's cock to each of her hardened nipples, massaging each in turn.

"I love his cock. Look how long and thick it is. He knows how to use it. He fucks me so well.

He gives me far more pleasure than you ever could."

She took Hicks' cock into her mouth and soon her lips were pulsating over it in a frenzied action. She grabbed his ass forcing his flesh down her throat. Then she stood up, his cock in her hand.

"Fuck me! Fuck me like a dog!"

They were on the bed and he mounted her from the rear, ramming his hardness far up into her, and she pressing her ass hard against him. They appeared to be locked together as one wild animal. Then Hicks grunted his surrender and she shuddered into climax.

It seemed to go on and on. More men came into the room. Sheila knelt before three of them and took each cock in her hands until their pre-cum juices coated their fleshy hardness. Then she placed her mouth over each in turn until each man had driven his cum down her throat. Another man pulled Sheila to her feet, positioned her legs around his middle and fucked her against the wall. Another threw her to the floor and fucked Sheila right at Tobe's feet. Three men took her to the bed. She placed her pussy over one's cock and rode him, while another came behind her and forced his cock up into her ass-hole. The third stood at the head of the bed and pulled her mouth over his cock.

Then the performance was over and they were alone, Sheila on the edge of the bed, flushed with ecstasy, and Tobe slumped in the chair. He did not attempt another smile.

"You just did me a great big favor, Sheila. Tell them to untie me and I'm outta here and out of your life -- forever."

"That's good, Tobe. Go home and never look back. Forget about me and forget that any of this happened. Get your divorce and get on with your life. I don't care for you anymore, but I don't want you to be hurt anymore, either. Good-bye."

She came to him and pulled his face to hers. He thought he could taste the flavor of the other men's cum on her lips. He felt a great revulsion. Then she was gone.

II.

He was left wondering when someone would be back to free him. He hoped it would be Hicks with his bottle of whiskey. Tobe Lanscott wanted nothing so much now as to get drunk, and stay drunk. But when would it be over? he asked himself. When he finally got out of this goddamned town? When he was home in his own house, picking up his own business? When the divorce was finalized? When he got those images of this whore he had married out of his mind? Hell, maybe it would never be over. Maybe the pain and humiliation would last a lifetime. He saw himself in the darkness of his kitchen, an open bottle at his elbow, his head on the table. He wanted to cry.

"Never let'em see you cry," he said aloud. Why not? He was alone. Well, it didn't matter anyway. He remembered he couldn't cry after viewing the video in Redding's office, and now it was the same.

Tears wouldn't come. There was only a kind of dry anguish. Then from the other side of the door he heard a voice beg "please" and he involuntarily jerked forward in his bonds. He recognized the voice

and called out"No!" 

The door flew open and Hogg stepped into the room. He wore a silk robe like the one Pharaoh

Maggard had worn in the video. Hogg held a leash which he yanked causing the woman behind him to stumble into the room. The leash was attached to a collar around her neck. She wore black stockings attached to a black corset and shiny black stilettos and her breasts were exposed, just like Sheila in the video. Only the woman wasn't Sheila.

The woman was Angel.

Tobe looked into her eyes -- eyes that were inflamed with fear and disgust. Hogg came forward dragging Angel behind him. He raised a heel and shoved it into Tobe's groin and did it again. A numbing explosion blew Tobe's whole body apart.

"It's payback time, Lanscott. That's for you and for Lundsford. You tell him this cunt belongs to me

and I'm keeping her. I don't give a fuck about any goddamned divorce Lundsford thinks he's got. She's mine. Now you get the fuck outta town. And if you ever come back I'll kill you.!"

Tobe saw Hogg's fist come at him, but there was nothing he could do about it. The last thing he saw was Angel's tear-stained face and her begging eyes -- Angel eyes. He took her eyes with him when he suddenly left the room for the last time.

III.

He was out in the middle of nowhere. When he could finally raise himself on his elbows, he saw he was lying out in a farmer's field. He was surprised it was still dark. This was turning out to be the longest night of his life. Well, he thought, at least it's not the last night of my life. He felt bruised and battered, the side of his face swollen with Hogg's punch, but incredibly he wasn't bleeding and he still seemed to have all his teeth. He lay there for what felt like a long time, getting used to a vague rotten stench. The tilled earth felt cool and soft, the night air was warm and caressing, but the stars were cold and indifferent. Staring up into that uncaring night sky, he thought of Sheila coldly fucking those men in front of him. The thought did not bring that inner excitement he had experienced while watching the video days ago. And that satisfied him. Sheila no longer had the power to arouse him, he thought, which he hoped meant he had no real feelings for her anymore. 

But the image of Angel in a collar with Hogg at the end of the leash brought on an anger which burned at the pit of his stomach even more than the whiskey Hicks had poured down his throat. For a time he let that anger build. Just a few hours ago he was more than willing to leave this town behind him and Sheila with it. But they had made a mistake. They had retaken Angel and he was going to make them pay. Somehow. Angel had told him that she wished he had come to Piedmont for her. Well, now he was. And he wasn't leaving until he had Angel free of them forever. He needed a plan, and maybe he needed Lundsford. But not yet Minutes dragged by like the heavy links of an unending chain. He let his anger feed his imagination and slowly a crude plan of action began to take shape. 

Tobe heard a car approach and stop. They're coming back, he groaned. He rolled on his side and barely discerned a vehicle out on the road about a hundred yards away. A door slammed and a figure

started toward him. He tried to get to his knees and the earth took a couple of spins beneath him. He fell on his stomach and dug into the ground to keep from being thrown off the world, to keep his guts from coming up into his throat. The figure was almost on him and he looked up. A thin shadow bent over him and said,"Look at the wise-ass, mother-fucker now. How does it feel to get the shit kicked out of you?"

The thin shadow was Arnold.

"Give me a hand, will you?"

" 'Give me a hand', he says. The dumb mother-fucker gets the shit kicked out of him, and now he wants a hand. Mr. Maggard didn't say nothin' about me giving you a hand. I'm just supposed to follow you, and that's what I been doing."

"You saw what happened back at the motel, did you, Arnold?"

"Sure. I was on your tail comin' back from that broad's place. I figured you were going back to the motel, so I beat it back there just in time to watch the gang arrive. They did a nice number on you, by the way."

"And you watched them do it."

"Like I say. Mr. Maggard told me to watch you, not save your pitiful ass. If you wanna get your ass in a sling, hey, that's up to you, man."

Tobe got to his knees and waited for the earth to move again. When it didn't, he managed to stand and let his head clear.

"How about a ride back into town?"

" 'A ride back into town', he says. They musta really fucked up your head, man. I guess you need to be brought up on current events. It took'em all of about ten seconds to take you down back there in the parking lot. I don't know what they did to you at the hotel, man, but now you can hardly keep your ass off the ground and you want to go back. Sure you do. You want to kiss their asses and ask'em to do it all over again. Only this time you won't be walking away. I tell you what. I'll take you back there. Sure I will. Just so I won't have to deal with your pitiful ass anymore." 

"Just get me back to my truck. Okay?"

"You ain't bleedin', are you? I don't want no blood in my car."

"You're so comforting, Arnold."

"Mr. Maggard don't hire guys to be comfortable. C'mon."

Tobe's first few steps were drunken, but he finally caught up with Doke Maggard's man. When they reached the pavement, Arnold popped the trunk open.

"Toss your boots and your pants and shirt in there, Lanscott."

"That's right. No blood, no mud."

"What I smell on your boots, man, ain't mud. It's some kind of cow shit or horse shit or something.

You made me get it all over my new Italian shoes, all the way from Sicily, cost me three hundurd bucks."

"Sicily's not in Italy."

"What the hell do you know? You brought me out here for a goddamn geography lesson? I shoulda left you out there in the cow shit."

Arnold went on grumbling while he scraped his shoes along the shoulder of the roadway.

"Mr. Maggard owes me a new pair," he concluded, starting up the car and lowering all the windows.

"I'm sure he'll make good on new shoes for you, Arnold. Doke seems to be rather fond of you. How long you been in this line of work?"

"Are you kiddin'? In my neighborhood you either went into the drug thing or the protection racket."

"I'm sure you had other choices."

"Maybe. But they were all square choices. You know what I mean? I didn't want to be no square, like you. You oughta know by now what happens to squares gettin' into deep shit."





Searching for Sheila Ch. 04



"You're right, I'm in some pretty deep shit, all right. I could use your help."

"Help?! What the fuck you talkin' 'bout, man? You been beat up at least twice tonight, you let your old lady run out on you, you can't go back into town without getting yourself shot up, and now you're riding around in my car in your stinkin' underwear smellin' like cow-shit. And you want my help. I don't even like you, man. You're pitiful. Besides, Mr. Maggard - "

"Yeah. I know. You're just supposed to follow me."

"Fuckin' right. Look. I'm takin' you back to your fuckin' truck. That's as far as I'm going. You're gonna get in your goddamn truck and go back where you came from. Squaresville, or wherever."

Tobe shook his head. "I'm not leaving. Not now. Not yet."

"Why in the hell not?"

"Well, your boss wanted me to flush out his brother for him, didn't he? I gotta reason to do it now."

"Your old lady?"

"No. That's over. No, I'm talking about someone else."

"Another broad, huh?"

"Her name is Angel."

"'Now I know you're fuckin' crazy. Goin' back for a broad."

"Maybe. Look, I came here to try to get Sheila away from Pharaoh and his mob, even if she didn't want to come back to me. I found out tonight in no uncertain terms that that's not going to happen. But now I know there's someone else who does want to get away, who does need my help."

"This Angel."

"Right. So I just can't leave knowing that."

"You're a regular Galahad, ain't cha?"

"Lancelot."

"'Whatever. It's your problem, man. Not mine."

"Doke Maggard expected me to surface Pharaoh, and I got an idea how to do it. Look. I got some money, maybe not big bucks by your standards, but it's over ten thousand."

"I already got me a client. No thanks."

They rode a while in silence. Then Arnold shot Tobe a quick glance.

"You serious about flushing Mr. Maggard's brother- this Pharaoh - out in the open?"

"I think we can do it."

"What's this 'we' bullshit?" 

"I'll do all the risky stuff."

"Oh, I see. You're gonna do all the risky stuff. I saw the way you handled the risky stuff tonight, man. It didn't exactly fill me with a lot of fuckin' confidence. You know?"

"I figure I better lay low for a couple days."

"That's the best idea you had since you hit town."

"But I'm going to need a few things."

"Like what?"

"I can't use my truck while I'm here. Hell, it's got my name on it. I need a car that won't attract attention."

"What else?"

"A nice suit like the one you're wearing."

"Sure. You wanna look like me. I can see that. What else?"

"Some duct tape and handcuffs."

"Kinky stuff, eh? Maybe you better count me in after all."

"One more thing. A .45 like you carry."

"Hey, man. That's heavy artillery for a wise-guy like you."

"I used a .45 in the army. I'm comfortable with it. Besides if this works the way I think it's going to work, there won't be any gun- play."

"Yeah? Well, judgin' from what I seen tonight, you been wrong before. This time you better be the man-with-the-plan. You gonna let me in on what you're thinkin'?"

Tobe nodded and started talking.

To be concluded... 



Searching for Sheila Ch. 05



What is found is lost, what was lost is found

I intended to sneak this in without comment. After all, it's been well over a year since I posted chapter 4, and I'm more than a little embarrassed by my procrastination. But I've recently received a handful of e-mails from readers who are still apparently interested in the story. I've also read recently in "Observations of a Picky Reader" by Barns10 that "Probably the worst thing as a reader is when you are reading a multi-part story and the author quits writing." Ouch! I get the point. So please allow me to humbly apologize to those of you who might still care about the outcome of this story. Here it is -- finally. 

*

At precisely 3:25 in the afternoon Tobe Lanscott stepped into the lion's den. He was wearing a new gray pinstriped suit with a light blue shirt and dark blue tie, dark glasses, and an automatic under his left arm. He was nervous as hell.

He stood in the middle of the lobby of the Brunswick Hotel and let the room work him over a bit. 

Its décor was made up of hard surfaces, bright geometric slices of plastic and fake stone masonry, with

thick, soft, muddy-colored carpeting and over-sized angular furniture which resembled a herd of large

stationary beasts grazing on the rugs. To Tobe, the room felt about as relaxing as a hockey game. 

Trying to ignore the pounding in his chest, Tobe ambled over to the long mahogany check-in counter. A large portrait of Mr. Teal Maggard -- Pharaoh -- faced the lobby like Big Brother spying on the hotel's front entrance. For once Maggard's eyes were not hidden by dark glasses and Tobe was surprised by their bright youthfulness. But Maggard's smile was forced, hard and artificial. He practically had no neck, as if his large, bald head had been forced up through his shirt collar. A man in a maroon blazer with freshly manicured nails looked up from his computer and asked the obvious question. Tobe pointed to the picture and said,"I'd like to see Mr. Maggard."

The clerk cleared his throat. "Mr. Maggard does not reside here and he's not in the office at the moment. My understanding is that he's out of town for the foreseeable future. Would you like to see one of his associates?"

"I've already seen his associates. They weren't too helpful. No, I want to talk to Maggard himself.

And he'll want to talk to me. The name is Lanscott. Let him know I'm here."

"I just told you, sir - "

"I'll be sitting right over there." Tobe checked his watch. "If he's not here in, say, a half hour, tell him I'll be taking Mrs. Lanscott back home with me. If she means what I think she means to him, he'll

want to talk with me."

Tobe eased himself down into the lap of one of the beast-like chairs by the large front window. He

picked up a magazine and pretended to read, flipping the pages as his mind raced ahead.

I can still get out of this thing, he thought. I can walk out of here and never look back, cut my losses

with Sheila, file the goddamned divorce and get on with it. But, of course, there's Angel. What the hell is she to me? A one night stand, that's all. I owe her nothing. So what if she's been forced to go back

with her ex, that asshole Hoagly. That's no skin off my nose. Here I am, sitting in Pharaoh's backyard

with a gun tucked up under my arm, thinking I can pull this thing off. I'm in way over my head. Arnold's right, this plan of mine really sucks. No way am I going to get out of this safely hand-and-hand with Angel. Tobe tried to will himself out of the seat, out of the Brunswick Hotel, back on the highway to Ravensfiled, the thing with Sheila and Angel behind him, his self-respect intact - or not.

A large, black shiny SUV pulled to the curb across the street, The driver got out and looked right across the street through the hotel window, seemingly right into Tobe's eyes. He was Hoagly, Hogg, the cruel man who was holding Angel Dearsing in bondage. His passenger was, of course, Teal Maggard, Pharaoh, big and broad with a passive face half hidden by dark glasses. They sauntered across the street as if they were on a golf course.

Too late, Tobe thought, I've got to play this out. Then a wave of relief washed over him. He's bought it, the son of a bitch bought it. Tobe leaned back into the padded chair and tossed the magazine away. The gun under his arm now felt more comfortable. Well, he thought, here goes nothing. Maybe Tobe Lanscott was drawing on resources he really didn't have. He would soon find out. He crossed his legs and waited.

II.

Four hours before, he was sitting with Arnold outside a coffee house several blocks from the

Brunswick on the opposite side of the street. Both were dressed in suits and ties and dark glasses. Brief cases were at their feet and guns under their arms.

Arnold said, " I feel like a goddamned insurance salesman."

Tobe nodded. "That's what you are, Arnold. My insurance." 

" Did I tell you I think this plan of yours sucks? "

" Then why are you here? "

" I dunno. I must be getting soft, as in soft-in-the- head. Maybe I'm beginning to like you. Maybe

I feel sorry for you. Maybe I want a little excitement. Maybe I just want to see how this all turns out.

Maybe I got a hard-on for the Maggard brothers. Maybe I have a death wish. Maybe all of the 

above."

" That's a lot of 'maybes'. But I'm glad you're in. There's no 'maybe' about that. "

Tobe got up for more coffee. Arnold grabbed his sleeve.

"Hold it, Lancelot. We got action."

A spotless white Cadillac with gold trim pulled up in front of the Brunswick. A man in a chauffeur's

uniform got out and stood on the curb, sucking on a cigarette.

"That's Hicks," Tobe said. "He's about your size, don't you think?" 

"Sit down and shut up."

He sat and watched Sheila come out of the Brunswick. She was wearing a yellow dress which showed off her legs and bare shoulders. Her golden hair flounced down her back She nodded to Hicks and got in the back seat. Hicks stepped on the cigarette butt and got in behind the wheel.

"Okay, gumshoe. We're off," Arnold said.

For a frozen moment Tobe sat there trying to make a connection between the woman who had just got in the car - this woman who had attached herself to this hoodlum and his organization, this woman who now spread her sexual favors around as if they were so many thoughtless kisses - and the woman who had been his wife, the one he intended to build his life around. They seemed to be strangers to each other. And both strangers to him. He felt Arnold's fingers dig into his shoulder.

"Man, if you wanna make this thing work, you gotta move your ass -- now!" 

Hicks was in no hurry and Arnold had no trouble keeping the white Caddy in sight.

"You're getting too close," Tobe cautioned.

"Relax, will ya?. We're practically invisible in this crate."

They were riding in a six year old slate-gray Honda that Tobe hoped wouldn't attract any attention.

"I think you're over confident, Arnold."

"Look who's talking about being over confident. Weren't you the one who came to town asking a

lot of questions, who let a cop get the drop on you, who walked blind into a trap, who got himself beat up and left in some goddamned manure field? Do me a favor, will ya? Take a nap or something. I'll wake you up if I need you."

Hicks pulled into a strip mall and parked in front of a hair salon with a pink facade. Arnold made an abrupt left turn and slid into a space across the street. They watched as Hicks got out and opened the door for Sheila. She had a few words with him. He nodded and she disappeared into the salon. Hicks

got back into the car. Almost immediately the front window slid down and cigarette smoke billowed out.

"This is no good," Arnold said.

"What's wrong? You said we could pull this off in broad daylight," Tobe said.

" Sure. But it's too crowded. And besides, it looks like the guy is just going to sit there and wait for your old lady. Let's hope that this is only their first stop."

Sheila was in the salon about an hour. When she emerged her long thick hair was a shade blonder.

Once again Hicks played the chauffeur. He backed up and took a right going north. When there was a break in the traffic, Arnold made a u-turn and followed. 

The next stop was a shopping center -- the Carriage Mall -- out on Ohio Avenue. Hicks pulled up

to the multi-door entrance to a large department store -- Wellington's -- next door to a Victoria's Secret.

Shelia got out, checked her watch -- apparently telling Hicks when to return -- and disappeared through

a set of double doors.

"This looks more like it," Arnold commented as Hicks pulled away. The white Cadillac seemed to meander without destination for a while.

" He's made us, " Tobe said. "He knows we're on his tail and he's just playing with us. "

Arnold shook his head. " No. He knows where he's going all right. "

Finally Hicks pulled into the parking area of an almost deserted municipal park. He got out quickly,

throwing his cap and chauffeur's jacket on the front seat and then cutting through a picnic area to the back of a house at the far end of the park. 

" What's that all about/ " Tobe asked.

" He's probably seeing some broad. She's probably married and he's taking no chances. I give him an hour. Unless this park gets real crowded in a hurry, this is where we'll take him."

"We should've taken him when he got out."

"Relax. Let the guy get his rocks off. He's going to be pretty uncomfortable for while."

"Getting a little soft, aren't you?"

It was less than an hour when they spotted Hicks at the other end of the park.

" An afternoon quickie," Arnold commented. " Get down. I'm going to have a few words with the gentleman."

" I think I should take it from here."

" He knows you. Let's don't blow it. Stay down and listen."

Arnold got out and Tobe flattened himself across the front seat. He soon heard Hick's approaching voice.

"Hey, buddy. Get your backside off the car. I just buffed it this morning."

"Is that what Teal Maggard pays you for? Maybe that's all you're good for."

"And who in the fuck are you? You don't look like no cop."

"Smart guy. Doke says you're a smart guy."

"Oh, I get it. You're Doke's errand boy. I heard he got out. If he's smart, he'll lay low for a while."

"You're Hicks, right? Doke would like to talk to ya. It's about your future. He'd like to improve it for you."

"Nothin' doin'. I like it right where I'm at. Now get the fuck off the car and be on your way, errand boy."

Tobe heard the sounds of a scuffle and the smack of something hard against bone. He raised his head in time to see Hicks collapse in Arnold's arms.

"Gimme a hand with this asshole, will ya?"

Arnold retrieved the keys from one of Hicks' pockets and the two of them dragged the unconscious man to the rear of the Cadillac.

"What did you use on him?"

"Just a little 'ol sap."

"You hit him hard enough. I don't see any blood."

"Well, that's the trick, put'em away without making a mess." 

The trunk popped open and they placed Hicks inside in a fetal position. 

"He's not going to suffocate in there, is he?" Tobe said.

"Now who's getting soft. He won't be in there that long."

Arnold slammed the trunk and reached in the back seat of the Cadillac for Hicks' chauffeur uniform.

"Now for the hard part," he said.

Arnold took his time getting back to the Carriage Mall with Tobe following behind him in the Honda. Arnold circled the mall, finally stopping in the delivery area where Tobe slid onto the floor of the back seats. Arnold parked in a spot not far from the entrance Sheila had used.

"I hope you're not thinking of using that sap on her," Tobe said.

"That's up to her. And here she comes."

Tobe peered over the passenger seat as Sheila approached. Arnold got out and knelt on the ground as if to tie his shoe.

"You're late1" she bawled at him. She opened the back door, threw her bags on the seat, swung herself in and said "What the fuck?!"

Tobe yanked her in on top of him, slapped a width of tape across her mouth and with some effort, cuffed her wrists behind her. He looked into her eyes, now wide with hatred.

"Don't worry, Sheila. No one's going to hurt you and you'll be back with Pharaoh before the end of the day. Just relax."

Surprisingly she did just that. Sheila still cooperated when Arnold returned to the rear of the mall and tobe stretched out on the back seat of the Honda.

"All right, smart guy, " Arnold said. ".No one's around. Get her outta here and do what you have to do. If I don't hear from you in say an hour, I'm going to assume you're dead. That's when I split."

"What about Hicks?"

" I made arrangements. Get going."

He made it to the factory gate in a half hour. Sheila, bound and gagged on the back seat,, made no sound. Tobe clipped off the lock and walked Sheila through the dim, soundless rooms, mounting the steps to Pharaoh's mock-medieval play room. He soon had her suspended from the ceiling like the woman in the picture downstairs. Sheila did not resist and Tobe removed the tape. She spit in his face and tried to kick him, her body jerking in midair.

"You son of a bitch!" Sheila screamed. "What the fuck are you doing to me?"

Tobe smiled, taking out a handkerchief and wiping his face. He wanted to appear totally relaxed even though Sheila's anger was beginning to excite him.

"Why are you doing this? Why did you kidnap me?"

"I want to get lover-boy's attention. He'll talk to me now."

" He'll kill you, you mean. And I won't shed a tear."

"I wouldn't expect you would, but nobody's getting killed. In a few hours you'll be back to the slut life to seem to love so much and I'll be out of town and out of your life forever."

"You had a chance to get away, a chance I gave you. Pharaoh wanted you dead, but thanks to me you got off with just a little roughing-up."

"Is that what you'd call it?"

"Why didn't you get out?"

"I was all set. Then somebody made a mistake, a big mistake. I'm going to turn that mistake around."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about?"

"You wouldn't. But you will in a little while."

"What are you going to do with me?'

Tobe's face turned grim.

"A couple things come to mind. What do you want me to do with you?"

" Look, Tobe. I don't have any hard feelings. You were just wrong for me, and if you'll be honest, I was wrong for you."

" Baby, you got that right."

"You want something from me/ Like what I give my lovers? You want to fuck me while I'm all tied up? Is that what you want? How about a blow job? Go ahead. Pull down your pants and let's see what you got. I can hardly remember. I bet you can't even get it up for me."

Sheila's taunt brought on a rage inside him and he gave into it instantly. Later he would tell himself that he couldn't help it. The strong commitment he had made to this unworthy woman, the sleepless nights, the worry and anxiety, the trips to the cops, the excuses he had made for himself and her -- all of that came together and boiled inside him. He slapped her and slapped her again. He grabbed a handful of her golden hair and backed his fist to his shoulder.

" Go ahead and hit me. Is that a substitute for the hard-on you can't get? If you leave a mark on me, you're a dead man."

Tobe loosened the ropes and brought Sheila to her knees, her hands still cuffed behind her back. He ripped open the front of her dress and yanked her skimpy bra down so that her over-sized tits, those large, firm marvels of surgical procedure, were fully exposed. The sight of Sheila on her knees before him hardened him quickly. He opened his slacks and, with one hand behind her head, brought Sheila's scarlet mouth to his waiting cock. He viciously shoved it in past her lips.

" Take it, you fucking bitch. Take it all."

Sheila did not hesitate initiating a forceful sucking action. Her eyes were wide with excitement and her throat emitted sounds of pleasure. My god, Tobe thought, she's enjoying this, she really wants this.

He gave into it as well, pounding his hips into Sheila's face. When he felt the ejaculation coming on, he did not check it, but held her head in place while he fed his cock deeper down her throat. Sheila didn't gag or try to pull away when he exploded. He kept pumping his cock into her mouth watching her eyes close as if experiencing an orgasm in her throat. Only traces of his cum appeared on Sheila's face. The rest of it she swallowed whole and she held his cock with teeth and lips until he slowly glided out. She looked up ay him smiling.

"Oh, Tobe. What we've missed, you and I. We can still have it. Pharaoh likes me to fuck and suck other men. And I love doing both for him. We could do this as much as we wanted if you'd just be sensible and be willing to share me. Why don't you untie me? We could go back to town and tell Pharaoh that everything's going to be all right. He'll let bygones be bygones for me. He could set you up. You could be making more money than you've ever made. Untie me, Tobe. Please. We could go back to the hotel right now and fuck each others' brains out. I want you. I want your cock inside me again."

He couldn't listen anymore. He re-taped her mouth and pulled the ropes up until her toes brushed the floor. Then he turned and left, leaving Sheila swinging gently, making sounds like a wounded animal. I'll hate myself later, he thought. Right now I've got to deal with Pharaoh.

III.

They came right at him, crossing the Brunswick lobby, Hogg looking grim, his jaw locked in place.

But Pharaoh appeared totally relaxed, his face below the dark glasses carrying a sly humor. Tobe got to his feet, his lips forming a forced smile. The men nodded to each other, but neither extended his hand.

"Mr. Lanscott. You must have brass balls. Or you're a very stupid man."

"There's always that possibility," Tobe said matter-of-factly, raising his hands. " I assume you want to pat me down."

Hogg stepped forward with his hands out.

" I don't think that'll be necessary," his boss said quietly. " I can see that Mr. Lanscott is carrying, and perhaps he can see that we are, too. Let's just have a friendly little meeting, shall we?"

Pharaoh took off his shades and sat down in one of the big chairs opposite Tobe. It fit him like a throne. Hogg stood behind his boss, his eyes not making contact with Tobe's. Pharaoh flicked a bit of imaginary lint from a well-creased pants leg. Like his brother, Doke, Teal Maggard was fastidious about his appearance.

"Usually when Mr. Hoagly and his associates persuade someone to leave town, they stay gone."

"Perhaps Mr. Hoagly isn't as persuasive as you think he is."

The lobby was nearly empty and no one was sitting close to them. They kept their voices low.

"Oh, I admit Mr. Hoagly has his failings. But he has his finer points as well."

"Really? Name one."

"Loyalty, Mr. Lanscott. In particular, loyalty to me. I put a lot of stock in loyalty."

"I know you'll understand when I tell you I don't share your enthusiasm for Mr. Hoagly. You see, I saw him recently in a video. He was fucking my wife up her ass. You might say I found it a little disturbing for a short time. As I recall she was also sucking your cock during the same performance. So I'm not exactly a big fan of yours either, Mr. Maggard."

"Is that why you're here, because you're upset with us?"

"Oh, I've gotten over all that. Sheila's a big girl now. She can fuck and suck you and Mr. Hoagly all she wants. No, I'm here to offer you a business proposition."

"Really," Maggard commented drily. "And what would that be?"

"It pains me to have to tell you that, as a businessman, you made two rather glaring mistakes recently."

"Oh, yeah?"

"First, you sent Mr. Hoagly and his friends to get me out of town when I'd already made up my mind to leave your fair city."




Searching for Sheila Ch. 05



"I see. Actually that was your wife's idea -- or should I say? - your ex-wife. I had a somewhat different method in mind to deal with you, Mr. Lanscott. So what changed your mind?"

"That brings me to your second mistake -- kidnapping a woman named Angel Dearsing."

Pharaoh's lips stretched tightly across his teeth, but then quickly relaxed into his loose, insincere smile. He glanced over his shoulder at Hogg saying, "Apparently I haven't been informed of current events. And I don't think I like that."

Hogg looked away. 

Tobe brought his finger tips together and said casually, "Anybody can make a mistake. We can set everything to rights this afternoon."

"What d'ya talking about?"

" A quick exchange -- Ms. Dearsing for Mrs. Lanscott."

Tiny flames erupted in Pharaoh's eyes. He motioned for the desk clerk who bounded across the lobby as if the hotel were on fire.

" Yes, Mr. Maggard."

" Raymond, call upstairs for Miss Oakley. Have her join us. Now."

When the clerk went away, Tobe commented, "Oakley. I haven't thought of Sheila as Miss Oakley for sometime. I guess I still think of her as Mrs. Lanscott."

" She hasn't been Mrs. Lanscott since she came to me. You sound like a man who can't quite get over his wife leaving you for a better man and a better life."

"You're not a better man and this is hardly a better life for her or for Ms. Dearsing. And believe me, I'm over it. Sheila's a fool for throwing away her life with me, and you're a fool for thinking you control what goes on in this pigsty of a town. The two of you can be fools together for all I care. But I'm not going to allow you to destroy Ms. Dearsing's life if I can help it. I'm getting her out."

" How noble of you, " Pharaoh said with no attempt at sincerity. 

Hogg came around Pharaoh's throne.

"Hold it, you son of a bitch. That cunt belongs to me. You're going nowhere with her."

Pharaoh almost came out of his seat. "Shut up, you miserable bastard. I told you to let that cunt go, and now I find out you brought her back and caused me a lot of trouble. Get over there and sit down and shut up. This is strictly between Lanscott and me."

The clerk came back and bent over Pharaoh with a confidential posture. He whispered to Pharaoh, but Tobe heard it all.

" Miss Oakley and Mr. Hicks left before noon to go shopping. I can't raise Mr. Hicks on his cell."

"Thank you, Raymond. That'll do."

When Raymond had assumed his position behind the front desk, Pharaoh said in a voice flattened with suppressed anger," All right, so you have Miss Oakley. I assume she's safe and I assume you won't hurt her."

" Don't worry. She's safe. I hate her guts, but you're right, I wouldn't hurt her. And Hicks is taking a little siesta, although he'll have a bit of a headache when he wakes up. I know you're concerned about the hired help."

"You've been a busy boy, Lanscott. And an enterprising one. Too bad you're not working for me. I could use somebody who knows how to use his brains once in a while."

" Oh, I wouldn't blame Mr. Hoagly too much. Like you say, he's loyal to you after his fashion. And anyone can tell he's madly in love with his wife."

"All right, Lanscott. You got my attention. What's your next move, as if I didn't know. "

" We move together. I can have Sheila here in an hour and I assume you can have Ms. Dearsing here in the same amount of time."

" You know, I could hold you here and turn this town upside down and find her and you'd have nothing to show for all your trouble."

" You could. But I've got some people waiting up for me and I'm thinking that maybe they don't have Sheila's welfare on their minds the way you and I do. Besides you just want me to go away. And I will, after we exchange the ladies in question."

" I see. So you're not working here alone."

" Don't be overly flattered by this, but I'd be a fool to take you on alone."

" I hope you're not working with my brother. Because if I thought you were, I'd take care of you right now."

" He knows nothing about this. I don't want any interference from anybody. Especially from a certain cop named Lundsford. Like you said. This is just between us. Which brings me to one condition. I want Hoagley here out of the picture entirely, starting now. Get rid of him."

"Wait in the car," Pharaoh ordered without looking at Hoag.

"Don't I have a right to say something here?"

"You got nothing. You're lucky you're still working for me. You're lucky you're still breathing after what you've pulled. Now get outta my sight."

Both Pharaoh and Tobe watched as Hogg ambled across the street. He planted his rear on the hood of the car, folded his arms and stared back into the lobby's plate glass.

" Hoagly's all right," Pharaoh said. "He just needs a little discipline once in a while. But I'll give you some advice, Lanscott. Once you have this Dearsing woman if I were you I'd get right outta town and keep looking over your shoulder the whole way."

" Advice well taken. But I'm really doing you a favor, Maggard, by taking Angel out of town. Maybe you don't know, but Detective Lundsford has taken a particular interest in her. I'm sure you'd rather deal with me than him."

" Maybe you don't think so, Lanscott, but I do know what goes on in this town. I've got Lundsford under my thumb as well as the rest of those clowns who call themselves cops. But I'll be glad when you're gone with this broad. I don't mind telling you, you rocked my boat a little and I'm the kind of guy who likes things nice and peaceful. Now let's get this thing settled."

IV.

Tobe tooled around Piedmont for almost an hour. By then he was satisfied that he hadn't been followed. He pulled into a gas station and punched Arnold's number.

"I don't like the set up," Arnold commented after Tobe's rundown.

"You don't have to like it. You don't even have to be there."

"Oh, I'll be there all right. Wouldn't miss it. I don't really want to know, and you don't have to tell me, but where you got your old lady stashed?"

" Out there at the factory." 

" You mean at the meeting place tonight? Maybe that was the smart thing to do, planting her right under Pharaoh's nose. Maybe you're not as dumb as you look. But maybe you'd better get your ass out there now find another place for now. Pharaoh'll probably be out there early to get the drop on you. He might be headed out there right now."

" I'll take your advice."

" The one you gotta watch out for is that son of a bitch named Hogg."

" I got him out of the picture."

" Don't be too sure. Look. Get your hands on this Angel broad and get the hell out. There's still time for this whole thing to change into a major fuck-up."

" Yeah. That's just what I wanted to hear."

" Well, who knows what's gonna happen between the Maggard boys tonight?"

" How's Hicks?"

" You worried 'bout him? He's fine. Still sleepin'. I just checked.. He'll be back at the hotel by the time this thing goes down."

" I presume you're taking care of yourself, Arnold."

" Sure. I already got paid."

" That's not what I meant."

" I know what you meant. Now get this stupid plan of yours behind us." 

V.

They were sitting in the Honda, a ways back from the factory fence, off the road and behind some trees. Tobe frequently glanced at his watch as its hands crawled to nine. A sliver of the sun was slowly melting behind the factory. He had bought Sheila a cheap dress at a discount store to replace the one he had ripped just hours ago. He hadn't considered her new set of tits which tightened the dress considerably across her generous chest. She sat next to him rubbing the redness around her wrists from the ropes which had hung her from the ceiling.

" So what the hell is going on now? You kidnap me, tie me up, use me for a blow job, and now we're sitting here watching the goddamned sun go down. What do you want? Another blow job?"

" Right now I just want you to be quiet so I don't have to tape your mouth shut. Enjoy the evening. It'll be the last one you'll ever have to spend with me."

He heard cars coming up the road. Tobe resisted a temptation to reach for the gun under his arm. Several dark colored SUV's passed them. Angel sat in the back of the second one looking straight ahead.

"So this is what's going on -- you're exchanging me for her. Of all the goddamned stupid -- Angel'll never go away with you. You've done all this for nothing. Why, for crissakes? Are you in love with her?"

"Look, I came up here to get you out of this scene. I had a foolish hope that you would want to come back to me, get out of this life. I was wrong -- about you. But not about Angel. She wants to walk and I'm going to get her that chance."

"You noble, stupid son of a bitch. Did you forget she's married? Do you think Hogg is just going to let you leave town with her?"

"Hogg won't be around. Your lover-boy will see to that. He wants you back real bad. Well, he can have you. Now get out."

Tobe let Sheila run ahead of him. He unbuttoned his jacket and kept his gun hand free. He watched Sheila run into Pharaoh's arms as he got out. He gently pushed her away and nodded to the second vehicle, then kept his eyes on Tobe's approach. Angel stepped out, glanced at Pharaoh and Sheila, and then at Tobe. Her tense features immediately softened as Tobe reached her side.

" All right," Pharaoh said. " You got the little lady. Now get out of my town."

" With pleasure," Tobe said, turning to Sheila. " Good-bye, Shelia. I thought when this moment came I'd have more to say, but I guess I don't. Just good-bye." 

Sheila, ignoring Tobe, turned her glare to Angel.

" Good luck, Angel. You're getting a good man. He wasn't good for me, but maybe he will for you."

Tobe took Angel's arm and started back down the road . 

Angel tried to slow him. " Oh, Tobe. I prayed that . . . "

"Not now, Angel I got a feeling all hell is ab out to break loose here."

They were practically running toward the car when the unmistakable crack of a gun shot split the semi- darkness behind them. Tobe involuntarily ducked , fell to the ground pulling Angel with him. He took her by the shoulders and pulled her off the road into a shallow gully. A second shot kicked dirt in his face. Then the dull gray sundown was suddenly fractured into a thousand sharp pieces of gun fire coming from the far side of the factory. Huge spotlights flashed on, casting a white light harder and more brilliant than sunlight. He heard a high pitched scream.. Sheila?! A large blunt shadow broke away from the fence and staggered toward them.

"Oh, my god! It's him!" Angel called out.

Tobe fired at the shadow knowing his shot was way wide of the threatening figure of Hogg. Another shot came at them which hit a tree down the road, making a sound like a dull slap to the face. Tobe squeezed the trigger again and the shadow backed away almost to the fence. For a split second Hogg was exposed in one of the harsh spotlights and Tobe took the shot. Angel cried something unintelligible as they watched Hoag being flung against the chain link fence, the bullet catching him high in the chest. He dropped the gun, his legs went slack. He slowly slid down the fence, leaving a thick crimson ribbon behind him.

Tobe crawled away into the darkness, pulling Angel with him. The gun fire from the factory became more sporadic and Tobe could now make out a faint siren between shots, then another and another. He pulled Angel closer.

"Lundsford," he whispered to her. "Lundsford to the rescue." 

VI.

It seemed as though hours had gone by since the cops had arrived. The strong smell of cordite was in the thick night air and Tobe could hear the groans of the wounded some yards away around the factory. Two cops held him back from investigating. "You don't want to see that, man," one of them told him. But he did. He was sure the scream he had heard came from Sheila. A female cop had taken Angel to a nearby ambulance and he could see her several yards away, her shoulders shaking. But then Lundsford appeared in front of him, stepping out of the spotlight glare and not making eye contact.

"You want to tell me what the hell you thought you were trying to pull-off here tonight?"

"They were holding Angel against her will. When I knew it was hopeless getting Sheila out of here, I abducted her to work an exchange. It almost worked."

"Yeah, until the other Maggard showed up with the gang. Don't tell me you didn't figure that was going to happen. I oughtta thank you. In one night this shitty town was practically cleaned up. The Maggard boys just canceled each other out."

"They're both dead?"

"Yeah. But that ain't all."

Lundsford finally brought his eyes to Tobe's face.

"Your wife went down with'em. I'm sorry. It looks like she threw herself in front of Pharaoh when the shooting started."

"My god!" Tobe choked. "She must have really loved the son of a bitch after all."

"I'm sure you did everything you could to get her out. You going to be all right?"

" I dunno. I got her out here and got her killed, didn't I?'

" Don't be a damn fool. She knew what she was doing. You were trying to help. She got herself killed. That's the only way to look at it."

"I think I want to get the hell out of here. And take Angel with me."

"That'll be up to her. But right now you're going nowhere."

A uniformed cop walked by guiding a thin man in a pin-stripped suit, hands cuffed behind him.

"Wait a minute, Lundsford. That man's with me."

"What do ya mean?"

" I hired him as my body-guard. He's part of this set-up."

"You're shitting me. He's one of Doke Maggard's gang."

"No. He was a plant. He infiltrated Doke's bunch to get him here to confront his brother. It was part of the plan."

Lundsford placed his hands on his hips, looked away, then down at the ground, then up at the cop. He was obviously arguing with himself.

"What's your name, officer?"

"Nichols, Chief."

"Well, Mr. Nichols. Take the cuffs off this man. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. You're in no way responsible. I'll take the heat. I'm sticking my neck out, way out. I'll take it from here."

When the cop was gone, Lundsford turned to Arnold. "I don't know who you are or where you came from, and I don't wanna know. As far as I'm concerned you were never here. But if I ever see you back in this town, your ass belongs to me. This is a favor to Lanscott here. Now get outta my sight and outta my town."

Arnold started to back into the darkness, but as he disappeared he said in Lanscott's direction, "I owe you one, man."

"Call it even. And thanks." 

When Arnold's footsteps had faded, Lundsford turned to Tobe. "You're all out of favors with me now, Lanscott. You're not leaving town 'til I get a full statement out of you. And you'll be subpoenaed 

for the inquest. So don't be leaving the state.'

"I'll be around when you need me, Lunsford."

The detective nodded and walked into the spotlight glare, replaced by Angel with someone's jacket around her still shaking shoulders. Tobe took her into his arms and stroked her hair.

"I'm sorry, Angel. I thought we could get out of here before any of this could happen."

"Is it over, Tobe? Is it over now?"

" I wish I knew. I just found out Sheila was killed out there. I feel all empty inside. I want to cry or scream or something and I can't."

"Oh, Tobe. I'm so sorry. You want to be alone."

"No, Angel. Don't leave me. I think I need you now more than ever. Look, I'm probably not making much sense right now. But you've got to listen. I came here to get my wife home. That's not 

going to happen now. It probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. I know she had stopped loving me and I haven't really loved her for a long time. I don't have a hell of a lot -- a truck, a small house and a business I'm trying to get off the ground. I'm not offering you lasting love or marriage -- maybe those things will come along someday. I don't know. But I can promise you that whatever I have I'll share with you for as long as you want. When this is all sorted out and I can get out of here, will you come away with me?"

Angel stepped out of his arms and said," I'll have to think about it, Tobe. But I'll always remember

and be grateful that you asked."

He watched her go to Lundsford and take his arm. The detective kissed her and their heads stayed together. Tobe turned and walked back down the road to where he had left the car.

"Well . . ." he said into the night,"that's that."

Only when he had reached the car did he hear the light hurried footsteps behind him. He turned and Angel came into his arms. She looked up into his eyes.

"Tobe," she said, softly,"I've thought about it long enough."

Tobe thought so, too.

The End

My time off from "Sheila" was, I hope, not entirely wasted. Along with this concluding chapter I'm posting the opening chapter of a story under "Mature" entitled "Encounters With Mrs. Cochran." It's intended for now to be a three-parter, and the other two chapters have been written and will be presented within days of each other.