They went separate ways, Gill towards the bedroom. He stood in Vanessa’s doorway and looked around at all the clothes sprawled out on the floor. The cot was in the corner, towels draped over the railings, a half eaten banana on the dressing table nearby — black and rotten. He went up to the dresser to examine a photograph of Vanessa holding her child in the hospital; the father next to her. They all looked so happy. He thought he should get in touch with the father, let him know what’s happened to his daughter. He wondered why he hadn’t already; could have been a good lead. He figured he was just getting sloppy; too old. He wasn’t cut out for a case like this anymore. Perhaps he never was. Hopetown had never had a case like this.
He opened a jewellery box and found a little collection of empty baggies. All of them had powder residue in them. He picked one up and sniffed it.
“A damn shame,” he said to himself.
“Detective!” Deputy Warren called out from the other side of the house, Gill made his way quickly towards him.
“What is it?”
The two men stood in the bathroom over the bathtub looking down at a pool of black slime.
“Smells like shit, Gill.”
“Yes, it does.”
“Should I take a sample?”
“You’d better.”
The two men searched the rest of the house and found nothing but mess, as if a child left to its own devices lived there. They stood at the door about to lock it up and tape it off. Gill stared down the length of the shadowy hallway.
“What is it?”
“I thought I heard something.”
“There’s nobody in there, we looked everywhere. Probably just a rat or something.”
“Or a snake.”
“Sure, but there ain’t no snakes around these parts. Not this time of year. More likely a rat.”
“More likely nothing at all.”
Chapter 4
Vanessa woke up tied to a king size bed in a lush hotel room. It looked like the Grand. The curtains were shut, but the light was on. There was a large room service food tray beside the bed. She’d been transported overnight to this place, with no memory of how she got there. She’d been showered, shaved, and the white bra and panties she had on were clean. The bedroom was empty, but sounds were coming from rest the of the hotel suite. She figured she was there for somebody’s entertainment. Somebody had paid for all this. She could only wait.
She shook at the neckties around her wrists. They were tight but with a bit of work she thought she might be able to loosen them.
Then something ran across the next room, a person, not a man, too small. She paused and listened. She could hear frantic footsteps building up into a frenzy and then stopping with a stomp. They came again and the person ran past the doorway another time. It looked like a boy, about 11 years old. She felt comforted, knowing there was a kid around. Perhaps he could help her. She sat still and stared at the doorway. After some time the boy peeked around the corner of the doorframe and looked at her.
“Hey, little boy. Can you untie me?”
The little boy vanished around the corner again, but she could see his shadow, he was still there.
“Come back. What’s your name?”
The boy peeked around the corner and revealed more of his face. He had light brown hair, green eyes, pale skin. He was wearing nothing but a pair of black, satin boxer shorts.
“Wanna help me out of this bed?”
The boy entered the room reluctantly. He came up to the end of the bed and bobbed down and peeked up at her.
“What’s your problem, kid? Are you a retard?”
The boy didn’t answer, but it was clear to her the boy was mentally disabled.
“Come up here and untie me.”
Vanessa jerked at the ties again, gradually loosening them.
The boy stood up and came over beside the bed. His hands didn’t tremble, nor his face show any fear as he pulled off Vanessa’s bra and panties. He hopped up on top of the bed and played with her boobs, rolling them around in circles over her chest.
“Did your daddy get you all this?”
The kid seemed to think for a moment then vaguely nodded. His attention reverted over to the food tray beside him. The boy looked at his blurred reflection in the silverware and smiled, before lifting the lid off to reveal a large platter with an enormous black dildo on it, as thick as a thigh, shaped like an overgrown penis. The boy picked it up clumsily.
“What are you going to do with that, kid?”
“Shove it down your throat.”
The kid lunged forward holding the dildo like a stabbing weapon high above his head. He slammed the end down on Vanessa’s mouth, almost breaking her teeth. She tried to push her head away, but the boy kept hitting her face with it, trying to get it inside her mouth. Eventually she gave up and opened her mouth and the boy pushed the enormous thing far down into her. Vanessa’s eyes opened wide in shock, then rolled back. The boy began to thrust the thing in and out of her mouth, her jaw easily taking the mass. The boy had a little erection sticking out from the top of his shorts and he smiled and squinted and cried, completely incapable of interpreting such stimulation with his jumbled, retarded brain.
Vanessa’s violent struggle eventually tore the ties from the bed and she grabbed the dildo from the boy and removed it from her throat. She pushed the kid to the end of the bed and watched his sudden panic. She ran to the door and closed it. She came back at the kid and started to beat him with the dildo. She got him on the floor and smashed his teeth in. The boy cried and tried to escape but he was just that little bit too slow. Vanessa didn’t stop beating the boy until he stopped moving, gurgling on his own blood. She stood up and saw the boy was still erect, his penis jutting from his bloody torso, clean and untouched. It pulsed with his heartbeat, then a little fountain of jizz spurted into the air and the penis stopped pulsing and the boy was dead, face crushed like a stomped-on cardboard box.
Vanessa threw the dildo to the floor and went to the door. She searched the entire hotel room and found she was alone. She was, however, locked in. She went over to the window and saw a city outside. The room was ten stories up and the streets below were unrecognizable. She had no idea where she was. She went back to the bedroom, put on her underwear and went into the lounge and sat on the couch, waiting for whoever it was that was inevitably coming for her.
Chapter 5
Gill stood in the kitchen watching his wife make a sandwich for him.
“I’ll be going out on the road today.”
“Where are you going?”
“Gonna go up to Templeton to see the girl’s ex. Talk to him face to face.”
“What are you going to tell him?”
“That we haven’t found her, or the baby. That it’s unlikely we will, alive anyway.”
“That’s a crying shame.”
“Yes it is.”
She wrapped the sandwich in tinfoil and put it into a paper bag and handed it to him. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and left the house.
He arrived at the Templeton trailer park at noon and drove around the small streets until he found the camper belonging to Benny Leeman. He got out and knocked on the camper door. Benny answered.
“What can I do for you?”
“I’m Detective Gill. I’ve been looking for Vanessa Moore and her child, Heather. You’re the father, is that correct?”
“That’s correct.”
“Can I come in, Mr. Leeman?”
“Yeah, ok.”
Benny sat down on the small sofa in his trailer, across from him the television chatted away with midday infomercials. Gill stood there looking at the rough little guy, his crummy belongings, and he thought the whole picture quite sad.