http://www.mrdouble.com



Copyright 1991 Nov. 1991 Frank T. Gilson
Permission is granted for public (free of charge) distribution.
email me (comments, suggestions) at:
frank@aris.ss.uci.edu



				"Alas, Eschiatos"
				     Part IV
			       by Frank T. Gilson

	There was nothing but ringing as I listened to the phone.
I had told Chelsea not to leave and not to answer the phone or the
door. Hopefully she was obeying me and hadn't left the apartment.
	Tap. Tap. Tap. A pretty hand was tapping on my car window.
I looked its owner over. She was a member of the forensics team
working on the body I'd found. I reflected on the possible reasons
why Ms. Babylon, our coroner and thus head of the team, generally
surrounded herself with pretty, female, employees. I rolled down
the window.
	"We've rinsed the body and bagged it. We'll take it back
to the lab and conduct a complete autopsy. You can expect results
within a day."
	I smiled at her and thanked her. I needed more information.
Why had Eschiatos Abel, a minor politician, been murdered? Had he
screwed someone over that he shouldn't have? Starting my car up,
I decided to check a source at City Hall.
				     *  *  *
	"We've got whereabouts on Carter Evans, one of the men
you wanted. The other, Johnny Smoke, is still whereabouts unknown."
	Steering with my knees, I held the phone in one hand and
scratched my ear with the other.
	"When you move on Evans, let me know. Thanks."
	I hung it up and pulled into the City Hall parking 
facility. City Hall itself was of recent construction. The old
building had been weakened by the acid rains and the shifting
earth beneath it. I think the damage wasn't too severe, they just
wanted an excuse to rebuild. A way to put a shiny facade on the
face of city government. The new plastic coated structure would
stand as a false, thrilling beauty long after we all died.
	My car parked, I walked down, not up, the stairs, heading
for the records department. I was glad the person I knew there
worked on one of the higher levels.
	I hadn't seen Jack in a while and I wondered what his
response to my requests would be. I'd saved his life once. After
that point, our lives had crossed and parted several times. A year
ago I let his then lover seduce me. She had done it for no
particular reason. She told Jack about it and left him. She didn't
want me. She just wanted an excuse to leave him. I apologized
but he needed to cool off. 
	I stopped at the second level and opened the door.
				     *  *  *
	"What the hell are you doing here?"
	I had walked up to the counter. Jack had turned around and
recognized me.
	"Your not still sore about Angie, are you? I need
information."
	He wasn't scowling or visibly angry so I smiled and put
out my hand. He shook it and smiled back.
	"Not any more. I was pissed about it, especially because
she couldn't come up to me and dump me, she had to bring you into
it."
	I shrugged my shoulders and leaned against the countertop.
I looked around to confirm that no one would hear what I said.
	"I've got a case. We scooped a body up out of one of the
channels in the city. It belonged to Eschiatos Abel. Shouldn't
be too long before this hits the media."
	His eyes widened with the name. I could tell he recognized
it, maybe he would be able to help.
	"Abel is, woops, was ward boss for Ward Fifteen. I remember
allegations that he was skimming the funds budgeted for his ward.
If there was an investigation of that, wouldn't you be able to
get the files?"
	I hadn't thought about that. Why hadn't I? I'd been too
caught up in Chelsea; in sex. I took my phone out of my trenchcoat
and dialed our agency's records division. I put in a data request
for anything concerning such an investigation.
	"Jack, there may have been no investigation. Also, there
are sure to be things that got missed. I want to know what property
Abel owned. I want to know about any private business partners.
Anything that could help to build a picture of him would help."
	He brought a hand up to his face and tugged an earlobe.
	"I'll work on it for you. It might take a couple of days
to get anything real. Do you want me to send it to you?"
	I thought about it. I decided to be paranoid.
	"No, call me at my apartment when you have something. I'll
come here again."
	I made a mental note to get an answering machine. A lot
of people now were using computerized answering services, but
that would mean all your messages could potentially be accessed
by third parties.
	I thanked Jack and left. When I got to my car my phone
beeped.
	"We're ready to bag Carter Evans. He's in a run down
apartment in the slums; corner of Jackson and Abrams."
	I thought about where that was in relation to my current
position. It wouldn't take more than twenty minutes to get there.
	"Move in carefully. I'll be right there."
				     *  *  *
	When I arrived there were several agency cars at the
scene. As I drove up and parked they brought him out of the
building. He was short but thick. Bald, wearing earrings and
a skull tatoo, he would've scared the fuzz off a peach. I got
out of my car.
	"Take him to interrogation. I'll follow you and handle
it."
	Evans was put in the back of one of the cars. I got
back in mine and followed. It was thirty minutes, back to
city hall and past it, before we arrived at the federal building.
	We marched him inside and down a couple levels. I was
getting ready to enjoy myself. Unlike old detective novels, modern
interrogation doesn't consist of darkened rooms and bright
lamps. Basically we scare the shit out of a subject and they
start talking.
	All of the interrogation rooms were vacant. I picked one
at random and I, Evans, and the two agents handling him entered.
	The rooms are basically square, but with rounded corners.
A low, narrow bench runs across the floor. It doesn't have a
back, just a raised bar that a subject can be cuffed to, which is
what we did with Evans. The walls and the bench are constructed
of translucent, seamless, panels. Just below the surface of each
panel, thousands of fiber optic strands end. Anything we can
come up with visually can be projected. Through carefully disguised
vents, odors can be introduced. The temperature is variable.
	I patted him on the head and looked at his tatoo. It was
all in black; a leering face. It covered most of the top of his
head.
	"That's a nice piece of work, Evans. But getting to the
point, you've been informed that you were picked up for the murder
of Eschiatos Abel. You can avoid a lot of trouble if you start
talking."
	He laughed. He actually laughed.
	"I didn't kill him. Neither did Smoke. Johnny and I got
hired to dump the body somewhere. I'm tellin' you this 'cause
I got nothing to lose. The bitch that hired us killed Johnny
and tried to get me. Last I knew, she was staying at The Roman."
	I was disappointed. Now I wouldn't get to use the room
on him. I had him uncuffed. He stood up.
	"What's her name, Carter. What part does she play?"
	He grinned. Selling her out was foremost in his mind.
	"Dana Maris, that's her name. I figure she probably
offed Abel. His body was on the floor of her bedroom. She didn't
say anything 'bout what she was doing. Just wanted the body
dumped."
	It was late. The Roman was a hotel on the other side of
the city. If she knew we'd picked up Evans she'd already be gone.
I decided to wait until morning to confront her. After Evans was
led out I leaned against the wall to think. The door shut with a
click.
	"What the fuck?"
	I tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. Every wall, the
floor, and the ceiling splashed into color. Gyrating test patterns
gave way to fractal images. I was getting nauseous. Sweat started
to trickle down my forehead. I had to feel for the bench and sit
down. The displays flicked off as suddenly as they had on and the
door opened. Ms. Babylon stood there, grinning.
	"I did not like the way you were looking at me earlier
today, agent. You needed to be taught a lesson. Tomorrow you
may approach me concerning the autopsy report on the Abel corpse."
	With that she turned around and walked away. What was
wrong with her? I wasn't going to tolerate that. She hadn't
asked first.
	I was tired and pissed off. Wiping my brow I left the
room, signed out of the building, and drove home.
				     *  *  *
	I turned the key in the lock of my apartment door. Some
part of me dreaded it. That part knew I was losing some of my
inner control; losing it to Chelsea.
	The door opened. I walked in. She was asleep on the couch.
She was completely naked. The sight of her flesh against the black
leather of the couch was too much. I walked over to my bedroom
and went in.
	I opened the lower drawer of my dresser. Digging under
some old shirts I found them. The silk ties I hadn't used for
so long beckoned to me; black silk, so strong. In a daze I went
out into the living room and over to the couch.
	I dropped my trenchcoat and suit jacket to the floor. The
pieces of silk went into a pants pocket. I put a hand on her belly
and another on her cheek. I slapped her.
	"Wha... Owwwww... What was that for?"
	She was awake. I put a finger on her mouth, silencing her.
I moved around to the front of the couch, lifted her legs, and
sat down under her. I turned her over. I used the silk to tie her
ankles to one side of the couch, her wrists, arms extended, to the
other.
	"You've been a good girl, Chelsea. Good girls deserve
spankings. You want a spanking, don't you?"
	She gasped and struggled. What did she think I wanted to
do? I don't have a fixation about tying naked girls over me on
the couch as a method of ideal T.V. viewing.
	"Don't you hurt me! Dammit, untie me! Fuck You!"
	I sighed. I rested a hand on her bare ass. My other hand
I used to start working on her breasts, twisting and pinching
a nipple, then switching to the other. I lightly patted her
ass, then moved that hand underneath to work on her pussy. Her
struggles lessened, stopped, and moaning began.
	My fingers rubbed her clit. They slipped lower and
entered her, stroking within her. Then, I quickly pulled that
hand away and smacked her ass, hard. She yelped. The hand working
on her breasts kept at it, twisting and pinching. I brought my
right hand up again and then down again. Smack! Yelp!
	"Owww... Stop it... Please..."
	I stopped. She didn't want it. Damn, damn, damn. I needed
to hurt her.
	"Please trust me, Chelsea. Please. We've made love.
Trust me enough to do this? Please?"
	She turned her head as much as she could. She had a
frightened look on her face. A tear left her eye and fell to the
couch.
	"I'll try... I... I don't understand you like this."
	I resolved to give her pleasure with the pain. My right
hand moved under her to work again on her cunt. My left gently
started to pat her ass. Soon, fingers sliding in and out of her
wetness, I turned the patting into spanking. She was shaking.
She sobbed and began crying.
	"Owwww... Owwww... I... Ohhhh... it hurts..."
	She wasn't asking me to stop. She was taking it. I
rubbed her clit as I increased the frequency of spanking. She
was soaking my pant leg and the couch. She pulled against the
ties and arched her back and with a strangled cry she came.
	I stopped and untied her, leaving her on the couch as
I went to bed. Her sobs, slowly stopping, eased me into sleep.
					     *  *  *