Murder in the Forest, Chapter Twelve
The men who had waited to examine the recovered telephones were soon rewarded: Hso fiddled with them and soon had not only the list they wanted of those called recently, but each phone held a video of its owner.
They looked at Melissa's first and as the film advanced, saw her against a white wall with a wooden floor. Melissa looked into the camera, blushed, stated her name, address, and parents' phone, and reached back with both hands to unhook her lacy black push-up bra. She didn't just flick the clasp loose and take it off. Instead, she slipped the straps down her shoulders before bringing one knee forward in a seductive stance and then reaching back with both hands to unhook as she moved her shoulders back and her breasts out. She hung it on a simple wooden chair and stepped out of her matching panties, moving with seductive grace that incorporated a subtle wiggle that wouldn't normally be seen in a girl undressing without a male audience. Then, she began dancing to music, doing a rock and roll performance that excited the viewers as it aroused sympathy. Seaver recognized the dance as something called the Cat Daddy, made somewhat notorious when a famous model performed it in a video widely seen On YouTube. Melissa seemed to be familiar with it. This was not an awkward performance forced from a shy girl who'd never practiced those moves!
"She keeps glancing off to the side, "noted Hotchner. "Someone is coaching her and she seems afraid. She's looking for approval and frightened that she may not get it. I'm almost sure that she's moving to CD music, not a radio. They probably have a player in there and she was told to strip and dance to it."
No sooner had he spoken than Melissa made a seductive face, licking her lips, and finished her dance in about a minute. She seemed to slack off, but looked sharply to her left, nodded, and then began grooving again to the beat of a popular song that had been well chosen for the purpose.
Next, the music ceased and she seemed to be listening to instructions from beyond the field of view. The sound resumed as she knelt, thighs wide, her hands placed palm up on her legs, shoulders back and breasts out. The pose was one of raw erotic submission. The girl began to speak, saying that she was well and had been told that she would remain so as long as she pleased her captors. She said that she and Courtney were in the hands of men who would see that the girls served them well for an indeterminate time. They were being trained as slave girls. After they were ready, the captors might ransom the women, or they might sell them in Mexico, to entertain drug lords or to be re-sold to a brothel or to an owner who might keep them in some place where that would be accepted, probably in the Middle East or in some Latin American or Asian land where a man of sufficient power could own a harem without interference, despite what laws might say on paper.
"Mom, Dad," she begged, "Please start getting together some money, as much as you can. They're going to see what you got together in a few months and see if it's enough for them to sell us back to our families or if they'd rather go to the trouble of taking us elsewhere to sell for more. Please help us. You wouldn't believe what we have to do here to avoid being punished. Courtney Cassidy is going to make a video like this, too, for her parents.
"Warn the police not to interfere, or we'll probably be killed and dumped like those people killed by Bigfoot or whoever. But it isn't Bigfoot who has us. It's men who know what they want from girls and we're going to be doing just what they say until you're contacted. Please forgive us. Courtney and I have no choice at all. We have to beg to be allowed to please these men or they make us wish that we had, and then they start over. If one of us refuses to do something, both girls are punished. It hurts! Please get what you can together and wait to be contacted. They said to tell you that it'll be about three months, to let you save up and find whatever else you can. It has to be at least $100,000 per girl, or it won't be worth their while to free us. That's all I'm allowed to say. Please help us!"
The sound ended as the girl rose and stepped out of view as the scene ended. But the camera then resumed, and Melissa walked back into sight. Her wrists were locked behind her, her arms folded at her waist, locked in rigid hinged handcuffs that had no links between bracelets. She wore a slim chain leash on a metal collar. She looked at the camera and said, half weeping, "I have to go back to my cell now so they can bring in Courtney and let her make a video like this. Please ransom us when they ask. I miss you all so much!" Then she walked in a small circle a few times, displaying herself, and exited to the right of the camera, wearing only high-heeled shoes and medium large circular gold earrings. They knew about the earrings, as her hair was in a ponytail.
Courtney's camera yielded a very similar video, with the Cassidy girl obviously as frightened as Melissa had been. Like Melissa, she looked out of the picture several times, taking cues from her captors. The primary difference was that Courtney moved with a certain practiced sensuality that Melissa lacked, She displayed a fluid grace and subtle moves that were calculated to arouse a man even more than Melissa's dance had done. She had moved a bit stiffly at first, and then someone said something to her and they heard a crack like a stick hitting something. Courtney blanched, said, "Yes, master" and loosened up, dancing as if her safety depended on satisfying whoever held her.
When the phone was closed and the men looked at one another, there was a moment of silence, with shock, disgust and anger apparent on each face.
"Well, "said Hotchner, breaking the uncomfortable silence, " these people have achieved more than the horror and fear that they wanted to generate. These messages also mean that we know for sure that we have two cases of kidnapping for ransom. That's a very serious Federal felony. We came here as consultants in local murders, and we'll work those cases, too. But we can now bring the full resources of the FBI to bear in rescuing the Winters and the Cassidy girls. I think that the offenders who made these tapes to terrify the victims' families have also put themselves in jeopardy."
He turned to the computer genius on his left. "Deputy Hso, can you make copies of each of these videos and send them to the tablets of all of my team? I want them to view them tonight and be thinking about what hidden messages we may be able to fathom from them. We'll discuss this at breakfast, if the sheriff can guarantee us a private area at that IHOP. Grant?"
The sheriff nodded. "Hell, yes, I'll get us a private room. I'll call the restaurant now and reserve one that also has a nice view out the window of what looks like virgin forest out back. It's really nice and that back room is isolated from the rest of the premises. No one can eavesdrop. But do you think we really have much to work with here?"
Hotchner nodded. "Yes, they told us quite a bit about themselves. You may be surprised at what my team will have ascertained by the time we see you at breakfast. I'll call them now and be sure their tablets are turned on and tell them to view the videos as they're received. It's early enough for them to look at them for an hour or two before bedtime, and it'll get their minds working. "
"In that case," said Ford, "I'll see you then and be very interested in what you have to say."
Hotchner nodded and started to leave. Then he paused and returned to the county official. "Sheriff, I really am sorry about that hacking. I swear that I had no idea that Morgan was doing that, and I'll make sure that he keeps his nose clean from now on "
Ford thought, looking carefully at the FBI agent. Then, he rose and extended a big hand. "I think we dealt with it satisfactorily. It's water under the bridge now."
Hotchner, relieved, shook his hand and left, thinking, Water under the bridge. I hope so. Flow gently, sweet Afton…and may your current take us to some good answers about what we have to deal with!