Sextortion (3 page)

I couldn't
believe it. My husband paying a prostitute? Now she really did have
something on us! She was clever, very clever. Having an accomplice
hiding somewhere in the bushes to take photographs, she'd obviously
planned the whole thing meticulously.

Danny went
wild, swearing and cursing as he looked at the photos and read the
note. "She's really got us now!" he sighed. "If the bloody
papers..."

"There's
nothing to prove that you were paying a prostitute," I interrupted
him, wondering where the hell this would all end.

"No, but if
she says she's a prostitute, they'll believe her. We can't prove
otherwise, can we?"

Foolishly, we
paid her another five thousand. She turned up at the house two
hours early, again catching Danny by surprise. I was at the studio,
but he followed her this time, keeping his distance as she rounded
corner after corner, before seemingly disappearing into thin air.
Ten thousand pounds. The nightmare had begun, but it was only the
beginning. The beginning of a living nightmare that was to plunge
me mercilessly into the murky depths of depravity.

A week later,
as I was sitting at my desk thinking about a short story, the phone
rang. My heart almost stopped as the girl's giggles resounded
through my head. How she had the audacity to ring me, I had no
idea.

"I like your
husband," she said huskily. "He's very good-looking."

"What do you
want?" I hissed through gritted teeth, my heart racing as my anger
soared.

"When did he
last fuck you?"

"What?"

I hung up, her
obscene words reverberating through my racked mind. What sort of
person was she? A blackmailer, yes, but... Dialling one four seven
one, a mechanical voice told me that the caller had withheld their
number. "Shit!" I cursed as the phone rang again. Ignoring it, I
let it ring until it was driving me mad like a relentlessly
dripping tap in the middle of the night.

"Don't hang
up, it's not nice," the voice said impishly as I finally grabbed
the receiver.

"Look, if it's
more money you want, there is none!" I returned firmly.

"I want your
husband."

"What do you
mean?"

"I want him to
fuck me."

"Good God, I
have never..."

"Selina, I
have to tell you that I'm working for someone. He specializes in
digging up dirt on celebrities and..."

"Go to
hell!"

Banging the phone down, I lurched to the window. Seething with
anger, my breathing unsteady, my heart banging hard against my
chest, I knew I had to calm down. It was raining, the droplets of
water running down the glass like tears - my tears.
I want him to fuck me
.
Her filthy words wouldn't leave my mind, echoing through my aching
head, driving me insane.

I wasn't going
to say anything to Danny but when he walked into my den and asked
who had phoned, I broke down and told him exactly what the girl had
said. He stood there staring at me, obviously stunned. For a
moment, I wondered whether he thought me mad. I wondered whether I
was mad!

"She really
said that?" he finally asked, frowning at me.

"I'm not
making it up!" I snapped.

"OK, OK, calm
down."

"Calm down?
She's had ten thousand pounds, and now she wants..."

"Look, I'll
have our phone number changed."

"That won't do
any good," I sighed despondently.

"Yes, it will.
We'll go ex-directory and..."

"She'll come
here, Danny! She won't give up simply because the bloody phone
number's changed!"

This wasn't so much a nightmare as a horror story!
I want him to fuck me
. My
mind numb as Danny rambled on, I gazed out of the window again. His
words fluttering around the room, drifting past me, I wondered
whether the bitch had just been having a laugh, winding me up.
She'd hardly come to the house and... She was winding me up, there
was no doubt in my mind.

Obviously
noticing that I wasn't listening, Danny left the room and closed
the door. Images of my husband having sex with another woman
filling my mind, I realized that truth really was stranger than
fiction. What a story this would make! What a book! Shaking my head
as stark reality hit me, I sat at my desk. I felt tired with worry,
sick with anxiety. I couldn't even think about a short story, let
alone write one!

Whether I'd
fallen asleep or into a state of shock, I didn't know. When I
finally came to my senses and looked around me in the falling dusk,
I wandered downstairs. Danny had left a note on the kitchen table
telling me that he'd gone to see a private detective. I had fallen
asleep, I reflected. He must have looked in on me before going out
and decided that I needed the rest.

A private
detective? I pondered as I filled the kettle for coffee. At least
Danny was doing something constructive, unlike me. But what could a
private detective do? If he discovered who the girl was and where
she lived, there'd be little we could do about her - apart from
have her bumped off. And if she really was working for
someone...

Answering the
front door, I found myself staring at an attractive blonde, and
instinctively knew it was the bitch. Her deep blue eyes smiling at
me, she wasn't at all what I'd expected. I don't know what I'd
expected, but it wasn't this! Stylishly dressed in a white blouse
and turquoise miniskirt with matching stilettos, for a moment, I
thought I must be wrong.

"I've come to
introduce myself," she said, pushing past me and stepping into the
hall. "I'm Diana, your friendly blackmailer."

"You're
crazy!" I hissed. "How the hell you have the nerve to..."

"Mmm, a nice
house," she murmured, walking through the hall to the lounge.

"Get out!" I
screamed, chasing after her. "How dare you...?"

"My boss is
waiting down the road so I wouldn't do anything rash," she warned
me, impertinently plonking herself in an armchair. "You're going to
be seeing quite a lot of me so I thought we'd better get to know
each other."

"Get to know
each other? Christ, you've got a nerve!"

"Selina, we
don't have to fight. Just calm down and hear what I have to
say."

"Calm
down?"

"I want your
husband."

"My God, you
really are insane!"

"I'm the sort
of girl who gets what she wants, and I want sex with your
husband."

Leaning
against the piano to support my sagging body, I stared at the
bitch, unable to believe what she was saying. I could understand
blackmail, demanding money - but sex with Danny? For one terrible
moment, in my confused thinking, I wondered whether Danny was
working with her. But no, he'd been doing everything possible to
help me. Had he wanted money, all he had to do was ask. Besides, it
was our money, not mine, and he knew I looked at it that way.

As she stood
up and marched to the door, my mind was in turmoil. She was well
dressed, well spoken and... Blackmailers weren't necessarily
common, scruffy people, I reflected. And besides, she should be
well dressed, seeing as I'd given her ten thousand pounds!

"I'll be back
tomorrow," she purred, strutting into the hall.

"You will
not!" I spat.

"Tomorrow
evening, to have sex with your husband - while you watch."

As she slammed
the front door shut, I broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. What the
hell had happened to my life? I wondered. What had I done to
deserve this? Again, I thought of Danny. Was he working with the
girl? Of course he wasn't, but there was that niggling doubt at the
back of my mind. In some respects, it made sense. He could have
told her about the ceiling, about Barry and... No, my thinking was
going way off course!

"Are you OK?"
Danny asked as he opened the front door, finding me sitting on the
hall floor in tears. "Hey, what's happened?"

"She came
here!" I snivelled, climbing to my feet. "She wants me to watch you
having sex with her!"

"She what?
Selina, you need a rest, a break from it all."

"You don't
believe me, do you?"

"I'm not
saying that, it's just..."

"She wants you
to fuck her, as she put it."

"This is
complete and utter madness! For Christ's sake..."

"Would you
have sex with her?"

"Of course I
wouldn't! What sort of question is that?"

"Danny, do you
know this girl?"

"Know her?
I've only met her twice."

"I mean, are
you in this with her?"

"What? Fucking
hell, I can't believe this!"

"I'm sorry,
but I had to ask."

"As if I'd...
Look, this may sound cold and callous, but you're the one she's
blackmailing, not me."

"What do you
mean by that?"

"I mean, I'm
not going to get involved. Taking your money's one thing, but I'm
not going to have anything to do with her."

"If it came to
the crunch, you wouldn't help me?" I found myself asking.

"I am helping
you, I've been to see a private dick."

"But if she
insisted that..."

"I have to say
this, Selina. I'd do anything for you, and you know that, but I
will not sell my body for sex. There's no way I'm even going to
entertain the idea. And as for you thinking that I'm in it with
her..."

As he stomped
up the stairs, a tear ran down my cheek. I must have been mad to
think that he could be involved. Insane! I'd upset him, I knew, but
I'd had to ask him, tell him what was on my mind. I'd been feeling
so alone, so desperate with worry that I wasn't thinking properly.
To suggest that Danny... Guilt swamped me as I went into the lounge
and flopped onto the sofa. He'd been trying to help, and I hadn't
even asked him what the private detective had said.

If the bitch
came round the following evening, I wouldn't answer the door. She
could go to hell as far as I was concerned. Whether she sold her
pathetic story to the tabloids or not, I was beyond caring. No one
was going to rule my life, dictate to me like this!

The phone
ringing, I was about to grab the receiver but thought better of it.
The last thing I wanted was to hear her voice again. Danny had
obviously taken the call upstairs and, if it was the bitch, I knew
he'd tell her where to go. Gazing at the phone, curiosity getting
the better of me, I pressed the secrecy button and carefully lifted
the receiver.

"Yes, I came
round this evening," the bitch was saying.

"I don't want
you coming here."

"Danny, Danny,
you don't seem to understand."

"I understand
only too well! You're a blackmailing cow!"

"I want you to
fuck me, Danny."

"There's no
more money, my wife's not going to write any more books, and I'm
not going to have anything to do with you."

"You're going
to have a lot to do with me. I'll be round tomorrow evening and,
unless you fuck me, the papers will have my story. I'll tell them
that we've been having an affair for a year, that you long for my
hot, wet cunt and..."

As Danny hung
up, I gently replaced the receiver. That's what I'd wanted to hear,
my husband telling her where to go, putting the phone down on her.
Again, I felt extreme guilt for even thinking that he could be
involved with her, let alone asking him. I felt as if I'd betrayed
him.

Curling up on
the sofa, I cried myself to sleep and dreamed of Danny having sex
with the bitch, her beautiful naked body sprawled out on the lounge
floor as he drove his penis deep into her treacherous vagina. My
mind whispered dreadful things to me in my sleep. I wanted to
die.

Obviously
needing my sleep, I didn't wake until ten the following morning. My
back aching, the horrendous events of the previous evening slowly
filtering into my mind like sand flowing through an hourglass, I
clambered off the sofa and searched for Danny. There was no sign of
him. He'd probably gone for a walk, I ruminated, slipping out of my
crumpled skirt and blouse.

After taking a shower, I dressed and went downstairs to make
some tea. The note was propped up against the vase of red
carnations on the kitchen table. "Gone to see the private dick."
No
Dear Selina
,
no
love from Danny
,
no kisses... He was obviously still upset with me, but I could
hardly blame him.

To my horror,
I found another envelope on the doormat, this time containing a
photograph of the grinning girl entering my house. The shot had
been taken from such an angle that I wasn't in the frame. This was
obviously another act in the prostitute scam, the damning evidence
building quickly. Put it all together, the girl kissing Danny,
taking a wad of money, holding his crotch, entering the
house...

Everything was
happening so rapidly. I felt as if I was in a fast-flowing river,
unable to reach the bank and stop myself from going over the weir.
What would she do next? What should I do next? I had no idea. I
kept wondering how the hell all this had started, how it was
escalating at such a frightening rate. We should never have paid
her the first five thousand, I chastised myself. Had Danny not
answered the door, she'd not have had the photographs. That had
been our first mistake.

"Hi," Danny
smiled as he walked into the kitchen. "Sorry I've been so
long."

"Danny, last
night - I didn't mean to..."

"It's all
right, I understand."

"It was just
that..."

"It's OK,
Selina."

"When she
rang, I listened on the phone in the lounge."

"She's got a
bloody nerve, she really has! Anyway, I've been to see the private
dick again. It'll cost us, but he's going to park in the street
this evening. He reckons that..."