Truth is stranger than fiction... that is god damn truth through and through. Most people in this world might believe that made up stories are the only places you find weird scenes. Most of those people never really looked at the seedier side of real life much. For example take the situation right here and right now, through the lens of the Nikon d3400, Benjamin watched silently the two individuals in the seedy Motel six just across the street. The blinds were wide open for the whole world to see... than again when you think nobody is watching you often let your guard down. That was always the first mistake humans made.
Click ClickBenjamin pressed the shutter button twice as he took a couple quick pictures of the rich man in the bedroom with his dominatrix. While he could not necessarily hear what was going on in there, he could well imagine the crack of that leather riding crop. It almost made him shudder at the thought of that thing touching his backside. Benjamin was no stranger to pain, it sort of came with being a private detective, but hard leather smacked across butt cheek was definitely a line drawn in the sand for him.
Click ClickBenjamin snapped a couple more pictures, this time the woman was riding the rich man around like some kind of horse, a ball gag was in his mouth. Benjamin shook his head at the sight. He never could understand why rich guys payed for shit like this. All the money in the world and they spend it on a night like this, humiliating themselves to the highest degree for a little intimacy. There wasn't a book in the world that could explain most of the scenes he had snapped pictures of the last thirteen years.
Click Click Click ClickBenjamin snapped photos in quick succession as the rich man and his lady of the night stood up, the diaper he was wearing was almost too much for him to bare. It even had a blue ribbon bow tied across the front, you couldn't pay for pictures like this. Benjamin lowered the camera when the two started to get a bit more exotic, he had already procured more than enough evidence that this rich prick was two timing his wife. Although when he had first received the job he had not imagined this was the actual outcome, she had been so sure he was with woman entirely not one night stands. Most definitely not one night stands like this either, he would have to charge a little extra for this one, he was never going to erase these images from his head.
Than again... the irony of this situation was that the wife was cheating on her husband already herself. She had taken a lover probably a couple weeks before she came to him looking for proof on her husband. He had spent a couple nights detailing her nightly interludes too. It was not part of his job of course but sometimes rich people seemed to believe they could stiff him the bill. Leverage was the one thing that ensured a proper pay day. The thing was if the wife could catch her husband cheating she could divorce him and take half of everything, but if the opposite came to be he could divorce her and she would get nothing. So in reality it was a choice of who had more to lose in the end and who had more to pay him for his services.
This was often what happened when it came to cases such as this. It was all about greed, getting what you want and anyone who gets in the way be damned. Benjamin reached into his jacket pocket and removed a crumpled pack of Marlboros and flicked the pack as one shot up. He placed it between his lips and took out a gold plated zippo and lite it. The cherry lite up the abandoned room he was in across the way, it was an abandoned building that used to house apartments. It was far past that now, nothing but old wall paper, disconnected pipes and maybe even some dusty old furniture someone left behind. It was far from a glorious life for him, that again jobs like this often took him to places like this. You wouldn't think it, but Benjamin was pretty well off than most.
When one thought of a private detective they think of a chain smoking, drinking, monkey in a brown overcoat and a bowler hat. They took any job no matter how dirty and often cried themselves to sleep wishing life had been different in some shitty one room apartment. That was not his case, even though his parents had pushed him away they still loved him enough to help him financially at least until he had made it somewhere. The first couple years in this gig had been pretty hard, in fact at one point he nearly quit entirely, he was barely scraping enough money to pay his rent none the less food. That was the real low point in his career, he was the one in a one room apartment, with nothing but mom and dads money to tide him over.
At one point he had even been in with a booky for a time who had threatened to break his knee caps weekly if he didn't cough up what was owed. An seeming when it rains it pours, the moment his parents got tired of him and cut him love or not, he was really in the shit for a time. Things changed though, not over night but it was that one case... the case he cracked involving a mass murderer who had been terrorizing a small town in Denver that drove him up through the cracks of poverty and higher into the sky. It was during that time he realized just how good he was at piecing together clues, coming up with theories when others were picking their noses and scratching their heads. He had a knack for taking nothing and finding something that others had missed.
For a short while he was the wonder Detective who had played a key role in putting away the worst serial killer since Zodiac. The fame did not last half as long but the reputation he had gained from that one case alone was enough to put him on the map for all to see. His book filled up so fast with cases he barely had enough time to finish one before two more came in. Most of his cases were rich people looking for a little discretion. Once in awhile he would get contacted for off the book cases that had a little more pizzazz to them so it was well worth it. The money he subsequently got at the same time was also worth it even if it was rather boring.
Benjamin blew out a final puff of smoke as he dropped the smoke and crushed it out under his worn leather steel toed boot. He pulled out his cellphone from his black jacket and clicked it on illuminating the time. It was about one in the morning he would return home and get these pictures developed, he would be meeting the soon to be divorced wife early in the morning. Getting up from the old wooden chair the floor creaked under his feet as he took one last look at the motel window with his camera. The blinds were finally drawn, it was just too bad they had not done it earlier, than maybe the job would have been a bit more challenging.
“Could you not smoke? The smell of those dirty things is almost too much to bare.”Benjamin didn't reply as he sat across from his client at her rather luxurious estate on the outside of town. They were definitely rich, marble floors, glass chandeliers, gold crusted tables, a butler on standby practically hanging around the doorway. Reaching under his leather jacket Benjamin pulled a manila envelope out and slid it onto the table it stopped mere inches from Mrs. Buxley's hand. Mrs. Buxley was about what one would expect, a well do lady with brown hair, thousand dollar perm of course, smooth complexion a result of inexpensive age cream, diamond jewelry on her ears and fingers, expensive clothing made of the finest materials, and green eye's full of greed and lust.
Ignoring the earlier remark about his cigarette she took the envelope and opened it, she pulled out the 8x10 photos and went through them silently one by one. Her face twisted in fake shock and disgust as she looked at the last of the photo's before laying them back on the table in a sort of comical huff.
“How dare he do this to me! To us! An with this... this...”“Dominatrix.”The word threw Mrs. Buxley off as Benjamin spoke it in a light southern accent, his voice deep with a slight scratchy texture to it. The woman eye'd him with almost a look of spite however she quickly looked away, after all she had to play the victim. The crocodile tears soon came after as Benjamin watched her heart supposedly breaking. The whole I can't believe it, I am so hurt, I want to kill myself routine he had seen so many times now.
“My job is complete Mrs. Buxley, if you would be so kind as to pay me my fee I will depart and leave you to your husband's chicanery.”“Of course.. you have done your job and earned your fee.”Mrs. Buxley waved over the butler, a balding skinny mustached man of about probably late fifties in a monkey suit. He lowered a serving tray of fake silver with an envelope on it, Benjamin took it and opened it revealing the large sum of money mostly in hundred dollars bills. Pocketing the money Benjamin nodded his head to Mrs. Buxley and showed himself out. He walked across the fine gravel driveway, across from him was his black 1967 Chevy Impala, placing a pair of black rimmed aviators over his eye's he hopped in the car and the engine roared to life. Putting the car in gear it rolled across the gravel and toads the front gate, as he approached a white Rose Royce came through the gate driven by a chauffeur. For just a moment Benjamin caught the eye of Mr. Buxley as he pulled out of the gate and speed down the road.
Benjamin inserted the key into the lock of his office quietly, the door was made of wood but steel lined for security purposes. There was a large piece of bullet proof glass centered in the door, his name was written on the door above a gold shield enveloped by a large eye, with Private Detective written in the center. The door clicked as it opened and he walked in closing it behind him.
“Mr. Marks welcome back I assume your meeting went well?”Benjamin looked over at the woman who was about his age if not a couple years younger. She was a beautiful woman in all respects, auburn straight flowing hair, emerald green eye's, smooth complexion and a body with all the right curves. She even spoke in a rather light voice that was thick with one who once lived in the Bronx. If he had to describe her way of speaking he could only think of Harley from Batman, she was after all a splitting image of her in some ways.
“Surprisingly. I had the old bat figured 10 to 1 on trying lower my fee or trying to rip me of completely. But she payed up without much coaxing, probably knew her husband was going to be home really soon so she had no choice but to play ball and get me out of the house.”Ashley nodded her head as he caught her eye's, she blushed a little every time her eye's got caught in his. She would than quickly look away as he approached his desk, he was not blind to the fact that Ashley had a puppy crush on him. He just didn't care, most men would think he had lost his damn mind to not wanna take on a girl like Ashley, but he cared not for such things as it was, at least not with her. When he had found her, she was a struggling grad student who had more bills than money and the tolls of stress were starting to break her down. He had offered her a job as his secretary, someone to take cares of things while he was on job. When she had taken the job at first he figured eventually she would get enough money, graduate college and than quit, that had been the thought anyways.
He had never expected her to stay, to fall in love with him and consider him to be her soulmate, at least that's what she said when she got drunk on the night of that new years party and he drove her home. She was a lot like Steve Urkel from Family Matters, at least in her relentlessness to try and wear him down. He had to admit it had almost worked for her at some junctures, but he couldn't... there was only one person in this world for him, even though he constantly told himself to let it go, to move on, to get over it. The ironic truth was that Ashley was a lot like him, she wouldn't let him go and he won't let the one he desired go.
“Your mail is on the desk you got a couple bills, an invitation to a new BBQ joint opening on Holland and I think a letter from your parents, its got the old style writing on it.”“Thanks Ashley..”Benjamin sat at his desk and went through the mail, electric bill, water bill, he tossed them aside and looked at the invitation to Greg's Finger licking Chicken BBQ. Benjamin rolled his eye's, thats cute he thought to himself as he tossed it into the trash beside his desk. Benjamin was about to open the plain envelope when there was a furious knocking on his door.
“Open up you son of a bitch!”Benjamin rolled his eye's as he thought ~right on time~, he looked over at Ashley who was eyeing the door, she than looked at him mouthing if she should open or were they out of the office? Benjamin moved his hand motioning for her to open it. She walked to the door and opened it as Mr. Buxley was standing on the other side, his face was red and he was huffing. Mr. Buxley was a fat balding monk hair style of a man with puffy piggy cheeks and small beady eye's. Honestly he looked like a pig in Armani, the little flat nose, the big gut, all he was missing was the curly tail and hoofed feet.
“Mr. Buxley I am pleased to see you without the diaper. One time was enough to last me a lifetime. So what brings you to my little neck of the woods?”Benjamin was completely indifferent to the pissed off little piggish man before him, in fact it was almost casual as he placed cigarette between his lips and gave it a light taking a drag from it. Mr. Buxley's face was red before but the mention of him wearing a diaper made it ten times worse. It also raised his anger from pissed to rage.
“How dare you take pictures of me!! You perverted son of a bitch!! You have ruined my marriage and you sit there looking smug, as if none of this ever matters even in the slightest to you!!”It was painfully obvious he had not rehearsed this conversation before barging in. They never did, anger was a powerful thing if used correctly but in this case it only furthered the stupidity of the moment.
“No I believe the picture with the leather saddle on your back and your lady of the night on riding on it smacking your ass with a riding crop did that. Although I have a feeling your marriage was ruined either way, the way I see it either she found you out or you found her out. It wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when it happened.”Benjamin inserted a key into the drawer on his desk and unlocked it, he removed the copies of the photo's of Mrs. Buxley and lay them on the desk before Mr. Buxley could continue his tirade of obscenities. The man became even more red in the face as he looked at the rather naughty pictures, his little eye's became orbs of great rage.
“That deceptive little bitch! How dare she cheat on me and than try to divorce me and take my money!”Benjamin shook his head, the entire situation was boring and unnecessary, the truth was these two people belonged together. They were both greedy, cheating, backstabbing, liars. The mere fact she betrayed Benjamin and broke his rule about revealing his name to her husband is more than enough to prove that. It was obvious she was trying to divert the blame to him and that was not going to happen. Like he said before when your dealing with rich people always have insurance.
“Your wife offered me ten thousand dollars to get those pictures of you Mr. Buxley, so your going to give me twenty thousand for these photo's.”Benjamin was clam and collected, decisive and direct as he pulled the pictures away from the desk, he tapped the edges on his desk forming them together and than placing them back in his desk. Mr. Buxley glared at him hard as his little hands went into fists.
“How dare you blackmail me! You just a dishonest crook!”“Look at it this way Mr. Buxley, those pictures are going to be quite the scandal during the divorce proceedings. So in that sense, if you don't want the world to know you wear adult diapers with little ribbons on them your going to do what I say. So listen closely, you have two choices. One you give me twenty thousand dollars, I give you these photo's, and you can fight it out with your wife until the both of you realize your greedy little piggy shits and deserve each other. Your second option is to get the hell out of my office and never come back, get divorced, and have your fat white ass plastered all over the internet. I think its about time you decide what your willing to sacrifice.”The fat little man opened his mouth to say something, he wanted to say a lot probably but he didn't. Benjamin had him by his diaper strings and he damn well knew it. Benjamin blew smoke into Mr. Buxley's face, the man coughed angrily. He turned with a huff and walked back to the door, upon reaching it he pulled it open hard and started to walk out but stopped. He stood their for a minute as if in contemplation and than suddenly spoke in a more defeated tone:
“I will have the money in an hour.”Ashley closed the door quietly as Benjamin shook his head putting the cigarette out in the ashtray. He picked up the letter again from the desk and opened it taking out the neatly folded paper inside. His whole demeanor changed after that. Ashley noticed almost immediately as she walked to his desk and tried to peer at the letter he was reading he didn't try to stop her. She walked around his desk and read it herself.
“Are you going to go”The question was simple and direct, Ashley did not know much about his past and she had learned well enough not to ever ask or try to mention it. Benjamin had not been the kindest of people when others tried to pry into his life. He said nothing, he just folded the piece of paper back up, slipped it into the envelope, and put his hand over the desk to toss it in the trash. His his fingers however didn't let go like his brain told them to. He had no desire to ever go back to that hellhole town or to see the people he had grown up with in school, in fact he was resolved to forget them entirely. But even now he couldn't convince himself that was entirely true.
While he may not have loved Mrs. Deville, she was kind to him unlike so many others including his perfect parents whom he wanted to stay as far away from as possible. He knew the real reason he couldn't let that invitation go through, why he couldn't just ignore it, and it most definitely was not purely because his old nice teacher was dieing. People die everyday that was just the reality of it, no it was someone else that edged at the back of his mind, gnawed at him and ate away his walls and layers he had built over the years. The only one in the whole world he would have sacrificed anything for, the one he did sacrifice things for even if they never knew it. Benjamin retracted his hand as he looked at the envelope.
“Push back my cases.. I am taking a day or two Ashley.”Benjamin drove the car quietly, Ashley was sitting beside him in the passenger seat, she seemed almost excited that he had accept her proposal for her to go along with him even if she wasn't going to the actual party with him. In truth he didn't trust anyone around his car, Ashley was there to drive it away to his parents house where she would wait for him. He didn't like the idea of it but his parents lived in a gated community so no one would mess with it there. He just hoped Ashley wouldn't learn anything from them, that was the last thing he needed. When he had pulled up he was a short distance away, he found the house quite... quaint for lack of better terminology even from his distance. He was already having misgivings about the whole thing, he could just turn around and leave now but he knew the urge would pull him in. He had parked far enough away just in case he changed his mind but that wasn't happening it seemed.
He exited the vehicle as Ashley got out with him and looked at the house, she stood next to him, she tried to loop her fingers into his but he pulled his hand away casually. Benjamin sighed and popped the trunk through the open drivers window and walked to it. Inside was a medium sized black bag, he pulled it out and set it on the ground. Reaching up he yanked off the leather coat he was wearing revealing the black muscle shirt beneath accenting his toned body. He reached up and unclasped the brown holster that was concealed under his coat, taking it off he put it and the Beretta 92 in the trunk before closing it. He slipped his leather coat back on as he looked at the house again, he could hear the music and smell the aroma of food from around the back.
“You know what to do Ashley. My parents are waiting, they will put you up for a couple nights or so while I am here. I will call when its time to go. Try not to talk to them too much.”Fat chance she would listen but this was the best he had for now. Ashley nodded her head as she extended her arms to give him a goodbye hug but he stopped her shaking his head. She swallowed a bit hard but none the less turned away and climbed in the car, she waved before she departed. Benjamin sighed again as he bent down and picked up the black bag. It matched his attire perfectly, a pair of steel tipped dress shoes, black jeans, black muscle shirt, his leather coat, plain leather belt and the black rimmed sunglasses he always wore. He looked more like he was going to a funeral than a party, but he never did care much for appearance or what people thought of him.
Well there was no putting it off any longer he slung the bag over his shoulder and walked towards the house.
