Master of Elusion Read online

  MASTER

  OF

  ELUSION

  MACGREGOR FBI SERIES BOOK 2

  R. E. GAUTHIER

  Blue Dawg Press

  2018 © Nova Scotia, Canada

  Other books available by R. E. Gauthier:

  In Plain Sight MacGregor FBI Series Book 1

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Master of Elusion

  Copyright © 2018 by Blue Dawg Press

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Blue Dawg Press

  First edition

  Blue Dawg Press

  C/o R. Gouchie

  597 Torbrook Road

  Torbrook, Nova Scotia, Canada

  B0P 1R0

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is in the case of brief quotation embodied in reviews.

  If in eBook form, this book is for your personal use only and not to be given away or sold to other people. If you would like to share this book, please purchase additional copies for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloging of Publication information is available upon request.

  ISBN: 978-0-9958794-3-0(eBook)

  ISBN: 978-0-9958794-4-7(paperback)

  This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies. Events or locales are entirely coincidental.

  Cover design by R.E. Gauthier and Blue Dawg Press

  I dedicate this book to all the women in this who stand up and say ME TOO! For those women afraid to tell someone about the sexual violence of any kind. You have rights too. Stand up for yourselves and don’t let anyone tell you, it’s okay.

  To my wife, you’re my rock, my life, and my love. When no one else thinks I’m capable of doing things, you do. There are not enough words to thank you, so I LOVE YOU will have to do.

  I’d also like to acknowledge the support and help of two special women.

  Terry, you offered to help to edit this book, and I owe you a debt of gratitude for doing so, without the promise of monetary gains.

  Laure, your beta-reading helped to solidify my ideas and weed out others that hit the editing floor, thank you, to you both.

  Chapter One

  Washington D. C., Three weeks ago, August 21, 2011

  Why? The voice in Emily’s head asked repeatedly. Her heart beat faster, as she tried to slow her breathing. The features of Ben’s face were in shadows, but she made out the glint of the steel. He held a knife and straddled her on the bed. “Why are you doing this?” Emily finally gave voice to the thoughts, which banged around in her head.

  Waking up moments ago with Ben on top of her sent Emily into flight mode. Adrenalin pumping through her veins kept telling Emily she must get away. Her first instincts were to yell at him for scaring her once again.

  Ben had let himself into her apartment a couple of weeks ago, and tonight, as then, his intent wasn’t honorable. Two weeks ago, he had crept silently into her bedroom and demanded to have sex with her. That night, Emily had endured a couple of hours of a sexual encounter, unlike any other. It was only after telling her best friend about it, did she realize Ben raped her. Emily denied it because Ben had been forceful but gentle. In contrast, the man who grabbed her when she was a teenager had not been gentle at all. That time the man had caught her and made her do unspeakable acts, it hurt. Emily now knew there were several ways a person could sexually assault another.

  Tonight, looking up at Ben, Emily did not think he intended to rape her. The last time he only used his strength to hold her down, tonight he had a knife. Self-preservation made her deepen her breath and attempt to calm her mind. I don’t need to panic; I need to get him off of me and get him to put away the knife. Ben wasn’t acting like the man she knew she knew; something wasn’t right. “Ben, why do you have a knife, what do you want?”

  Ben remained silent, and his head bowed looking at the knife.

  Trembling, Emily said, “if you want to have sex, put the knife away; you’re scaring me.”

  Still, he didn’t speak.

  “Can you turn on the lamp so that I can see you?”

  Ben snickered and leaned forward. The roughness of the denim at his crotch pressed into the softness of her belly. He reached for something, and Emily hoped he would comply and turn on the bedside lamp. He shifted, so some of his weight lifted off of her, and Emily tried to sit up.

  Ben shoved her back onto her back. “Emily, you’re going to kill yourself tonight,” he whispered into her ear.

  Stunned by the revelation, Emily shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. How many times, after my rape, have I thought of killing myself? She never told anyone about her desire to end her own life, except for the rape helpline operator. How does Ben know? “I don’t want to die now; I have finally come to terms with it, and I know it wasn’t my fault,” she said quietly.

  “Of course, you want to die; you’re not daddy’s little girl anymore. You’re nothing but a little whore, who lets men fuck you, rape you, and you like it. Remember our last time? You screamed and told me to stop, but before long, you were begging me to keep fucking you, like the whore, you are.”

  Shaking her head, Emily couldn’t believe what she was hearing; Ben’s words were her own, but he twisted them to hurt her. “Why? Why are you doing this?”

  “Because spoiled, little girls like you need to know about the real world and I’m here to make sure he gets punished.”

  Emily’s brain tried to make sense of what he said. Why did he say he? Who did Ben want to punish? Emily wasn’t sure she understood but wanted to keep him talking. “You don’t have to do this; I don’t know why you’re doing this to me. Please don’t kill me”, she pleaded, and she tried to squirm under him to persuade him to do anything but use that knife.

  “I’m not going to kill you; you’re going to kill yourself,” Ben said, leaning down and running the knife blade across her thin nightgown, covering her chest.

  “I won’t kill myself,” Emily said, raising her chin higher and defiantly looking at him.

  “Yes, you will, and all I need to do is watch, and then I’ll leave you to it, dying, that is.”

  Emily didn’t recognize Ben’s voice tonight, it looked like him, but he sounded like someone else. She smelled the unmistakable scent of sterilized plastic and then heard the tearing of paper.

  Ben drew closer and whispered, “Time to end this; take the syringe.” He held a syringe in front of her face.

  Emily shook her head and pleaded silently, please don’t do this.

  “Take the fucking syringe, Emily,” Ben hissed.

  “I won’t let you do this. I don’t want to die, anymore.”

  “Of course, you do; remember how embarrassed you were and scared that your father would learn how he raped you? You didn’t want him to know you liked it; you don’t want him to discover you like me raping you, want me to do it to you again tonight. You won’t be his little girl anymore, but a whore, who likes it rough, who screams for more.”

  “He won’t believe you; he would never believe you.”

  “He will believe that his little girl is a whore if he hears this.”

  A muffled sound, of what, she recognized to be her gasps of ecstasy, filled the bedroom. Then grunts and a male voice said, “spread your legs more, bitch.” Then her voice said clearly, “whatever you want; Ben …oh fuck, yes, oh my god, more, harder…Ahhh yes, harder.”
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  Emily realized that Ben had recorded his sexual assault on her, and her heart sank. “But you wouldn’t want him to know you raped me; you would get in trouble,” she said defiantly.

  “I don’t care who he thinks did it; I’ll send the recording, then send him photos and a video of you enjoying it too. Ben will get blamed for raping you. I made certain the blame will fall where it belongs. All your father will see is his precious baby girl enjoying rough sex with a total stranger, like the whore, you are.”

  “But you are not a stranger, he met you, he’ll know it was you.” Emily wanted to be brave, but she knew Ben was right, her father would be ashamed.

  Ben laughed with such contempt and leaned into Emily’s face. “Are you sure of that; are you sure you know me?”

  Uncertainty rocked her, as her brain tried to make sense out of what he said. Ben spoke in the third person like he wasn’t talking about himself. Again Emily didn’t recognize the voice, it looked like Ben but didn’t sound like him.

  Emily lifted her hand, and Ben forced the syringe into her palm. Reflexes caused her to close her hand over the smooth plastic.

  Ben smiled.

  Emily did what he had asked her to do; she held the syringe firmly in her hand.

  “Good girl, now let’s do this, and it’ll be over. No more suffering, no more anything for you.”

  A click preceded the room filling with the soft light from the bedside lamp. Emily looked into the face of a stranger. He took the syringe from her hand with his own, gloved-hand. He filled it with a liquid from a vial he had is his other hand.

  “What is that; what are you going to give me?” Emily stammered.

  “It’s all right Emily; do you remember the pill we had that one time? This will be like that, only better, I promise.”

  Emily did remember getting high with Ben three weeks ago; it had been fun to let go. “But you said, I’m going to kill myself. How am I going to do that?”

  “Don’t worry about that nasty piece of business, just take a little of this and it will make you feel so good.”

  Emily did want to feel good. Honestly, she had looked for an escape for years after the brutality she suffered. Ben offered that escape. All she had to do is take the syringe and allow the drugs to help her.

  Emily took the offered syringe again. “I’ve never poked myself, can you help me?”

  Ben chuckled softly, his voice deep and

  Emily smiled, this is the Ben she remembered.

  Ben put an elastic around her arm and showed Emily where to put the needle.

  With a small prick, Emily felt the needle enter her vein. “You’re sure this will be like last time?”

  “Sure Em, it will be exactly like last time, and the time before that, and the time before that. You’ll like it, I promise”. He smiled.

  Just then, Emily thought of her mother and father, and shame bubbled up. You can’t do this; taking a tiny pill isn’t the same as injecting something into your arm.

  “I'm all right Em, I’m right here, and I’m going to take some too, see.” Ben had another syringe and had more colorless liquid in it. He injected it into a vein. “Oh, Em, it feels so good.”

  Putting her thumb on the plunger, Emily pushed it up. Immediately, her body relaxed.

  Emily’s limbs loosened. She felt like she floated out of her body and looked down at herself. The flying sensation both scared and thrilled her. She tried to open her mouth, but nothing came out. She attempted to move, but her muscles wouldn’t work

  The room began to spin, bright lights flashed before her eyes, and she relaxed even more.

  “See Em, isn’t it great? Doesn’t this feel better than before? Here I’ll help you. You need just a bit more.”

  Emily willed her mouth to open, tried to move her body; she remained quiet and still.

  Looking into those eyes, Emily saw loathing. He isn’t Ben, who is it?

  “Goodbye Emily, I’ll be sure to tell your father, what a good little girl you were.”

  Chapter Two

  Washington DC, Friday, September 9, 2011

  “I don’t understand Sir,” Kelsey perused the file in front of her once more; “nothing I have read suggests a case needing FBI jurisdiction.”

  “Kelsey, I chose you because you have the knack for finding the one clue that no one else can. It’s not what is in the file, but what isn’t, that has me worried.”

  Frank Montgomery paced once more around his office and then stood, placing a hand on the back of the leather chair, where she sat. Kelsey read the summation once more. One woman died from a heroin overdose, an apparent suicide. A second clung to life in a DC hospital, also an apparent suicide attempt with heroin. A third woman told her family that a man who she described as her Ex-boyfriend, stalked, raped, and attempted to rape her again before she called the police.

  “I don’t see any correlation between these three women except they’re all of a similar age. Only the rape is an investigative case, but local law enforcement should be able to handle it. It’s pretty straightforward.” Kelsey recalled the US Attorney General’s words: It is not what is in the file but what is not that has me worried. “What are you not telling me, Sir?”

  “The fathers of these women are my good friends; they’re powerful men, which I’ve known each other for years. Nathan Carter didn’t believe his daughter would attempt to take her own life. He hired a private investigator to look into her case when the police couldn’t find any evidence of anything other than an attempted suicide.” He gave her another file. “What the investigator found is in here.”

  Kelsey took the folder and did a quick read to find anything interesting. Edward Willsgate hired the same private investigator to look into a sexual attack on his daughter, Jeanette and found similarities in both cases. During the investigation, the PI found Charlene Varner, who died of another apparent heroin overdose. One word stood out: hunted.

  “Who is the private investigator?”

  “A woman by the name of Cassidy Torres, he said, placing a business card in her hand. “She is a retired F—"

  “I know who she is,” Kelsey interrupted him. “I’m sorry Sir, I don’t mean any disrespect but I still don’t see why…” The rest of her comment trailed off. When Kelsey had joined the Violent Crimes Division, the Divisional Director at that time, was a legend in the FBI. A woman by the name of Cassidy Torres had a solved-case list that included some of the worse serial killers and rapists in the history of the division. SSA Torres solved some of the hardest cold cases while she was a field agent. If she says this man hunted Jeannette Willsgate, then he did. No one had more criminal behavioral skills than Torres.

  “Well, then you know her reputation,” Frank Montgomery said.

  Nodding, Kelsey took a closer look at the file. There were notes about suicide letters left behind at the homes of the two women who committed or attempted suicide, and surprisingly another similar note was found at Jeanette’s apartment the night of her attack; Jeanette was still very much alive.

  “Why were the suicide notes similar?”

  “It would seem that all three women had almost exact letters addressed to their fathers in their homes. In each one, the women state they got what they deserved.”

  They got what they deserved was not a phrase a woman would write. “Were Emily and Charlene raped? There is no mention of that fact in the files.” Kelsey looked at the hospital and post-mortem reports.

  “We have no substantiating evidence that would collaborate that. As you can see Charlene Varner’s apparent suicide occurred over nine months ago and Emily Carter attempted suicide was three weeks ago. There were no reasons to investigate further into their deaths; the final verdict in each case is suicide or attempted suicide, both had lethal doses of heroin in their systems. Emily’s family is distraught with concern that she will not wake up; no one has performed a rape kit analysis on her. That is where you come in. By taking this case, you can order to have Charlene’s body exhumed and a forensic examination done on Emily to investigate this further.”

  “But why choose me? You can have any FBI Agents and detectives working on this. Why do you insist I take this case?”

  “I don’t have to tell you how respected you are in your division and then there is the fact that Torres said you’d be the right woman for the job.”

  Hearing an esteemed former FBI Agent recommended her, reminded Kelsey of her father’s meddling to get her on the last case.