Chapter 10

FBI Field Office
San Francisco, CA

Hotch

"How are you related to AliceHuntington?" Hotch asked, getting straight to the point.

"Legally?" Tomás asked. "We're business partners in a small, privately held corporation. We're also roommates."

"And lovers?"

Tomás smiled. "In a way. We prefer the term partners."

"All right. How long have you and your partner been together?"

"The corporation was formed in 2006. We've been roommates since then, friends for, oh, about fifteen years. My sister Pricilla introduced us back in high school."

"And how do you know Joseph Bauer?"

"Oh we are lovers. We've been together for three years now, although it's only been physical for the past year."

"How did you two meet?"

"He came to the dungeon up in Johnsford. It was a...bad scene. He ended up coming home with us that night. You want me to elaborate, don't you." He said in response to the look on Hotch's face.

"Please. And assume I know nothing about the lifestyle."

"All right. The first time I saw Joey was at a munch. A munch is a social gathering, usually dinner, no nudity or sex play. The format of one is that we go around the room introducing ourselves, giving our preferred titles and how we like to play, then the Dungeon Mistress reads off the calendar for the month, a discussion topic is thrown out and gone over, and when that wears down its social time. Joey came in with this bigger, older man, big gut, grey hair. Joey's hair was too short for his face and he looked too thin and too pale and just hung back behind what we assumed to be his Dom, never really talking to anyone. It was at a Chinese place that served really huge portions, Alice and I usually shared and still managed leftovers. Alice noticed that Joey didn't actually eat anything, even though his Dom had a huge plate. And when we went around introducing ourselves the Dom, Blackburn, introduced Joey as his slave."

"And that didn't bother you?"

"No. Six other people introduced themselves as slaves that night. But they spoke for themselves; Blackburn didn't let Joey speak to anyone all night. Still, that happens. It didn't raise that big of a red flag."

"And you were there with Alice Huntington?"

"Yes. We went to the munch together."

"With anyone else?"

"Not this time. The following week there was a play party at the dungeon."

"A play party?"

"Yeah, a potluck party where people do engage in different kinds of BDSM scenes."

"Were you there with Alice?"

"Yes, but just to socialize. We don't play together in public."

"And you saw Blackburn and Joey there?"

"Yes, they came in right after us. We were in the front room setting our stuff out on the potluck table. Blackburn was a little upset that Joey had to sign his own copy of the rule sheet and that the DM asked to see his ID."

"The DM?"

"The Dungeon Mistress. She rents the building, owns the gear, generally manages the club."

"He had to sign a copy of the rules. I assume they both did, to state that they had read and understood them."

"Yeah."

"And the ID was an age check?"

"Yeah. We noticed that Blackburn had Joey on formal manners right off. No speaking to anyone, no looking anyone in the eye, on his knees and facing his Dom most of the time..."

"That's unusual?"

"Formal manners? It's done. Alice and I do it on occasion. But usually people take time to socialize a bit when they come into the space, say hello, settle in. Blackburn didn't allow any of that. He made Joey serve him from the buffet and then when he was ready he took over the spanking bench for a scene."

"Spanking bench?"

"Yeah. It's a padded piece of furniture designed to support someone comfortably while they kneel over it. The scene was..." Tomás shook his head. "It was too heavy, too much. It...wasn't right."

"Can you elaborate?"

"For starters, people get naked in the space. Most of the submissive women run around topless, the submissive men strip to their underwear. But most of the people in a community that small know each other, they're familiar with the space and the energy, they're comfortable like that. Blackburn took everything from Joey as soon as they were through the door."

"Which made him uncomfortable."

"Yes, visibly so. Which also indicated a lack of trust in his Dom. Then the scene...look, some people are heavy bottoms. They can take a hard beating; they enjoy the pain and the sensations of that sort of thing. But the ones who can do so safely have a lot of meat on them, a lot of muscle. The black guy out there, Morgan? That kind of body type. Not some scrawny kid who's showing his ribs and his backbone. And heavy scenes can make observes uncomfortable. It's one thing if it's a well-established partnership, or a Top who's well known to the community and a bottom with that kind of build. These two were new, this was their first party. The trust wasn't there. Blackburn beat him bloody in front of us. And Joey clearly wasn't enjoying it, he was suffering through it. He was in tears."

"And no one stopped it?"

"It's rude to stop a scene unless the submissive calls their safeword. But nearly everyone in the place was trying to come up with an excuse. You know, looking at each other and whispering. Then Blackburn mounted Joey, right there in front of us."

"Mounted. You mean anal sex?"

"Yeah. Now that dungeon is sex positive, but there are spaces set aside for it. Separate rooms to use, unless a couple is really well known. And Joey was clearly not ready for it, not relaxed, and Blackburn didn't use any lube or a condom."

"That sounds more like rape."

"He didn't say no but it was too close to the line for everyone. Thankfully the dungeon has a strict rule about condom use, as soon as that started the DM stepped in and stopped the scene."

"How did Blackburn react?"

"He was furious, of course. Acting like he was entitled because he was male and the DM is female. But the male doms in the room got between them and hustled him out to the front room, to try to get him to calm down. Reminded him that he signed off on the rules and all of that. Eventually we took him outside for a smoke. He was still pissed but at least he had it under control."

"What happened then?"

"Twenty minutes later Alice comes out and gives me the look to come over. Turned out not only did Joey not know what a safeword was but he said he'd been with Blackburn for two years, and that he was eighteen."

"So Blackburn had been using him since he was a minor?" Hotch asked

"Yeah. Even not having a safeword to stop the scene would have been enough but that was way over the line. A minute later the DM comes out, dropped Blackburn's gear at his feet and told him to get out. He wasn't welcome in the community anymore. He said he wanted his property, she said that bag was his property. He said he wanted his boy, she said he wasn't his boy anymore and to get out before she called the cops. Then she and Alice went back inside. One of the other doms called him a fucking disgrace." Tomás smiled. "That was when the fight got started."

"I assume Blackburn lost."

"Oh yeah. He took off spouting curses and threats."

"Did you call the cops?"

"No. It would be a he said/she said. And cops don't tend to believe a bunch of freaky weirdoes. Most communities police themselves."

"So what happened to Joey?"

"Alice and I took him home."