Sex Stings

Chapter One

Friday, March 16th, 5:35 p.m., Cambridge, MA.

After a few minor adjustments to the knobs on his secondhand spy equipment, P.I. Daniel Murphy sat back in his used Chevy van to observe his target on the flickering surveillance screen.

Pisser. There was the dickhead now, nice and clear. Mr. Layton to his household staff, Cooper to his cutthroat business acquaintances, Coop to an assortment of fly-by-night friends and his long-suffering family - Pookie to his current boink - paced the perimeter of Room 503 at the Red Motor Inn.

Dan smirked at the screen. No doubt Pookie was impatiently waiting for his current partner in cheating to put in an appearance.

Despite advising his wife "I'll be working late at the office tonight, dear," Pookie had left Allied Investments Corp., located in Boston's downtown financial district, the same hour as usual, like clockwork, at 5 p.m. sharp.

No surprise there. Like rats in a maze, most folks stuck to programmed patterns of behavior. And Pookie, the biggest rat of them all, was no exception to this rule. Dan had ridden the bumper of Layton's luxury Lexus for the past several months and, come rain or come shine, his target would cum twice a week during his "overtime" work as an investment broker.

When a jointly filed tax return failed to support Pookie's strong work ethic, Mrs. Layton got a mite suspicious. Those suspicions went right through the roof when Layton took to waxing his back. And other erogenous zones.

That was when the little woman called in the services of Daniel J. Murphy, P.I..

Though unwaxed body hair was getting to be rare as fidelity, in this case, Pookie's sudden change in grooming habits ended up biting him in his newly smooth ass. Sloppy justifications to explain things like waxing to people like suspicious wives made cheating the lucrative business it was today. Some of the millions generated in revenue went to bribe motel owners. Like the one whose palm Dan had greased in advance of installing long-range night vision cameras with built-in LED capabilities in Room 503, the suite the couple always used for their twice-weekly rendezvous. Another example of the creature of habit thing.

Dan grimaced at the screen. Shit. The visual went from good to grainy, a no-no in the snoop business, and he reached under the console to play with the feed. Crisp pictures and clear audio kept the client satisfied.

From the looks of his tented boxers, Pookie was looking to get a little satisfaction too.

As if on cue, the door to the motel powder room opened and out strode the cause of Layton's erectile anticipation.

Mistress Q.

Cute. Real cute. Pet names just tickled Dan silly.

With as much scripted dialogue as a porn star, the Dominatrix rolled her commendable hips toward her Slave-lover.

Showtime.

Dan blocked a yawn. Same BDSM scenario. Same cheesy props. Same sleazy, generic motel room. Only the faces of the cheaters ever changed.

Her outfit?

Could be purchased online for $59.95, plus shipping. This price included the usual black vinyl short-shorts, with matching low-cut bustier and thigh-high boots.

His studded dog collar?

Mass-produced. Corner drugstores carried them, no plain brown wrapper necessary.

Yes indeedy, kink had become a real snooze.

But, as they said in the snoop biz, an eight-by-ten glossy was worth thousands in guilt bucks, and so Dan propped open his eyelids in an effort to stay awake.

Finally, they were getting down to it. Geez, what took them so long? A little hardcore action was about to roll. Mistress Q was towing her bad boy by his leash to the bed.

Dan checked his watch. Maybe, he'd get home in time to watch March Madness on the tube after all.

Hurry up, Pookie. What other incentive do you need?

A real knockout to begin with, Mistress Q adhered to bi-weekly Pilates to keep the merchandise toned. Botox injections and cosmetic surgery filled in what nature had left out. Her boobs weren't real, but his screaming "O's" were golden. In a cosmic sort of way, it all evened out in the end. And in the end was where Pookie preferred taking it. What a vibrator set on high failed to achieve, a supple leather whip did.

And the Dominatrix was happy to oblige. Tossing her head like a sex kitten, her mane of bottle-red hair scattering, the fake boobs hardly stirring above her low-cut bustier, Mistress Q slapped Layton's hairless backside and he fell face-down on the mattress, coils protesting.

Uh-oh. Squeaking springs compromised sound quality.

To compensate for the background static, Dan retuned the sensitive equipment in time to record the unfurling of Mistress Q's all-important fashion accessory.

Crack! Down came her whip, Layton's every ecstatic moan, groan and whimper captured on tape for posterity. Hard proof, like the kind Dan provided, broke divorce cases wide open. A few telling candid shots could mitigate hours of lawyerly bamboozling and tip the divorce settlement in the aggrieved spouse's favor.

Layton craved humiliation?

Dan would give him plenty. Right in his pocket pookie.

His wife would be pleased. A P.I.'s successful endgame resulted in fatter alimony payouts. The same went for property disbursement - the house, the car, and Gerry the Gerbil. And not to forget that incriminating evidence put a better spin on who got custody of the kids.

Mistress Q had two. Mr. Layton had four. Had the cheaters let those innocent bystanders slip their minds?

Dan couldn't. Christ. Six messed up childhoods.

As the video feed rolled across the screen, he looked away.

Private investigation was dirty. And, man, he hated sitting in a parked van, behind one skuzzy motel after another, voyeuristically watching people screw up their lives. But up to his dick in debt, he had no other choice but to wrap up this case tonight and start in on a new snoop next week, another assignment sure to chip away at whatever integrity he had left.

He didn't have much pride remaining, not after quitting the Boston Police Department.

Dan shook his head. What the hell. With his lousy attitude, he would've eventually gotten his ass fired for insubordination anyway. His resignation had just made things easier for everyone concerned.

Except him.

No bellyaching. At the time, when it was going down, he'd done what he'd had to do and, if the circumstances were unchanged, he'd do the same thing all over again.

Except, maybe that part about him becoming a raging drunk. Maybe he'd skip that

After quitting the BPD, he'd made love to the bottle for over a year. Busy drinking himself comatose, he'd nearly lost the house. Did lose the furniture. Loan sharks knew his name well, and they wielded mean baseball bats. Oh, those Vegas gambling debts, how they did rack up. His kneecaps rode on completing this assignment. Miss a payment on his debt, and he'd play B-ball next season from a wheelchair. What was he supposed to do?

Fuck, not this. Not with six kids involved.

With a sigh for another lost commission, Dan flicked the erase button on the control panel, turned off the recorder, and drove off.

Terry Walsh smoothed a hand over the neat pile of hats and mittens she'd ticketed with the new prices for the shop's End of Season sale, irresistibly drawn to a knitted design called "Faithful." And for a good reason. The intertwining stitches, closely joined and tightly secured, formed a repeating pattern that never strayed. An old-fashioned style, an old-fashioned sentiment. If only she believed in it.

While stroking the nubby weave with her black-polished nails, she let her gaze wander to a gold-edged card propped up against the gooseneck light at her counter workstation.

Crap. She still hadn't returned the Rotary Club invitation, and the dance at the Park Plaza Hotel was that coming night. Why had she kept putting off the RSVP's return?

Her intentions had been good. She'd meant to return the card. The day before yesterday, during a lull in customers, she'd even left Donna, her part-time seasonal employee, in charge of the cash register while she went to the post office. But she just couldn't let go of the invitation, couldn't drop the RSVP inside the mailbox slot. She'd actually hovered by the chute a full minute, just standing there, before returning to her shop with the unsent envelope. Was that weird or what?

Terry lovingly patted the woolen mitten she'd knitted. "At this late date, what choice do I have? I'll have to go. Rude not to go."

"Did you say something?" Donna asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself, same as usual." Terry replied, staring at the mitten, fingering the mitten, caressing the mitten. What was up with her and the mitten?

Terry reluctantly dropped the glove. "You know, Donna, it's almost closing time."

"TGIF, huh?"

"Yep, l-o-n-g week." Terry fluffed a man's knitted cap, rearranging the festive pom-poms decorating the pointy top of the hat. Everything in the display case had to look just right. "Tell you what, since you're my best employee -"

Donna snorted. "I'm you're only employee."

"That, too. And because you're my best and only employee, I'll finish tagging the merchandise for the mid-season sale." Terry fluffed the hat some more. "You run along. Start your weekend early."

"I'm not about to argue with the boss. How 'bout you? Any plans for tonight?"

"The Rotary Club dance at the Park Plaza." Looking over at her employee, Terry rolled her eyes.

"You never said a word about that dance. Not until right now. I assumed you weren't going." Donna whipped off her hot pink smock, a one-size-fits-all variety with "KNITTERS' NOOK" emblazoned across the front pocket, hung it on a wall hook and then pulled on her coat. "I mean, no insult intended, but you don't go out a lot. All you ever do is - well - knit."

"I dance too."

"You do, Theresa?" Donna asked incredulously.

Her employee was a real ego boost. Not! "Upon occasion, yes."

Donna shook her head. "You must lead a whole secret life I know nothing about."

"That's me, all right, the Mystery Woman." Terry forced out a laugh. "Actually I just now decided to go to the Plaza tonight. A spur of the moment decision. That's why I never mentioned the dance to you," she lied, stroking, stroking, alternately stroking, the hat and the same pair of mittens.

"The Plaza - how exciting. And all I'm doing tonight is going to the North End for pizza with Tony. Same-old, same-old." Donna lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "At any rate, have fun. Tell me all about your night tomorrow. What you wore, who you talked to, who you danced with. You know, girl talk."

No, Terry didn't know. She'd never learned how to do "girl talk." But early on, she had learned how to slip into character - any character - and fake it. She was good at it too. If Donna expected gossip, Terry would supply the juicy conversation. Just like always, she would pretend to be just like everyone else.

"Peace out," Donna called racing out the door, the bell tinkling in her wake.

All alone in the shop, Terry traced the palm of the knitted mitten with a tentative finger. Perhaps tonight she'd meet a special someone at the charity function. Perhaps they'd dance. Perhaps he'd even bring her back to his place...

Where she'd fuck his brains out.

She hadn't gotten any in a while, and this time might be different than all those other times. Anything was possible, Terry conceded, holding the empty mitten like a lover's hand.