The Impending Storm
Disclaimer: standard one, I don't CSI or any of their characters. Only some new characters are mine and I'm not nice to them.
To El Gringo Loco: I love your thoughtful reviews, and your advice is greatly appreciated.
Chapter 2.
All the evidence was laid out on the table, her purse and ID had the girl as Sandy Hansen, 34, a Las Vegas native. The car belonged to her as well, it was being slowly processed in the garage. Found in the car trunk was a large amount of blood, evidence that she was placed in the trunk then murdered there and dumped. Nick and Sara were down in autopsy with Doc Robbins looking for more evidence. Sandy's face was battered and bloody, x rays confirmed that every major facial bone was either cracked or broken, she had been raped multiple times, legs broken in several places, and severe bruising to her abdomen and broken ribs. This girl had been through hell before she died. The cause of death was exsanguination of the carotid artery by a sharp instrument, most probably the knife that was recovered.
"So basically what we have here is a sadistic bastard who enjoys raping and killing women." Doc Robbins couldn't help but agree, they needed to find more evidence to narrow down any list they made. "Not all of these injuries were inflicted at the same time. Judging by the bruising and lacerations they were made over at least a period of two to three days. There is some bruising over other bruising. The ligature marks don't match up entirely with the zip ties. She was restrained by something harsher to start with, wrong marks for handcuffs but iron manacles would fit the markings."
It then dawned on Sara, the phone call from Heather about her missing staff member , Sandy Hansen; well she was found, but not the way some would have liked. She had to tell Grissom this and then tell Heather.
"Griss, got a moment?"
"Sure Sara, got a break on your case?'"
"Not exactly but I got a phone call from Heather this morning about one of her staff members missing, Sandy Hansen, that's our DB in the desert. I'd like to tell Heather, she can keep it to herself and we know she is not a suspect."
"How do you know she isn't a suspect Sara?"
"According the TOD, she has an ironclad alibi, Sofia and I were having tea with her at the time, sort of celebrating our anniversary of therapy. I'm not talking about a particular hour here, we've been there since midday and she never left our sight for more than ten minutes or so."
"Alright then tell Heather, she can come an provide us with details on her and identify her, but no one else must know, got it?" Sara just gave him her 'give me some credit' look and went off to phone Heather.
Heather walked into the crime lab and Jim Brass smiled at her, receiving one in return.
"Heather may I interview you for a moment, just a few details regarding Sandy, unless this is too distressing for you right now."
"It's fine Jim, I'll do it now, then identify her later, what would you like to know?"
"I understand that Sandy was one of your submissives on staff was she not?"
"Yes Sandy had a particular trait that made her popular, she was a good submissive in many ways, but she liked to play the naughty, disobedient submissive, some clients like that. A bit like the naughty schoolgirl routine, but Sandy really knew how to push their buttons, and take the punishment too. Only one person ever went too far with her, he was refused admission ever again."
"I'd like his name if I may please Heather, Sandy was brutally beaten and raped, before having her throat cut. This is how we found her." Jim put the first picture in front of Heather, the one of crime scene and how the body was positioned.
It must have been the first time Jim had ever seen Heather rattled, she looked horrified.
"I think I'd better see her now, I'll send you that information straight away if that's ok with you Jim? I can tell you one thing though, the man who was refused admission again, he didn't do this that was never his style. He hated anything metal to break up her fine lines. When I say he went too far, he loved her too much, but I'll send you his information."
"Sure Heather, would you like Sofia to drive you home and pick it up?"
"No thanks Jim, I'll email it to you, but if you could point me towards the morgue?"
Doc Robbins and Sara were in the morgue when Heather knocked on the door and entered. Thankfully Sandy's autopsy had finished and she was on the slab covered by a white sheet.
Doc pulled back the sheet to reveal her face and Heather grabbed Sara's arm for support. "Oh god, she was a darling girl, Doc can you tell me how long it would have taken for her to die?"
"She was beaten for hours, but she died in minutes, but there was something else, something addressed to you Heather, she had a note stuffed into her mouth post mortem"
The note read, 'I train my slaves to complete and immediate obedience Kessler, they know what disobedience brings, this is an example of that, the next one had best obey me, can you obey me this time or should I repeat my efforts? – Slavetrainer.'
"Oh hell, I have a strange feeling about this Sara, if this is who I think it is we're in trouble, he's nasty."
"What does he mean 'can you obey me' Heather?"
"I don't train slaves, I teach submissives proper etiquette, and how to use their own power so that they have the control. Slaves have no control, no safeword, they have to take what is given them, they have to take any punishments dished out however brutal. They have no power, they just live for their Masters and pray a lot. You've all heard of a white slave trade, in part it's true, but when trained they fetch a higher price, untrained a lower price, untrainable ones get killed."
"You seem to know an awful lot about all this Heather, is there something you aren't telling me?"
Heather sighed in defeat, she knew this would come out sooner or later, and now was as good a time as any. "A word in private if I may Sara, this is rather distressing and damaging."
"I was approached a few years ago, someone demanded that I train slaves for him, that it paid well and it wouldn't interfere with my business. It was a tempting offer at that stage, and yes I seriously did try it with one my girls, to try and break her down, she was a high spirited girl, and she volunteered as part of a dare. I couldn't do it, after three days I gave up, I had kept her chained and locked in a small cell for those days, only taking her out for punishment sessions and for food and water. The cell remained dark, it was pure torture on her, no facilities at all, she slept in her own filth, her chains allowing little to no movement. I nearly killed her, yet she still won, I didn't break her and I realized what a monster I was becoming. I made it up to her though, after she was bathed and changed, fed and watered, I asked her to choose a place where she'd like to live, anywhere. I gave her a huge cheque to reimburse her, got her some therapy and she still writes to me. She's happy, married with 3 children, and is a lot stronger now than she was."
Sara was dumfounded by this revelation. "So alright Heather, this is all in the distant past, and perhaps this is the same person, but what does that note mean?"
"Yes Sara this happened a long time ago, I failed then, now according to the note he wants me to do it again or else someone else will die. Honestly I can't do it, not again, but I have no way of communicating that to him or anything else. What would I do if he truly insists and targets someone else?"
"First things first Heather, get me the names of anyone you may suspect in this, then I want you to write down in detail everything you did in those three days, what she went through, what you put her through, leave out no detail, because if it comes down to it, you may have to do it again. This time we'll use a trained professional as bait to catch this guy. Don't worry about your story getting out, I'll share it only with Sofia, and we'll think of something."
"Thank you Sara, I think I'd best go home now and get you that information, I actually wrote the particulars down in a journal at the time, come over and read it tonight."
"Fine, Sofia and I will be there."
Heather left and went home, the old memories making her sick to her stomach, knowing she hadn't told Sara everything, but hopeful that the situation could be resolved, that was until she found a package on her doorstep. Rather than pick it up, she went and got some leather gloves and then picked it up and carried it inside, being very careful not to over handle it. She called Sara immediately, telling her about the package, not knowing who it was from.
TBC
A/N Seems like Lady H has something dark in her past that has come back to haunt her. Only problem is now what will she and her friends do about it.
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