Fred Limberg - First Murder

By Episode 6, when a third porno-clone dropped to her knees before young Stuckey, Tony was dejected as well as disgusted. They had seen nothing to link Stuckey to any of the ‘Go Girls’. Carol had gotten fidgety, checking her watch often and making noises about where she needed to be soon. Ray had her show him how to control the videos with the keyboard and wished her a good evening. There was only one clip left to watch, an out take. DuPree had called it the ‘fucked-up episode’. Tony was grateful when his phone rang. He left Ray to view the clip.

“De Luca.”

Tony didn’t recognize the number that flashed on his ID screen. He hoped it was Sue Ellen calling from a safe house phone. The long strange day was nearly over.

“Agent XXL checking in.”

“David, I mean XXL, what’s up?” Tony decided to play along with his spy. He needed any humor he could get after sitting through six episodes of ‘ Ur MoM is NOT Hott’ . He was never going to use the correct title again. There was nothing remotely ‘hot’ about any of it.

“Sean was here a while ago. He just split so I can talk now.” Tony stepped further from the computer so he could hear better and concentrate.

“Okay, what have you got XXL?”

Hong chuckled before he went on. “This is weird, Tony. This afternoon I got a call here at the house from Karen…Karen Hewes.”

“What did she want?”

“She pretended she was checking in on us, looking for Scotty, some bullshit, you know. Then she asks me if I’ve got a number for Sean.”

Tony’s thoughts downshifted and his mind high-revved to what Hong was saying. What the hell did Karen Hewes want with Stuckey’s phone number? “Did you ask her why?”

“I’m sorry Tony. I fucking froze, man. I was thinking the same thing but it came out in mumbles.”

“That’s okay, David. I was just thinking out loud.”

“I gave her the number.” Hong’s voice was low, confessional, like he shouldn’t have done it.

Tony thought about it for a minute. There was something in play he couldn’t put a finger on. Karen, who they knew had contact with Stuckey in LA, who they knew had recognized Stuckey at the boy’s house, and who they suspected had seen Stuckey lurking outside her own house was asking for his phone number.

“That’s okay Dave, really.”

“I knew she was scoping him.”

“She say anything else?”

“Nope.” Tony heard a loud banging sound behind him and spun around. He was too far away to make out what was on the computer monitor but whatever it was prompted Ray to slam his fist on the desk top…hard.

“Good work, David. Keep in touch.” He powered the phone down and didn’t hear Agent XXL sign off. Whatever was playing on the screen had Ray upset…cussin’ mad in fact.

Ray re-cued the video and was digging through his notebook when Tony wheeled a chair over next to him.

“The cop in LA…I know it’s here, damn it.” Pages flew while Ray pawed through the tablet. “Got it! This clip was the last one they made with women off the street or whatever. It’s called the ‘fucked-up episode’ because they never finished it…it was aborted. Watch.” Ray hit the play button.

The clip showed some technical improvements over the third episode. There still weren’t studio lights but more lamps and brighter bulbs gave off plenty of illumination. It was the same set, the same sofa, and the camera was still set in a fixed position. There was the sound of a door opening and closing off camera, a woman’s throaty laugh and then Sean Stuckey appeared, nearest the camera with his arm around a woman’s waist, her head buried, nuzzling his neck.

Karen Hewes was drunk. Not falling down drunk. Not incapacitated. But she was slurring her words and plopped heavily onto the sofa dragging Sean down with her. She seemed oblivious to the camera. Maybe it was hidden pretty well after all, Tony thought, or maybe she just didn’t care. She clumsily unbuttoned Sean’s shirt, never taking her mouth from his while she did.

“Never saw the guy before in her life,” Tony mumbled, repeating what Karen said when Ray showed her the picture of Stuckey. Sean had her blouse open and was roughly kneading her breasts now. Karen was concentrating on his zipper-first one handed, then two.

“No Deanna. Where’s Deanna?” Tony whispered, mesmerized by the scene he was watching. He had allowed himself one or two brief flashes during the interviews, imagining what Karen looked like without her clothes. She was a beautiful woman. He’d been proud of himself for knocking those thoughts down quickly, staying professional. But now here she was, half naked, pulling Sean Stuckey’s great stiffening member out of his pants while he removed her bra and skirt.

“Isn’t this enough, Ray?” His partner had called time out this far along in all the other episodes. Tony felt himself getting aroused.

“Watch.”

“Okay, boss.”

Karen, dressed only in her panties now, was on her hands and knees slobbering all over Stuckey’s huge phallus while he struggled with his pants. Once they were off Stuckey roughly spun Karen around. He glanced over at the camera, a wicked smile plastered to his face, then pulled her back toward him. Tony realized he was positioning Karen in the center of the camera’s view.

“Not much more now.” Ray’s voice was calm. He was concentrating wholly on the video. Stuckey entered Karen from behind, thrusting fully into her. She gasped-a fierce intake of breath at first and then she shrieked, either in pain or pleasure. Tony couldn’t tell which. He found his breath quickening. Karen’s breasts were flapping in rhythm with Sean’s frantic strokes.

“Now. Listen.” Ray cocked his head, not paying attention to the sex on the screen but the soundtrack. Tony listened harder too. There was the sound of pounding. Someone was furiously pounding on a door it sounded like. Then there was a muffled voice.

“Karen?” It was a woman’s voice, shrill and high and panicked. “Karen?”

On the screen Sean faltered, missed a stroke, distracted by the voice and the pounding. The camera wobbled. Karen looked off to the right, back toward where the sound must have been coming from.

The cameraman whispered harshly off screen, “Get the fuck rid of her.” The camera jerked again.

Sean had stopped altogether. Karen’s eyes were closed and she took over the effort, thrusting desperately against Stuckey, slamming her buttocks into him, pleading…begging him to come on.

“Hurry, goddamn it !”

There was a loud crash, the sound of a door being slammed open then a woman’s scream. It wasn’t Karen.

“You bastards!”

Ray and Tony heard the sound of a slap, a hand striking flesh, then another.

A young sounding male voice cried out. “Fucking bitch!”

Stuckey had withdrawn, his penis going limp already. He was bent double, trying to pull his pants up, and waddling almost comically, trying to escape the unseen attacker. Karen collapsed on the sofa, hands over her face, tucked into a fetal position, racked with sobs. The camera tilted and then dropped hard to the floor and the screen went black.

“Listen.” Ray’s eyes were closed tightly. The screen was dark but sounds of a fight, of cursing and shrieking continued. “Listen closely.”

“Never let me have any fun. Never let me have any fun. Never let me have any fun.”

Tony looked into Ray Bankston’s sad eyes. They didn’t know who belonged to the cursing woman’s voice off screen but they had a good idea. They had never heard Deanna Fredrickson speak, but they knew the other voice, the one that kept repeating over and over, “ never let me have any fun .”