Dark Desire – Chapter 5
Wakefield Cove, three years earlier
John Dumont sat in the pilot's seat in the cockpit of his Cessna Citation CJ4. He and his wife,Helen, were in the air, traveling back from Palm Springs to Wakefield Cove. On Saturday night, they had just celebrated their thirty second wedding anniversary with ten of their closest friends at one of the most exclusive restaurants in town.
The two had flown out in his private jet on Friday and spent the week end at their mansion in Palm Springs. It had been a great weekend; Helen was happier than she had been in years. He paid a lot of attention to her; he tried to make it one the most romantic weekends of their marriage. Right now, Helen was dozing on the sofa in the cabin; he could hear soft classical music playing on the sound system.
Despite his perverted proclivities, his many adulterous affairs and his vicious temper, John Dumont loved his wife. He loved his daughter, Katy. He had lived a life full of lies, deceit and depravity for so long that sometimes he didn't know what was true and what wasn't, but he never doubted his love for his family. He hated his life and the monster that he had become.
Three terrible months had passed since his daughter had been beaten so badly by her husband. Oh, yes, he knew Richard's story had been a lie from the beginning, but he dared not say so in public. Shortly after Katy had been admitted to the hospital, Richard came to his office with his father. He punched Richard in the face and nearly knocked him down. He threatened to go to the police.
"She's never going back to you, Richard! I won't let her! If you ever touch my daughter again, I'll kill you!" he hissed angrily at the younger man.
"Calm down, John. You're not going to the police, and you're not going to kill anybody, especially my son! What you are going to do is get those pictures from her and return them to my son." James Wakefield calmly told him. Richard had contacted him immediately after Katy left in the ambulance to go to the hospital.
The pictures of their last "vacation" were supposed to be delivered to Richard's office as usual. Somehow they had ended up in Katy's office instead. In a detached and almost clinical manner, James Wakefield made it perfectly clear what would happen if John went to the police. He also made it perfectly clear what would happen if Katy told anyone about the pictures. What he said was terrifying.
"We are not the only ones involved in this, and you know that. Powerful people will be ruined. These men will do anything, and I do mean anything, to stop this story from ever getting out. Katy and Helen could be killed, and so could you. These men may very well may try to kill us all if they ever find out she has the pictures. I don't care what happens to you, John, but I won't let Katy ruin my life or my son's life, either. You got us into this mess; now you have to get those pictures back! You must keep Katy quiet; do I make myself perfectly clear?" James threatened softly as he shook a large finger in John's face; his own face was mottled with fury and anxiety.
Richard stood a few feet away; he was angry too, but he looked a little shell shocked at what he had done to Katy earlier. He didn't say anything, but he nodded his head vigorously. Both men were deadly serious, and John knew it. He looked at them both and the reality of the situation hit him like a ton of bricks. He was a monster; he had brought this on himself with his depraved lusts, and he had gotten James, and then Richard, involved in it too. Now Helen and Katy were in danger. Shame, horror and fear for his family's safety consumed him. He nodded meekly in agreement. Together, the three men came up with the story that would ruin his daughter's reputation, but keep their own reputations intact.
John lived for three months after his daughters beating obsessed by shame and the fear of discovery. He absolutlely loathed himself. To make matters worse, he received almost daily threats from the man he had once thought of as his best friend. Wakefield kept pestering him to find out if he had gotten the pictures back. Katy kept denying that she saw any other pictures. She claimed she saw only the ones she threw at Richard, but he knew she was not telling the truth.
The threats on his life and the lives of his wife and daughter left him unnerved and afraid, but he was a coward, so he kept his mouth shut. His personal life and his job at the hospital suffered greatly. Katy almost completely refused to talk to him, and Helen didn't understand why. He began drinking heavily along with his wife.
Finally, he could not take it anymore; he was going to do something about it. At ten o'clock on a clear Sunday night, without a cloud in the sky, the experienced pilot, John Dumont, crashed his jet into a mountainside in northern California, killing himself and his wife, Helen Dumont. At the age of twenty eight, Katy Wakefield, who was at home in Wakefield Cove at the time, was now almost totally alone, except for her mother's sister, Mathilda Rothschild.
The next few days passed in a haze. The evening after the funeral, it seemed that most of Wakefield Cove had gathered at her parents house. Katy kept away from most of the people; they had made her life a living hell for the last three months. Her Aunt Matilda flew in from Philadelphia and acted as hostess to the large crowd that had gathered in the Dumont home. She excused Katy's absence by telling everyone that her niece was too overcome with grief to receive visitors.
The truth was, Katy spent most of the afternoon and evening in the large gazebo at the end of a Japanese garden her father had built in their large back yard. She had a bottle of scotch with her, and she was drunk. All day, she had been plagued with memories of the last three months. No matter what she did, she couldn't turn her mind off, and it was killing her. She blamed herself for the accident that claimed her parent's life. She blamed herself for confronting Richard and her father about the pictures. She knew her father had lived in torment since his secret life had been discovered. She just knew he had killed himself and her mother.
She thought endlessly about the the indcdent that so totally changed her life. She thought about its aftermath. The day after she woke up in the hospital, Sheriff Brown came to see her. Her father was in the room examining her again. Katy could barely stand to look him. She remembered the pictures she had so carefully hidden in the cave. Her father was careful not to meet her eyes.
"I want Richard arrested!" she told Sheriff Brown and her father. Her lower jaw was closely wired, but she managed to get the story out. Haltingly, and in pain, she told them both how she had found Richard and Tracy Coleman in bed together and how Richard beat her. Of course, she omitted any reference to the pornographic pictures and the DVD. Both men looked at her incredulously.
Sheriff Brown refused to take her complaint seriously. He confronted her with the story that Richard, Tracy and Dan Tolbert had told him. By this time their story was so embellished that Katy came out looking like the town whore. Sheriff Brown believed every word Richard told him.
"Stop lying, Katy!" her father told her. "Richard Wakefield is the son of my best friend. We all know him. He's never been in trouble, but you have. I know both Richard well enough to know he just couldn't do what you claim. I know he could not do something like that!"
"What are you afraid of, Dad? Are you afraid James Wakefield will stop donating to the hospital and you will lose your job if the truth comes out!" She spoke slowly, but hotly. The words came out before she could stop them, but what she really wanted to say was, "Are you afraid that everyone in this town will know what a pervert you are? Are you afraid that everyone in this town will know that the three of you sexual predators who target kids?"
From the look of shame on her father's face, Katy knew he was fully aware that she had seen the pictures. Richard apparently had wasted no time telling him. Her father was ashamed, but he was also furious. John Dumont raised his hand, but Sheriff Brown put his hand on his arm and stopped him from slapping her.
"Let it go, John." Sheriff Brown said in sympathy. "She's not worth it." Sheriff Brown was a good friend of her father, and he definitely did not like Katy. He thought she was wild. He had arrested her once for driving under the influence just days after she graduated from high school, and he had broken up more than one high school party she attended where underage kids were drinking.
Katy had also gotten into some minor trouble for smoking pot while in college. Her parents never knew about that, but Sheriff Brown did. Katy was a troublemaker as far as he was concerned. According to Sheriff Brown and many others in Wakefield Cove, Katy Dumont was an embarrassment to her family, especially her father, John. What he didn't know is that Katy had stopped drinking the summer she graduated from high school; she was afraid she was becoming like her mother who had a serious alcohol problem. She never smoked pot again either.
Her father walked out of the room, and Katy didn't see him again for days. She was hurt and angry because he had defended Richard so vigorously. If her own father didn't believe her, how could she convince anyone else that she was telling the truth? It seemed that no one, except her mother and two of her best girlfriends believed a word she was saying. She had been beaten to a pulp, but she had absolutely no proof that it was Richard who was responsible.
Almost two weeks later, Katy confronted her father one night. He had come into her room and stood there for a few minutes looking at her. He thought she was sleeping. As he turned to walk out, Katy spoke.
"I know about you, Dad. I've seen the pictures. I've seen the DVD. You know Richard is lying, don't you? You are sick! You need help! All three of you need help. You are all perverts!" It was still hard to talk although the wires had been removed. Her voice began to rise as fury filled her.
John Dumont just hung his head in shame. "I know, Katy. I know." he whispered and walked out of the room.
Two days after he beat his wife, Richard had filed for an annulment. He claimed that there was an impediment to the marriage as Katy had no intention of being a faithful wife. He had sworn statements from Dan Tolbert and several other men who claimed they had ongoing sexual liaisons with Katy even after her marriage. None of it was true, but James Wakefield was a close friend of the judge and the annulment was granted within weeks before Katy had even recovered from her injuries.
There would not be any kind of a settlement, but Katy didn't care. They had both signed prenuptial agreements, and she didn't expect anything anyway. Through his attorney, Richard informed her that all of her personal belongings, including her jewelry, had been moved to her parent's house. Katy was glad; she never wanted to set foot in that house again.
Two weeks after entering the hospital, Katy was discharged. She had a cast on her left leg and had to use crutches, but she was able to get around.
She didn't want to move back home, but her mother insisted, so Katy spent the next few months living in the guest house on the estate. She refused to live in the same house as her father, but she wouldn't tell her mother why. She just said the one story guest house was easier for her to move around in with the cast on her leg.
Katy had suffered a compound fracture of the fibula and two broken ribs. A metal pin had to be inserted into the bone in her leg to help it heal. Her jaw had felt like it was broken, but it wasn't, it was just lightly fractured. She had lost two teeth and had replacements put in as soon as she could. She was going to be on paid sick leave for another eight weeks. Once the cast was off, she would need physical therapy almost everyday for months. Katy knew she would be all right, she had insurance, her sick leave pay and a small inheritance from her maternal grandmother who had died a few years before.
When the cast came off, Katy saw the ugly red scar on her leg where the bone had protruded. Dr. Eleanor Clausen told her that later she could consider plastic surgery to remove much of the scar, but it would never be entirely gone. Even after the break was completely healed, she knew may end up with slight limp when unshod. As a doctor, katy knew the leg would give her problems in the future, especially when she was tired and cold.
Katy didn't contest the annulment, and it went through quickly. She just wanted everything over with. After she returned home, Katy noticed that many of the townspeople, including some of her friends, shunned her and gossiped about her behind her back. When she went to physical therapy, or to a store, or a restaurant, people she had known all her life turned their backs to her or made nasty comments. Not all of them, but quite a few.
They seemed to believed Richard's story that she had been caught cheating with Dan Tolbert. Tracy Coleman spent a lot of time spreading the vicious gossip too. The small town that she had loved all her life just didn't seem like home anymore. Before too long, Katy decided to move as soon as her physical therapy was completed.
Before the the annulment was granted, Richard moved into Tracy Coleman's apartment. The two planned a big wedding for later in the year. This time he had his father's blessing on his new wife. They were not planning to live in the house that Richard and Katy shared. Tracy had found them another large house close to his father's estate. Perhaps there were too many ugly memories in Richard's old house to suit the new bride.
Richard paid his own price. Although outwardly people said they believed his story, Richard had been known to have a violent streak. He had been arrested for beating up several hookers when he was in college. This was something that Katy never knew about because his father paid to get him off. the stories leaked out anyway.
Richard lost his promotion and his reputation took a hit. Too many people knew how badly Katy had been hurt. Too many people had seen Richard and Tracy Coleman together many times. There was just enough doubt that many people just didn't trust the handsome, young scion of James Wakefield.
Richard was furious. He blamed Katy for everything. He knew she had tried to press charges. Even though she was unsuccessful, the charges were leaked out, and it left an impression with many people. In his mind, Katy was responsible for the loss of his reputation. Something inside Richard snapped. He was determined to make Katy pay.
Richard suffered another blow: before Katy's parents died, Tracy Coleman left Wakefield Cove for good. She told Richard she only wanted to visit her family in San Francisco for a week. She never came back. Apparently, the town gossip was getting to her. Katy was alone.
But Katy was the one who suffered the most, and now her parents were dead. The accident investigators ruled pilot error, but Katy's father was an excellent pilot. She doubted the results of the accident investigation; but there was no way to prove they were wrong.
A little more than a week before the plane crash, Katy had overheard James Wakefield and her father arguing about her one day as she sat outside in the gazebo. She heard her father-in-law threaten all of them if he didn't get the rest of the pictures from her. The two men were outside in the garden just a few feet from the gazebo. The gazebo was old and covered with ivy, neither men knew she was there.
After James Wakefield left, Katy picked up her crutch and walked out of the gazebo door. "You heard everything, I suppose?" Her father said; his voice was desperate.
"Why do you let him get away with that, father? Why don't you turn yourself and those two in to the police?" She asked him.
"I can't do that, Katy. There are people involved who will kill all of us if we go to the police." John Dumont replied.
"Do you think he has told anyone else that I saw the pictures?" She asked. She could tell by her father's tone that he was serious. That made her afraid for the first time since the incident.
"I doubt it. He has too much to lose." Her father said. It was true, James Wakefield was one of the wealthiest and most prominent attorneys in northern California. He specialized in divorce cases and adoptions. A scandal would ruin his life and his reputation. He was a proud, arrogant man; he could never stand for that.
"I don't understand any of this. Why, Dad? How could you do those things?" Katy asked. Her voice echoed her revulsion.
Her father hung his head. He whispered in a low voice. "I am what I am. I can't control it, Katy. I tried to, but I never could. I went to therapy for years. I even even took medication for a while, but it made me feel like a zombie, so I stopped taking it. I disgust myself. I know that I am a monster. It kills me to know what a perverted bastard I am. I can't control the urge to have sex with young girls. I just can't! James has known about me since college; he has held it over my head ever since. He's made me do things for him over the years that I just can't talk about. The strange thing is, he has the same addition, only in a different way. He generally likes young boys, and he likes to hurt them."
"And Richard?" she asked.
"He's even worse than his father. I didn't want you to marry him, but James and Richard gave me no choice. They said they would expose me, if I tried to interfere. I am glad that you are away from him, but I am just so sorry you had to suffer the way you did."
"Dad, when I was growing up, did you ever bother any of my friends?" She asked. Her father had never bothered her, but she wondered about her girlfriends since she saw the pictures.
"God, no, Katy! Never your friends! I know I am a sick pervert, but I kept that part of my life as far away from Wakefield Cove as I could! I did it in other cities, but never here. That's why we went to Bangkok and other places that cater to men with our "special" appetites. It is so easy to arrange these things today; you wouldn't believe it. I never wanted anyone here to know what I am. Not even your mother knows; she just thinks I cheat on her a lot."
"But you do, Dad. You do cheat, and you beat her." she responded harshly.
"The other women are just a diversion. If people think I am a womanizer, they will never believe what I really am. I haven't touched your mother in thirteen years. I started therapy again after you confronted me, and at least I can control my temper now, even if I can't control my sickness. I know you won't believe me, but I do love your mother, and I do love you." He walked back toward the house with his head down.
Katy didn't what to think as she limped back to the guest house. Two days after parents death, a large package addressed to her was delivered to the house. Inside the package she found a cache of more pornographic pictures and tapes and several journals that chronicled John Dumont's devolution from a normal human male to a perverted child molester.
The journals were sickening; they included details of trips that he had taken with other men, including James and Richard Wakefield, to satisfy their unnatural sexual appetites.. The sex trips were arranged specifically for this purpose and were made mostly to Thailand, but they included Haiti and several Latin American countries, as well. Much of the journals described her father's disgust and hatred of himself and his perversions, but they also described his utter sense of helplessness. He wrote often of his extreme fear that he would be caught.
The journals contained the names of other men who did the same thing. James Wakefield, her father and Richard were apparently part of a nationwide organization that believed that sex with children was natural and normal. These men exchanged photographs and tapes of their escapades. The journals spanned a period of almost twenty years. They also contained the names of the travel agents who arranged the sex vacations.
She found another journal containing names, dates, pictures and photocopies of adoption papers and medical records of at least twenty young foreign children whose adoption to American parents had been arranged by James Wakefield. Her father had examined all of the children free of charge when they came to this country. All of the names of the adoptive fathers matched names in the other journals. James Wakefield had been procuring young children for these men for sex and covering up that activity by arranging fake adoptions.
At the bottom of the box was a short note from her father, it read. "Katy, if anything happens to me or your mother, take this evidence to the FBI. It may be the only thing that keeps you safe." signed only, "Your loving father." Katy managed to walk out to her secret cave and place the box inside with the other envelope. She didn't want the world to know about her father.
After her parent's death, she moved back into the big house while she decided what to do with her life. For a month, she continued physical therapy and was able to walk without crutches. She she started back to work at the hospital, but she hated it.
Richard and James Wakefield began to harass her at the office and at home. One night, she got home to find the house had been broken into. Her father's study and her parent's bedroom had been turned upside down. Much of the furniture was smashed, and some expensive paintings and artwork were destroyed. She knew they were looking for the pictures.
She called Sheriff Brown, and let him know that she thought Richard and James Wakefield were responsible for the break-in, but again she didn't tell him why. Sheriff Brown made it clear that he thought she was crazy and just out for revenge on her ex-husband. He made a perfunctory investigation, but no suspects were ever found.
Days after the break in, Katy contacted her father's attorney and had the house put on the market. She moved to Los Angeles and got a job at a small hospital in the city. She wasn't in hiding; she left her address and phone number with her attorney. He needed her address and phone number to contact her after her parent's estates were probated.
In Los Angeles, Katy began to use her maiden name again. She wanted nothing to do with the Wakefields or Wakefield Cove. Slowly she bean to start putting her life back together. She began to make friends and started to date a co-worker she liked a lot.
Six months after he beat her the first time, Richard waited for her outside of her apartment in Los Angeles. Katy and the man, Damon Salmonese, had just come home from their second date and were entering the apartment building where she lived. Richard jumped Damon and hit him with a crowbar; he fell to the sidewalk unconscious.
Richard proceeded to beat Katy again. The cops arrived before he could do too much damage. Damon visited her in the hospital the next day before she was released. He told he didn't want to be involved with someone who had a violent ex. Katy pressed charges and tried to get a restraining order, but the judge in the case was a friend and political ally of James Wakefield. The Wakefields were well known in California, and Richard got off again.
It was after Richard was turned loose that Katy contacted the FBI in Los Angeles. They were astonished when the tall, well dressed blonde walked into their office and told them her story. They had been investigating the sex ring and the phony adoption scam that James Wakefield ran for years, but they could not build a case against him.
After several interviews at FBI headquarters, Katy took four agents back to Wakefield Cove and to her secret cave. She gave them the box of evidence including the first set of pictures and the DVD that was hidden so carefully in her childhood playground. The agents were pleased with what they found.
The FBI agents she met with asked her if she would be willing to testify against the Wakefields. It was dangerous they said. Other powerful men, including a well known underworld figure were involved. Katy agreed, and was placed in the Witness Protection Program. She cut and died her hair and was given a new identity. She was moved to Miami, Florida where she worked under her assumed name. She waited and waited for the trial. Nothing happened.
She read the California papers on line. They were full of the news about her father, James Wakefield and Richard Wakefield. Not too long afterward, the scandal hit the headlines and swept the country. Pictures of her ex and his father dodging reporters filled the news. Other prominent men doing the same thing became common place. Katy didn't feel sorry for them one bit.
She was working in a small hospital in South Miami-Dade County. She stayed out of the limelight. She made a few good friends, but she didn't date. Television and talk radio programs discussed the scandal at length, including her parents death in an airplane crash.
When pictures of her, her father and mother popped up in the news, no one recognized her. She had lost fifteen pounds, her face was much thinner and she had short, curly, red hair. She dressed mostly in t-shirts and blue jeans and other inexpensive clothing. She wore very little jewelry. She didn't look anything at all like the beautiful, sophisticated, rich, young woman dressed in designer clothing, whose long, honey blonde hair cascaded down her back.
She felt safe.
She was wrong.