“Sometimes you imagined more than one man?”
“Yes, but while my captor might show me naked in front of those other men, he always kept me for himself. He was always strong enough to do that. He might threaten to give me to his men if I didn’t please him, but in my fantasy I just knew he would never really do that. But it was exciting to pretend that he might.”
“Did you masturbate while you were fantasizing?”
“Always,” Elizabeth Anne was emphatic. “Like I said, there was a lot of open space to get lost in for a while. Sometimes I worried that I might get noisy and then someone would hear me.”
“What did you do then?”
“I always carried a bandana with me. I’d gag myself with it.”
“And you did this until you went away to college?”
“Just about every other day. Some days I had too many chores to do to get away.”
“And when you got to college: What then?”
Chapter Six
Tape number two went on for another thirty-seven minutes, but Elizabeth Anne became less and less open as the interview continued. It seemed to Ron that she was more shy than embarrassed. In spite of the best efforts of the psych, she would not go into much detail about her time at college. She did say that she’d had a couple of boyfriends and had lost her virginity to one of them, but she wouldn’t say much more than that. When the psych asked her if she’d ever had one of her boyfriends tie her up, she really did blush. Apparently she’d asked the first one to do it, and it had gone disastrously.
On the other hand, Ron picked up a lot of other information that could be useful. She had tried oral sex just once, and the guy had gotten too excited and tried to shove himself down her throat. When he ignored her pleas to stop, she bit him just hard enough to finally convince him he’d gone too far. That had effectively ended the relationship, and it was the last sexual one she’d had at college.
“Why was that your last relationship?” the psych asked.
“Two reasons,” Elizabeth Anne answered. “First, I realized I was at college to get an education, not screw my brains out.” She sighed.
“And the second?” the psych prompted.
She sighed again. “I’d thought my home town was full of gossip. You have no idea how fast a story, true or not, can get around a college campus. Guys, young guys, can gossip worse than some of the girls I knew when it comes to sex. It got so bad that I considered transferring to some other school.”
“Did you?”
“No. I toughed it out. A lot of the talkers wound up dropping out or transferring themselves. After a while, the ones that were left found other things to talk about. It was still kind of lonely for a while.”
“It didn’t stay lonely?”
“No. I made some friends. I went on group dates or double dates. It was fun, a bunch of us sitting around a table at the pizza parlor, talking about life and politics and how tough some of the professors were.” She sounded wistful when she said that.
“No more sex?”
“I thought about it, but no. I was taking some very demanding courses then, and I didn’t have the time.”
“What about after you graduated?”
Ron watched and listened. Elizabeth Anne hadn’t lived like a nun, but she’d certainly gotten much less action than he would have thought. She certainly didn’t get to act out any of her captivity fantasies. Near the end of the tape, the psych finally asked a key question. As far as he knew, they always asked that question at the end of the interview.
“Why are you contemplating doing this now?”
Elizabeth Anne sighed heavily. “I went to college, made a good career, earned more money than I’ll need to live comfortably for the rest of my life. I’m only thirty-nine, and I could retire today. And then what?” She shook her head. “I feel like I’ve missed something. I feel like I’ve been too safe and too…
insulated
…for too long. I want some risk. I want some thrills. I want an adventure before I’m too old to enjoy it. Does that make any sense to you?”
Ron didn’t wait for the psych’s answer. He hit the stop button and then ‘rewind’. The VCR made a threatening whirring noise. They probably ought to replace it soon. It might also be a good idea to switch to DVDs, but that wasn’t his department.
“Are you going to watch it again?” Lisa asked. “If you are, I’ll get myself some more coffee now.”
“No,” Ron shook his head. “I think once will be enough.”
“You have her all figured out, then?”
“Well, I have a place to start,” he replied. “And I was right. She wants an adventure, just like she said. Somebody made a mistake when they thought she just wanted the standard treatment.”
“What?”
“She’s looking for something special,” Ron said. “Somebody didn’t pick up on that.”
“Maybe they did, finally,” Lisa suggested.
“What do you mean?”
“They sent for you, didn’t they?”
He laughed. “You may be right,” he said. “But I still have to figure out how to get to her.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Lisa smiled. “I read your file. Hell, I think every female at the office did once they got word you were coming.”
“I thought you were into girls.”
“I was curious.” Lisa shrugged. “So what?”
“Nothing,” Ron said. “I didn’t realize I was a celebrity.”
Lisa giggled. He hadn’t expected her to be the giggling type.
“So, you think you can bring her in?”
“Maybe,” he replied. “I have to do some thinking, though. Do you know of a good gym around here? I’ve kinda let myself go the past month, and I could use some tuning up. Besides, nothing helps me think more than working up a good sweat.”
“Sure,” Lisa nodded. “There’s one only five or six blocks away: Mommsen’s Fitness Center. I can take you there.”
“Do I need a membership to get in?”
“Nah,” Lisa said. “They’ll charge by the hour. As long as you’ve got proper I.D. you can get in.” She stood up and stretched her arms over her head. “Want me to drive you now?”
“No,” Ron smiled up at her. “But I do want you to take me there. I’m going to make myself some breakfast first. You hungry?”
***
“This is a pain,” Lisa mumbled as she walked alongside him. It was bitterly cold out, and she kept using him as a windbreak whenever a gust hit them.
“I’m saving you the trouble of finding a place to park,” Ron said. It was a little before noon, and there weren’t many other people out. That would change soon.
“There’s a parking lot right across the street from them.”
“I’ll bet it’s expensive.”
“Yeah, well, so what? The company’d pay for it.”
“This is good exercise.”
“You want the exercise, not me,” Lisa pointed out. “And what’s the point of getting some exercise before you go exercising?”
“It’s good for you,” he replied. “Like a warm-up. It gets your heart pumping, your blood flowing…”
“Your nose freezing,” Lisa interrupted grumpily. “I don’t feel warmed up at all.”
“Look, once you get me there you’re free for a couple of hours. Go have a long lunch or something and pick me up at two-thirty.”
“Not likely,” Lisa shook her head. “That was a Hell of a big late breakfast you cooked up. I’m not hungry now, and I won’t be until dinnertime. Pretty good cooking, by the way.”
“Thanks. So go see a movie or something.”
“No way,” she said. “There’s nothing out now worth seeing that I haven’t already seen. Anyway, how do you think you’re going to pay them?”
“I’ve got money.”
Lisa fished around in a pocket of her jeans. She pulled something out and flourished it under his nose. “Ta-da!” she grinned. “Company credit card. They’re paying. And as long as they’re paying, I’m going to take advantage of their facilities too.”
“I thought you didn’t want any exercise.”
“Foolish male,” Lisa’s grin was wicked. “I don’t, especially, but after
I
work up a sweat
I
get to wash it off in the women’s locker room.”
A little old lady picking her way along the sidewalk stopped and turned at the sound of Ron’s laugh. She saw the big black man and the skinny little white girl walking side by side, the girl cuddled up close to him, smiling. He was old enough to be her father, maybe. She shrugged and went on her way. It was none of her business.
Since they were in an older part of the city, he’d half-expected Mommsen’s to be in a big old brick edifice, dark walls and poor lighting inside, with the smell of decades of effort and sweat in the background. Instead, he found himself looking at a gleaming three-story construction of steel and glass. Inside, on the ground floor, he could see a few men working out on state-of-the-art machines.
“I don’t see any women,” he said to Lisa.
“They’re on the second floor,” she smiled. “Women don’t like men gawking at them while they exercise.”
He looked up. The glass walls on the second floor were all hung with dark red drapes up to what looked like neck level of anyone up there.
“It looks a lot newer than I’d thought.”
“Oh,” Lisa waved a hand. “The original building burned down about four years ago. It was in the middle of winter, really, really frigid, and the water the fire department used froze solid all over everything. They had to close off the street for a week until they could get it cleaned up.”
“What was the old building?”
“I dunno,” Lisa shrugged. “Some kind of furniture warehouse, I think. C’mon, let’s go in. I’m freezing my ass off out here.”
It was just as Lisa had said: Mommsen’s rented out their facilities by the hour. He stayed by the counter until Lisa had gone off upstairs.
“Isn’t it kind of unusual to run a gym this way?” he asked the clerk. He was an overmuscled young man in gray sweat pants and a tight, tight t-shirt in dark red. His hair was cut so short that it might have been easier for him just to shave himself bald. His nametag read: “Jason”.
“Yeah, it is,” Jason nodded. “Our main business is still year-long membership contracts, but since we started the hourly stuff we’ve gotten a lot of people coming in during slack times. It wouldn’t pay the bills all by itself, but it’s a nice little extra source of income.”
“Do you get much lunch hour traffic?”
“We get anywhere up to twenty, depending on the weather.” Jason looked out at the street. “I don’t think we’ll be getting many today. Too cold out.”
“Suits me,” Ron shrugged. “The lockers are over that way?”
“Yeah, just around the corner there. The guests’ lockers are through the doorway to the right. The members’ lockers are to the left. The showers are all the way in the back. Have a good one.”
“Thanks.”
Once in the ‘guests’ locker room, Ron changed into the shorts and t-shirt he’d brought with him in a small gym bag. He’d worn his own sneakers for the walk here, so there was no need to change his shoes. The lockers were small. They worked the same way as at a bus terminal, but there was no need to feed coins into them. It was a nice touch. He put his street clothes and gym bag into locker number 23, locked it, and took the key with him. The key was another nice touch. It was on a small chain just the right size to hang around your neck. He tucked the key under his t-shirt as he left the locker room for the gym.
There was a short line of five or six men signing in at the counter when he came out. It must be lunchtime. He went over to the weights. Lifting took a lot of physical effort, but left his mind free. It was just what he wanted right now. He had a lot of thinking to do. He figured he’d start with the free weights and work his way up to heavier stuff. He noticed two of the gym staff circulating through the area. They had to be staff. They were both young men, dressed in gray sweat pants and dark red shirts like Jason’s. They looked fit, but nowhere near as bulked up as the clerk.
He chose a couple of twenty-five pound weights and started curling, one arm at a time. He hadn’t really exercised for a while, so it was a good idea to start small. While his body was thus occupied, he could let the problem of Elizabeth Anne occupy his mind.
He kept thinking about how she’d looked on those tapes, what she’d said and how she’d said it. It was apparent that the story about the pirate had made her start thinking about damsels in distress. She might have had some thoughts along those lines earlier, but the pirate story gave her a hook to hang things on. It was interesting that she’d gone from the pirate to an outlaw or a warrior as the man who would carry her off. It made sense to him. She’d seemed annoyed by the pirate’s lack of initiative. If she’d grown up in west Texas an outlaw or a warrior would be more appealing than an indecisive buccaneer. There might even be some old family stories that she could use for background material for her fantasies.
He put the free weights down and went over to a bench. One-fifty ought to be more than enough to press this afternoon. He could go higher, but he wasn’t here for a regular workout. As he got into position, one of the staff came over.
“Need a spot?” he asked. The name on his tag was “Jack”.
“I should be okay,” Ron answered. “But thanks.”
“Okay,” Jack nodded, looking at Ron’s arms and chest. “You look like you’ll be fine. Just give a holler if you need anything.”
“I will. Thanks again.”
Jack wandered off to see if any of the other men needed help or advice. Ron settled in to a slow routine.
It was interesting that Elizabeth Anne’s fantasies seemed limited to one man taking her for himself and making it stick even if he was the leader of a gang or a war party. It wasn’t unusual for a woman to fantasize that way. In his line of work, though, he usually encountered women who started out at that point and then added fantasies of being taken by a gang or by slavers. Those kinds of fantasies actually made his job easier, since a woman could enjoy sex more times a day than one man could manage. Elizabeth Anne, though, seemed to definitely be a one-captor woman. Even if the opportunity came for one of the company’s teams to snatch her off the street, having more than one man in on it was something she wouldn’t go for. He thought back to when she’d said she’d bitten a man who’d ignored her protests during oral sex. She’d been very matter-of-fact about it. The thought gave him a shudder. If she didn’t like something, it was certain that her partner wasn’t going to like it either, one way or another. Even if…no, even
when
he found a way to bring her in himself he would have to be clever and careful. The clever and careful part would come later. Right now, he had to think of a way to bring her in.
He couldn’t play the part of a warrior, even though he’d once been a soldier. This was the city, and warriors wouldn’t fit in at all. Outlaws did, but he didn’t think she’d be looking for some gangsta type, all strut and loud arrogance. She wouldn’t be looking for a criminal type either. That was fine by him. He wouldn’t feel right posing as one of those anyway. So what did that leave him?