TT Spalding: The Pickering Case

The next scene was from a camera pointing directly at the bed. Rachael came in the room and sat on the edge of the bed. Harris followed, pulling off his shirt as he came in. She began to remove her sweatshirt while he dropped his pants. Then, he moved toward her, grabbed her head and began to pump his cock into her mouth. He put both hands behind her head and was moving so hard she began to choke. She finally forced him back, gasping for breath. He was laughing and the scene changed again. Now he was on top of her, pounding her for all he was worth. That's when Bruno stopped the playback.

"That's the overview. Seems simple so far, but here's what I wanted you to see and hear. Tell me what you see."

Bruno moved forward on the CD, found what he wanted and began playback. I now heard sound. It began where the other had but this time I could hear Rick Harris and Rachael Pickering talking.

"You son of a bitch! You promised to give me the tape when I did what you asked. Why won't you stop this? Give me the tape now!"

"Sorry Rach. I was going to, but damn it all, you sure know how to make a guy happy. I've never had a piece of ass as good as you. I'm going to get some more pussy from you before I give you the tape. Now, get your pretty ass in the bedroom and get ready."

Now, I had a better idea of what Bruno meant. I was about to ask him some questions but he motioned me back to the video playback. This time the camera was focused on her face as she was being fucked by Harris. Her face was screwed up and there were tears pouring out of her eyes. I could here the sobs as she lay there. She was certainly not enjoying this and she was being raped by any definition. That's what it was, pure and simple. I was watching Rachael Pickering being raped.

"OK. Stop the playback. Shit! Shit, shit, shit! We can't let this go can we?"

"I don't want to boss. She's a beautiful lady and she's being raped by that bastard. I want to get him and get him good. We can't show this to the husband. I just don't know how to play this. You're good at this stuff. What do we do?"

Bruno and I talked it over and came up with a game plan. Bruno would get the full scoop on Mr. Harris and we would take it from there. I told Bruno that I wanted in on this one and he seemed pleased to be working with me again. I trained Bruno and he always said I was the best. I have to admit, I'm easy. Flattery makes me happy. I sat back and waited. It wouldn't take Bruno long.

A week later we had it all. It seems that Mrs. Pickering, Rachael, was almost a porn star. When she was just eighteen, she had done a demonstration tape for a schlock outfit that promised to give her a lot of money for making some movies. She did the audition but later changed her mind and dropped out. She asked for the tape but was told it was destroyed when she backed out. She thought no more about it and went on with her life, happy not to have made a huge mistake.

But the tape hadn't been destroyed. It was in a file cabinet that was left behind in a second floor space when the pseudo film maker had flown the coop. Turns out that the space was owned by our Mr. Harris. He kept what furniture was left behind and he went through the file cabinet and found the tape of her audition and it was apparently really hot. How he found her we weren't sure, but somehow he did. And now, he was using it to blackmail Rachael, threatening to tell her husband if she didn't take care of him. She had paid him some money as well but he kept stringing her along. Bruno hadn't been able to see the tape but that was about to change.

I called my Maggie into this now. She would be an ally in our scheme since she was a woman and had the devious mind typical of them all. I let Bruno give her the short version of what he found, complete with the edited video that Bruno showed me to convince me. When he finished, the look on Maggie's face told me that our Mr. Harris was about to rue the day he was born. God, I loved that woman! And once again I was glad I was married to her and not her enemy. Lord have mercy if you were.

"OK, I assume you boys have a plan? Let's hear it."

"What I want to do is to somehow frame Rick Harris and then let the police know he's a bad dude. I want to put him away for a long time. But first, I want to get into his apartment and rifle through his files and confiscate all of the tapes he no doubt got from that file cabinet."

"There's another thing. We have to get Rachael on board so she's aware of what we're doing. You leave that to me. I'll talk to her woman to woman. Then, we'll get Mr. Harris by the short hairs."

"Why talk to her? Maybe she should just find Harris gone. Isn't that good enough?" I asked with the incense of the typical male.

"Then what are you going to tell Ian? Haven't you already told him about Rick Harris, and about his wife going to her apartment? Didn't think about that did you boys? Do I have to do everything for you?"

She was right. I looked at Bruno and he looked at me and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'she did it again'. Well, she was right. We had to cook up some story to offset what we had already told Ian. That was going to be some job. So, I took the intelligent path. I asked Maggie what we should do. And she told me.

"Rachael was not visiting Rick Harris. You just got the apartment number wrong the first time you spoke to him. You need to find out who else is on that floor, make up some story about Rachael visiting a friend with a sick mother or something, and then fill in the details. You might even have to hire an actor to play the part if Ian wants to meet her. Maybe Polly can do it."

I looked at Bruno and he was smiling. Apparently he liked the idea. So, we had the beginnings of a plan to get Rachael off the hook. I liked it too. But Maggie wasn't done.

"Next, you have to plant the evidence. I would contact Michael at the DA's office and tell him I told you to call. Ask him for a copy of the evidence they have on a Catholic Priest named Father Murphy. He was indicted for child pornography. The tape was quite graphic but was never used because the Priest pleaded guilty to avoid the publicity."

Well now. Who the hell was Michael and why did Maggie know so much about him? This I had to ask. Damn it all! Bruno was standing there but he didn't seem ready to leave so I had to push ahead anyway. Just a casual question, no harm done.

"Ah, babe, who is Michael and how do you know so much about that case? Do you know him well?" My voice was soft and sugar wouldn't melt in my mouth I was so sweet.

Maggie just smiled at me and shrugged her shapely shoulders. "I know him pretty well. I see him a couple of times a week. Why do you ask?"

I looked over at Bruno, waiting for him to get the hint, but he was having none of it. "Bruno, would you run out and get us a couple of cokes from the machine down on the first floor?"

A smirk now! "But boss, there's a machine here on this floor."

"Bruno?" I was glaring at him so hard I was surprised he didn't have welts springing up on his face. But then he snickered, before he turned and walked out. Damn him!

When he was gone, I turned to my Maggie and waited. I began to sweat when I saw she had that look of innocence on her face that I knew so well. She had me and she damn well knew it. I had walked into it with my eyes shut and my mouth open. Oh, well.

"Michael is Mrs. Palumbo's son. He's a lawyer for the District Attorney's office and he comes over to see his mother two or three times a week. She broke her hip you know so I've been keeping her company. He sometimes brings his wife and baby with him. The baby is just ten months old and is a real sweetheart."

Maggie smiled at me sweetly with her hands folded neatly at her waist. I wouldn't have been surprised to see a halo floating over her head, from the angelic look on her face. Damn, I really think she set me up for that one.

"How'd you know about the tape?"

"He was telling his mother about it and I overheard him. Not something I would be asking about, now is it?"

"No. Am I going to pay for this?" I was afraid for my life now. Maggie hated it when I doubted her.

"Well, I'm going to forgive you this time since I sort of helped you jump off the cliff. And anyway, you still have some points coming for promising to be nice to mother."

"I love your mother! She is a saint, that woman!"

Maggie laughed and reminded me that Bruno was coming back. I watched her walk out of the office with an added sway to her hips, just for me. I took it as sort of a promise of more to come. God, I loved that woman!

Well, Bruno and I made our move two days later. I had indeed gotten a copy of the tape and I had it along with my tools as we took the back stairs to the fourth floor where Rick Harris had his apartment. We knew he was out and would be gone all day. We had hours to do our thing. I let Bruno pick the lock since he was faster than me and we slipped inside.

The apartment was a real dump. Dirty dishes in the sink, papers and carry out cartons scattered around the single living room, a dead plant on the window sill, a smell like something died permeating the whole place. I hesitated to touch anything until I had my gloves on. Bruno nodded toward the hall that lead to one of the rooms and I went in to find a desk with a computer and a file cabinet. Maybe the same file cabinet? Could be. I went to work while Bruno fired up the computer.

In the cabinet I found what I was looking for. There were more than thirty tapes of various women in hardcore pornography. Each had a file number on the casing and in another folder I found a list of names and addresses matching the file number on the videos. The rest of the files were filled with additional information on each of the girls, including three guys. I took them all, leaving the file cabinet empty. I searched the desk and drawers and found some additional names and addresses and took those as well. I checked the rest of the room but found nothing.

Bruno had the computer working and had somehow cracked Harris' password. For Bruno, that was child's play. The man was a techno genius. But, I've told you that before so you know. He had found a few more files that were hard-core and he looked at me for guidance.

"Trash them, or whatever you do to get rid of them. I have the tapes so he can't reload them."

Bruno did so and then did what we had come there to do: he uploaded the child pornography file that we had onto his hard drive. Bruno then did something so that the file couldn't be erased. He made up a name for the file and then buried the file in Harris' Documents file. It was now only one of more than thirty other files and Harris would likely never even notice it. But we made a note of the location for the police. Oh yes, we would let the police know about that file.

We shut down the computer, I looked around to be sure nothing was obvious while Bruno removed his cameras, and left the apartment the same way we came in; out the back. This time we had a bag of tapes and files and folders. It was a good caper and I had fun. Now to let Maggie know it was OK to talk to Rachael. In the car, Bruno was laughing and slapping me on the back.

"God, it was good working with you again, boss! I wish you'd do it more often. You got to admit. It's a blast!"

"You're right Bruno my man. But, you know how Maggie feels about me working out in the field. She thinks I'm past my prime and you know, she's probably right. But when it's worth it, like this, I'll be there. Count on it! Now, let's go home."

Back at the office, I let Maggie know that the job was done. She called Rachael Pickering, told her that she had some information concerning her and Rick Harris and told her she had best come in. I was surprised that Maggie was so cold to her, but she assured me that she knew what she was doing.

"This girl needs to be hit hard, right between the eyes. She needs to know how close she came to losing everything. She thought she was doing the right thing but she needs to know never to trust anyone like that son of a bitch. I'm going to explain things to her that she needs to know."

I knew Maggie and I knew she would treat this girl like her own. Maggie's heart was as big as all outdoors but she didn't like to think anyone knew it. I certainly did. She was my Maggie and I loved her like crazy.

Rachael Pickering came in the office the next day just after lunch. Maggie told her 1:00 and she was right on the dot. I watched her come in and she was more beautiful in person than she was in her pictures.

She was a real knockout . . .

Oh hell. You know the drill by now. She was hot, that's all I need to say. Maggie came into my office with Rachael and that was my cue to leave. I stood, introduced myself and then kissed Maggie on the mouth before walking down the hall to the little conference room we used sometimes. I had some time to kill.

I was drinking a coke and reading the paper when Maggie came to get me. She said Rachael wanted to thank me and for me to come back to the office. I walked with her back while she filled me in. Seems Rachael was almost in tears when she came in and was about to confess all to her husband rather than let anyone else blackmail her. She said she was fed up and couldn't lie to her husband anymore. Maggie calmed her down, told her we had the tape and that Rick Harris was about to be arrested and sent up for a long spell for child pornography. When she told her that, she said the look on Rachael's face was like a child given a wonderful present. She was in shock still but beginning to realize she was free.

I walked into the office to see Rachael sitting in one of those uncomfortable plastic chairs we kept to cut down on the stay time, snipping away with a pair of scissors at the tape she had pulled from a cassette. She was grinning from ear to ear and jumped up as soon as she saw me. She came to me, threw her arms around me and pressed those DD cups against my chest, causing my blood pressure to rise uncomfortably high. Unfortunately she didn't keep me long. She was too excited.

"Maggie told me what you did for me. I want to tell you how grateful I am and to tell you I'll do anything I can for you. Anything Maggie would permit of course." Then she laughed and hugged Maggie again. Maggie seemed to be OK with what she said because she just laughed. I was glad of that.

"You're very welcome Rachael. We just couldn't let you be destroyed by something you couldn't control. We can tell your husband that you were seeing a friend with a sick mother. I guess Maggie filled you in?"

"Yes, she did. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you and please say thank you to Mr. Bruno. Maggie told me about him. All of you, thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"Consider it a Christmas Gift. From all of us to you and Ian. He just won't know about it. But, all in all, I think he'll be happy as well with my report."

Rachael stayed a short while and then left to go home. I called Ian as soon as she left and asked him to come in to receive the final report. He asked me if I had confirmed what I told him and I assured him the news would be good. He didn't answer and hung up almost immediately. I thought I heard a sob just before the line went dead.

Well, when Ian heard that his wife had not been visiting a Mr. Rick Harris but rather a woman on the same floor by the name of Polly whose mother was sick, he was almost giddy with relief. I assured him that his wife had done nothing inappropriate during the entire time we monitored her and I apologized profusely and offered to reduce the charge by 10% for our original error, but he was so happy that he insisted on paying the full $3,000 with a bonus of $500. He told me to just destroy the report. He was going home to his wife and to the best Christmas he had ever hoped for. I slapped him on the back and ushered him out of the office and on his way home.

Maggie came in after he left and I handed her the check for the full amount. "This will keep the wolves from our door for another month. Then things should get back to normal once the new year begins. This was a good case. A good ending."

"It was. You did good on this one. You and Bruno. We should give him a nice little bonus for his work."

"I'd rather give you a bonus. How about right here and right now? You know your Mother is due in tonight. I have a feeling I'll be awfully horny by the time she goes home. But I'm going to be nice like I promised."

Maggie walked to the door, closed it and slipped the lock. "I'm going to reward you for your big heart right now husband, and again tonight, and if Mom doesn't want to hear me making love to my husband, that's her problem. I hope she brings her ear plugs for bedtime."

God, I love that woman!