Locked Down with Mr. Right

I was one of the extreme cases able to sense, as well as literally feel, the pain of others. It had a tendency to make me want to be gentle.

But right now, all of this could wait. There was something else we had to do. Somewhere else we needed to be.

“Ready, Pumpkin?”

“Hell yeah.”

Chapter Fifteen

Tobias

The quarantine had been lifted a few days before, which was why we had the court date we did. Dave was pushing to make it soon as possible, no doubt to keep us from having time to prepare. He had clearly underestimated me.

I had sent the most damning evidence to my lawyer via email almost as soon as I had received it from my contact. He had been spending the week building the best case he possibly could. Considering his Harvard Law education and quadruple-digit hourly fees, it must have been very good indeed.

“Tobias,” our lawyer said with terse nod, having given up on handshakes some time ago.

“Mitchell,” I said, returning his nod.

“You must be Addie.”

“Hi,” she said, looking at the tastefully carpeted floor.

The feeling I was getting from her was one of embarrassment. I couldn’t figure out why until I realized that Mitchell had seen the pictures. They wouldn’t be considered remotely erotic except to a sadist, but I could still understand her discomfort. I reached out and stroked the small of her back.

“I’ve gone over the, uh, evidence and I think we have a very strong case.”

“We’d better, considering what I’m paying you!” I joked.

“He seems – nice,” Addie attempted, as we went down to the courtroom.

“He does do a good impression. Trust me, though, he’s a pit bull. Just wait.”

Much of the hearing went as expected. There was standing and sitting for the judge, which I managed to do without giggling at the absurdity, opening arguments and all that rot. The opposing attorney played her part well. Of course, she called Addie, playing friendly with Addie while looking for a weak spot to stab, but the girl didn’t give her one. She got some shots in and threw Addie off a bit, but by and large the judge was unreadable through the most of it. Then came the big show.

“Defence calls David Harris,” Mitchell said, in his loud, clear lawyer voice.

Watching the man who had caused us so much grief go from smarmy confidence to a blubbering mess was beautiful. It happened slowly. Mitchell’s mostly rhetorical questions chipping away at Dave’s resolve. The oh-shit-I’m-fucked moment came when he argued that he didn’t know how the pictures got online and they had been taken consensually.

“Is that so, Mr. Harris? Then please do tell the court how it is that your IP address was found on the original upload to the website known as BeautifulTorture. Oh, no wait, let me guess. Your computer was hacked right? Some miscreant in Minsk stole the files and posted them for a profit.”

“Exactly.”

“Odd,” Mitch mused.

“What’s that?”

“These payments to your bank account for $1,200 apiece from VividImage, the company behind the BeautifulTorture site.”

“I-”

“Illegally sold the pictures without consent.”

“Okay, okay, yes, I sold them. I needed the money and she wasn’t exactly around to ask. I should have gotten consent to sell ‘em but I had it to take ‘em.”

“Interesting,” Mitch said, rubbing is chin.”

“What is?”

“Oh, nothing really. It’s just that in at least three of these pictures. All from the same, er, ‘session’, there is clear to see a half empty vial of sedative on the floor and what looks very much like a needle mark in the back of Mrs. Harris’s thigh. In a hurry, were you?”

“I needed money. I owed money to some really bad guys.”

“Which you still do.”

“Yeah. 30 grand to the O’Connell brothers.”

“Tough customers,” Mitch prompted.

“You have no idea. Once I heard Addie was going on the show, I figured she was going to be getting a lot of money from it. I was trying to get it. They’ll kill me if I don’t pay.”

I thought the judge might pulverize the block with her gavel. Her righteous fury more than understandable. Because it was family court there was nothing she could do prison-wise except recommend charges.

But on the matter of his custody case, Dave was destroyed. Sole custody was given to Addie, and Dave was ordered to pay all of the court costs. Everything had gone as expected. Up to a point.

“Dave.”

He turned, looking like a truly beaten man with very little left to live for and not a whole lot of time to live in general.

“Addie?”

“Here,” she said, handing him a check.

“What?”

“For the O’Connells. Go pay your debts, Dave.”

“I-”

“Will never come near me or Duncan ever again,” she finished.

“Right, got it but I mean, why? Why help me after all the shit I pulled?”

“You are an asshole, Dave. You put me through hell, and I hate you, but – but you still don’t deserve to die.”