The Body Hunters (34 page)

Cassie buried her head in Danny's shoulder. "Then Dom was made partner out here, and it was all too good to be true. The money, the house and the fancy cars changed my entire attitude. The other wives were just as bad as I'd become. I thought this is how rich women behaved and allowed myself to conform to them. Then you came into our lives. Danny, you reminded me of everything I wasn't, and I hated it. I hated you, even though I'd always wanted to be the kind of person you were. Dom would make comments at home about how pretty you were and that if he wasn't married already he'd make a play for you. Usually he said it when he was stinking drunk whichseemed to be more and more the longer we were out here, but the comments still hurt! The fat, insecure girl came out again, and I lashed out. I hate that word Danny, and I'm never going to forgive myself for ever using it. I don't blame you if you never forgive me either, but if we get out of here I'm going to try my best to make it up to you, I swear!
"

Danny just let Cassie talk, and she sat thinking about her words. Little did Cassie know that they actually had a lot in common if she had only taken the time to get to know
her. She remembered the kids picking on her zipper-like scar, calling her Frankenstein. She also remembered throwing several punches until grand mere taught her how to control her anger and use her words to strike back. She also knew what it was like to feel out of place in a world of pretty people. Her own mother was a high society woman and admonished her for not being more ladylike and not giving up her tomboy ways. Cassie finally exhausted herself and stopped talking.

"Cassie, I understand more than you think. I'm glad you talked to me, and I do forgive you. We all do things we regret later. The thing is now we have to work past it, OK? Remember you promised to trust me, right?
"

"Yes, I trust you Danny." Cassie whispered in the dark. They heard footsteps approaching, and the door flew open with a thud. Gerard shined a flashlight on the two women huddled in the corner.

"Well, well! Look at this! I knew if I locked you two bitches in a room together you'd finally get along!" Gerard actually had the nerve to laugh at his own joke. He had apparently stopped the flow of blood from his broken nose, the outside now covered with medical tape. Holding a gun in his other hand he walked over to them and barked at Danny
.

"I hate to break up this love fest, but you, move now! So help me if you try anything I'll shoot her in the head." He pointed the gun at Cassie.

Danny rose to her feet but couldn't help glaring at Gerard.

"Why are you doing this?" Danny asked staring directly into his now emotionless hazel eyes.

"Like you don't know! Move!" He pushed her out the door. Danny could hear Cassie start crying all over again.

"You promised me Cassie, remember! Stay strong." She yelled as Gerard shut the door and locked it behind him.

"Aww how nice! You've bonded!" Gerard said with venom dripping in his words.

"Sit down!" he shoved Danny in a chair, the gun aimed at her temple. "Now you're going to tell me everything!" He held up a syringe in his other hand and bit down on the orange topper to remove it. Danny thought of trying to struggle with him but realized with the gun to her head she would be dead before she could even get one blow in. Her instincts warned her against it, and she hoped her negotiating skills would come in handy now
.

"OK, Ger, listen I'll tell you all I know, but you got to let Cassie go. She didn't do anything to you. She's frightened to death, and she's not going to talk. Dominick is your friend. He'll make sure she doesn't talk." Danny had assumed Dominick was part of the whole sordid affair. She had deduced that the doctors from the Beautiful Image Spa were all collaborators in the human trafficking scheme
.

"Bitch, Dom doesn't know a damned thing except what we want him to know! He was of no use to us, drunk as hell all the time. I had to keep him fucking legit.
"

 
He roughly plunged the syringe into Danny's leg. Amobarbital was injected into her system. While not a truth serum, he knew it would give people the gift of gab and disclose information they normally would never say. Danny let out a yell at the stinging effect of the shot as the drug entered her bloodstream. Gerard tied her hands behind her chair and forcefully grabbed her hair pulled her head back and kissed her. Struggling when he finally pulled away, she spit in his face. Half expecting a slap or a punch she instinctively cowered, turning her face slightly to the side waiting for the blows. He just laughed it off.

"There was a time not so long ago darling when you loved that!" He grinned fiendishly, wiping his face with his hand
.

"There was a time when you were human! Or were you ever? I can't believe I ever loved you!" Danny yelled defiantly. "What are you into?
"

"Darling, darling, darling," He said slowly, lovingly stroking her hair. "I'm just guilty of wanting it all and my friends in the cartel were more than willing to help me attain it. You have no idea how much work it took to set up this beautiful little operation. The hours of planning and money laundering and finding the right idiots to help me run this wonderful empire, which you have now gone and fucked up! You just couldn't be the dutiful woman at my side like the others, just enjoying spending my money, could you?"

"What are you talking about?" She asked, purposely trying to get more information from him
.

He waved his finger in her face. "Don't play stupid with me! I know you and that FBI agent were investigating me, and to say nothing of you having a secret apartment! Were you fucking him there too? Was he as good as me in bed darling? What the fuck do you do with the FBI anyway?
"

"Ger, you've known all along I look into cold cases for the magazine." she said rationally
.

"Why were my girls on your board? And if you're so innocent why did you need an apartment when I gave you your own office at the house? And while we're on the subject, who was your FBI boyfriend?
"

"He was Agent Ramirez. He wasn't my boyfriend you sonofabitch! And you killed him! I had that place so I could channel spirits without you around. I'm a psychic!"

Gerard laughed and shook his head. He calmly got up and slapped her hard across the face. The force of it made her ears ring.

"Well if you're psychic then you should have seen that coming!" He said, completely shedding the skin of the loving, caring man she thought she knew. The ogre standing before her was Gerard in his truest form. "I'm getting sick of this shit. Tell me why you had an FBI agent in your little hidey
holelove nest!
"

"The Bureau asked me to help them solve a teenage girl's murder in Dallas." Danny sorrowfully shook her head. "Good God you killed all those girls! It makes sense now. They were all over the world! You used Angels Faces as a front! God I thought you were so good and compassionate about it! Did you even care about those kids?" Tears rolled down her face as she talked
.

"Of course I did! No child deserves to be ostracized just because they're born with a disfigurement!" He said as if it was something she should have known all along.
"And the girls? They made it so easy! All they wanted was a one-way trip to the U.S. and drugs. They should have known that nothing is ever free in this life. We made them work to repay us for the drugs and their guaranteed entry here. We set up the clinics to keep them healthy and supplied their habits, which of course kept them under our control. We were really doing them a favor. They were basically lowlifes with no future, and we gave their worthless lives a little purpose. I was the enforcer and if they got too smart and threatened to squeal, then ..." Gerard put his thumb to his throat and made a slicing motion.

It all hit her hard. He had killed Sherry and the others for knowing too much and threatening to inform law enforcement of the activities. She was horrified at the thought that this outwardly philanthropic man was using these women to fund his and the others' lifestyles under the guise of helping children. She wanted to throw up again but refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her do it. Sherry had been his undoing, and she realized at this point he was going into fight or flight mode. She just hoped that she and Cassie weren't going to be victims of his madness before it was all over
.

"OK, now your turn sweetheart. Talk to me babe and tell me what I want to know." Gerard whispered in her ear. He was standing behind her now, the gun at her head in one hand the other down her shirt fondling her breasts. He wanted to show her he was still in full control. Danny stiffened her body, repulsed by his touch, but fearing another slap or worse she kept her mouth shut about it. She just wanted to keep herself alive.

"What do you want to know?" she asked
.

"Tell me how you found that fucking whore Sherry.
"

"She was a senator's daughter." She offered. Her tongue was acting on its own volition. "Her body turned up, and the FBI needed help locating her killer.
"

"A thieving whore was all she was!" Gerard spat, continuing his groping of her breasts. "That little bitch pick-pocketed me and stole my ring, which by the way is the one I
eventually gave to you. That's why I had to kill her, to send a message to the other whores that you don't bite the hand that feeds you."

Danny was revolted. "You killed a teenage girl over a ring?
"

He nodded, a creepy smirk spread across his face.
"Absolutely sweetheart!Let's just say that the ring has a certain sentimental value attached to it.
"

Pulling his hand out of her shirt, he stood before her again, seemingly pleased with how smart he was. "The diamond in the ring I gave you actually contains the earthly remains of my dear departed mother.
"

"What!" Danny exclaimed loudly. That explained the identity of the woman from her visitation. All along the woman had been trying to warn her. She was responsible for linking Sherry's murder to the other women. Then suddenly she realized the recurring pain in her ring finger was his mother trying to catch her attention
.

"Yes, my dear. The stone in your ring is what's called a cremation diamond." he chuckled, tenderly stroking her cheek. "While doing my pro-bono work abroad for the Angel Faces charity my father started just before his untimely death, I made friends with the cartel and we came up with a wonderful business arrangement. Since my frigid bitch of a mother refused to pay off my student loans, the cartel was more than happy to pick up the tab and then some. Together, we started laying the groundwork for what is now the largest human trafficking ring in North America. We made another of dear dad's corporations a parent company to throw things off.
"

Danny let him continue with his monologue. She was learning more about him now than the entire duration of their courtship
.

"You see, my mother eventually found out about my extracurricular activities with the cartel and Angel Faces and she threatened to expose me. Things came to a head when she actually pushed me off the charity's board of directors. She had to go, so she conveniently had a tumble down a flight of stairs. You see, mother was a cold-blooded bitch who cared nothing for the men in her life, only her precious millions. My father drank himself to death to get away from her, and she left me to financially fend for myself, refusing to even help me through college. Since money was what was most precious to her, I thought it fitting that her remains be formed into a diamond.
"

Danny suddenly felt nauseous again. "That's the sickest thing I've ever heard.
"

"Well enough about me, sweetheart.
Let's get back to business." he said, absently waving the gun in her direction, indicating she should keep talking. "Back to the Fed's investigation.Sherry was just a teenage runaway turned prostitute. There's no way that filthy little whore was a senator's daughter.
"

"No Gerard, she really was. My old boss at the Bureau asked me to help the agent determine how she died." Danny said insistently. The drug was now in full effect. She desperately tried not to relate that there was more than one agent and prayed she would not mention
 Stone. "I know you don't believe me, but the agency asked me because I worked as a forensic psychic for them. So, they thought I could help. And then all the other victims came through. I had no idea you were even involved. I really did love you. I just don't understand how the man I knew could have done all this." Danny stopped for a breath
.

"Enough of all this theatrical female nonsense, sweetheart.
Continue. Does the FBI know everything? The money laundering? The parent company?"He started kissing her neck
.

"Um, I don't know. They will if they don't know about it already. We were able to locate the parent company of the clinics and the bureau was digging into their financial records. The off shore accounts were found.
Statements and such." His touch now made her shake with fear.

"Anything else I need to know?" He asked politely now kissing her lips again
.

Danny shook her head. "No, I don't think so.
"