Torture

Punk woke up from unconsciousness, feeling his hands tied above his head to a rope attached to the ceiling. He also realised he had no shirt on, groaning to himself as he looked around the dim basement like room.

He looked down at his pants, noticing his gun was gone. He tried pulling on the rope which was holding his hands up above his head, but he could see it was attached to a metal lever on the ceiling.

He looked around the basement, listening as he heard multiple footsteps coming down the stairs, looking over at the door and awaiting his fate. He had a bad feeling. Of course he did.

He watched as two men walked into the basement, noticing one was holding wires and a sponge as he groaned to himself, "Oh, God." Punk sighed. He was not in the mood for this.

"Phil." Billy walked through the door after the two men, taking his suit jacket off as Punk watched him, "So we meet again." He smiled.

"Oh, look. It's the rapist." Punk looked across at him as Billy laughed a little.

"You didn't strike me as a cop who believed anything and everything that people told you." Billy chuckled a little, rolling his sleeves up on his white shirt as Punk watched him.

"Yeah. I know, right? Shocking. How could you ever hurt anyone." Punk said, looking up at the rope keeping his hands up, "This is extremely uncomfortable. Can you untie me?" He asked as Billy smiled.

"No, I feel much better with them tied." Billy nodded to him, "I'm just here to get some things straight with you. That's all." Billy nodded, sitting down on a chair in front of Punk who was standing a little bit away.

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?" Punk asked, "Cause to me, this feels like a guilty man realising people are getting onto him" He nodded, "Cops." He said.

"Getting onto what? What have I done, Phil?" Billy shook his head.

"You raped Teresa Mendez. She got pregnant and you didn't know. Fourteen years later, her daughter shows up at your daughter. You realise she's got proof. She has evidence to prove that you did rape her. So then you kill her." Punk said as Billy looked across at him, "And then you kidnap her daughter… your daughter, and tell her that if she ever tells anyone about this, she's dead just the same. And then you find out she's wound up in a mental hospital, so you jump on the opportunity to make sure she stays there." Punk said as Billy scratched his forehead and laughed quietly.

"That's quite the little story you're telling yourself, Phil." Billy nodded.

"It's the truth." Punk said.

"Why? Because this… this young girl told you so. This mentally ill woman?" Billy questioned.

"You know it's the truth. There's no denying it." Punk spat.

"Myself and Teresa had an affair-"

"You raped her!" Punk yelled, trying desperately to pull on the rope holding his arms up, "You raped her whilst your wife was in the house." Punk spat as Billy shook his head.

"It was an affair. It was mutual. She wanted it." Billy said, "She'd parade around in that little maid's uniform. Bending over deliberately. It was completely consensual." Billy nodded.

"Since when did a women bending over in front of you mean she wanted to engage in sexual activity with you? Huh? She was doing her job and you were watching her, to pick your moment."

"It was consensual." Billy nodded.

"Ok ok… let's just live in your fantasy world for a second and say it was an affair you had. She still had your daughter. And you still had her killed. In fear she could drag your name to the ground." Punk spat.

"She never told me about the girl." Billy shrugged, "Then she showed up at my house, where my family are, where my wife is. This fourteen year old girl, claiming I raped her mother-"

"You did." Punk said.

"I would not be subject to that kind of harassment. Not by anyone-"

"You thought no one would believe Teresa if she came out and said the wonderful mayor of this city raped her. And then when you see this girl on your doorstep, there's no way you can deny it. She's the proof. A paternity test would show it all." Punk nodded, "So what do you do? You have this poor woman who… you have already abused and scarred for the rest of her life, killed in her own home. Beaten up." Punk said, "Because then she can't speak up. And April just becomes the crazy girl who lost her mom and is clutching to any sort of made up scenario to get attention, right?"

"You're speaking in riddles." Billy nodded, "She's got your brain all twisted. Just like hers. Making you believe whatever she wants you to believe. Manipulating you and you don't even realise it." He stood up, walking closer to Punk who glared across at him.

"Yeah, that's right. You just follow suit like everyone else. Tuck the troubled people off into a hospital and forget they exist." Punk nodded.

"They're a danger to themselves and others." Billy said.

"They need help!" Punk yelled, "And they're not getting it." He spat as Billy looked across at him, "You're going down. You can kill me all you want but they'll get you. April will get you." Punk assured him.

"I'm not gonna kill you, Phil." Billy assured him, "I'm just… not gonna leave until I know that you're not a liability out there." He said as Punk watched the two men he'd brought with him walking over to him with wires attached to a sponge.

"Sure looks like you're gonna kill me." Punk nodded.

"Not enough volts to kill you." Billy shook his head, "Enough to feel like your whole body is on fire, like every bone is snapping, every muscle is tearing." He said as Punk looked over at him and took a deep breath.

"Doesn't matter what you do to me. You're still going to pay." Punk said.

"We'll see how you feel about that in a few hours." Billy smiled, standing up and heading for the door as Punk felt one of the men put a cloth in his mouth, the other pressing the sponge against his torso as Punk screamed out immediately.

"Morning." AJ smiled, walking in front of Punk's office door, frowning as she realised he wasn't there. She could have sworn he was supposed to be in for an early shift.

"You looking for Phil?" Lily asked, walking by as AJ nodded.

"Yeah, where is he?" AJ asked curiously.

"He's not showed up for his shift." Lily shrugged, "Tried calling him but… no answer. It's not like him." Lily said as AJ watched a police officer walking into the ward, standing at the nurses statin and talking to Wendy.

"Excuse me." AJ told Lily, walking away down the ward towards Dean who she hadn't met before, but she figured it had to be him.

"April, go back to the sitting room." Wendy told AJ who walked over whilst Dean turned to AJ, realising this was the girl his best friend was crazy about.

"April?" Dean questioned as AJ nodded to him, "Uh… is it ok if I speak with her for a few minutes?" He asked Wendy who waved her hand, unbothered.

"Yeah, go on." Wendy said as Dean nodded, walking over to AJ, taking her arm and guiding her over to the corner softly.

"Phil hasn't showed up for work." AJ said.

"His car is still out in the car park." Dean told her quietly as AJ raised her eyebrows.

"What? How?" AJ shook her head.

"I asked him to call me last night, left him tons of messages but he didn't reply to any of them." Dean said, "Now I'm getting nervous."

"Well if his car is still out there, and he's definitely not in here… he wouldn't have gone off on foot." AJ shook her head worriedly, "What if something has happened to him?" She asked with worry as Dean sighed to himself.

"I'll go looking for him." Dean nodded, "Is there any CCTV cameras for the car park?" He asked her.

"No, there's just a few for inside." AJ said.

"Great." Dean sighed unhappily.

"Why did you want him to call you? Did you find out something?" AJ asked, "He said you were talking to a woman who worked with my mom in the house."

"Yeah… Yeah, Lisa Monroe." Dean said, "Your mom told her about what happened to her." He said, "To make sure she got out of the house. Your mom was always scared that he would do it to someone else." He said, "So Lisa left a couple of weeks after."

"My mom told me she'd never told anyone." AJ said.

"Lisa knew. She said she tried to stay far away from it. Especially when she heard your mom had been killed. She figured it had something to do with this. Figured maybe your mom had tried to tell someone eventually. She was scared she was gonna be next." Dean said.

"She could testify, right?" AJ asked, "If we got him, she could testify that my mom literally told her to get out of the house because of what he'd done."

"Yeah. I have her number and she's… she's willing to help." Dean nodded to her, "But we can't do anything until we find Phil."

"It's gotta be Billy. He's gotta have him." AJ said, "Phil said he visited him before I told him all of this. He visited him and was asking about the case. Obviously Billy knows that we're onto him." She said.

"I need you to just stay put." Dean nodded to her, "Just stay here where I know you're safe. If you're out there, you might be just as good as dead. If we lose you, he wins and we got nothing to hold against him." He said, "You stay put. I'll find Phil." He told her as AJ nodded.

"On your own?" AJ shook her head.

"I think it's time I talk to our boss." Dean said.

"But Phil said he's not sure if he trusts him." AJ said.

"Well that's a risk I'm taking so I can find my friend." Dean said as AJ nodded slowly.

"Can you call the hospital once you've found him so I know." AJ nodded to him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll call." Dean nodded to her, "I better go." He said as AJ nodded.

"It was… nice to meet you." She said as Dean looked across at her.

"You too." Dean nodded to her, patting her shoulder sweetly as she watched him leave the hospital, sighing to herself nervously as she grew increasingly worried about Phil and where he was.