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Sue was cautious. In theory, breaking into an empty
apartment was a fairly easy thing to do. But if the
windows were locked she would have to force them. That
might be noisy so she had to be careful. And dogs and
cats always meant trouble. For some strange reason they
could see her. At first she put it down to their acuity
of smell. Then, one time she snuck into her professor's
house to check on some exam questions he was writing.
After all, there was no sense in studying the wrong
material.
It was a pleasant house near Jersey City. She was about
to open a French door to check out his pool when she
noticed an Alsatian looking right at her. The creature
was evidently not pleased. The door was double glazed
and she floated in the air, making no noise. Yet the
dog watched her as she rose to the ceiling and then,
as a test, moved a little to the left, then to the right.
Nowadays she was always on the lookout for animals.
And, of course, Doberman's apartment was not empty this
evening, that was the whole point. So she had to keep
very quiet.
In the event, she needn't have worried. A large window
was open and she flew right inside and waited for signs
of life. She seemed to be in a dark dining room. There
was silence. She waited. More silence. Then she heard
muted, angry words far off in the apartment.
She moved cautiously out into the hallway. It was richly
decorated, like an expensive hotel. There were antique
chairs spaced at intervals. The doors were spaced far
apart suggesting that the rooms behind them were large.
One door was open. It spilled soft red light out into
the hall. She could hear a woman's voice, speaking sternly.
"? you dumb shit," the voice said.
Then she heard two sounds. The first was a sort of
'thwack'. Sue didn't like it at all. The second was
a kind of strangled cry that turned into a sob at the
end. She heard both noises again, in the same order.
Sue felt her pulse was racing.
Thwack. Thwack.
Susan took the camera from her pocket and checked the
battery. It was full. Quietly she switched it on and
checked that it was working.
Thwack. "Nnnnnngh."
Susan was just two feet from the bedroom door now.
She was careful to be quiet but she had a feeling that
no one in the bedroom would notice if she made noise.
She brought the camera up to eye level, edged forward,
and finally rounded the doorpost for her first glimpse
of the room. What she saw almost made her gasp out loud.
Doberman was lying on the bed face down. His arms and
legs were bare. His torso was covered by a lacy purple
one-piece suit that almost, but not quite, fit him.
His wrists and ankles were handcuffed and tied to the
bed posts with thick braided rope.
Over him stood a woman dressed in very plain pajamas
and carpet slippers. She was not overweight really,
she was just very large. She had broad shoulders and
wide hips. She held a riding crop, which she brought
down on him sharply. He screamed. She told him to shut
up and hit him again.
Sue floated into the room to get a better view. She
took some footage of the woman and the whip, then she
filmed Doberman, dropping down to get a shot of his
gritted teeth as the next blow struck.
The woman finally laid down the whip and opened a knife.
She brought it down to Doberman's shoulder, grabbed
the straps of the teddy and roughly cut it from his
body.
"You're worthless," she hissed. "You're
pathetic. Don't expect to lay a hand on me. Not for
a long time. Understand? No one loses as much goddam
money as you. Do they?"
He made a noise that might have meant "I don't
know."
"You screwed up at the last company. We lost the
boat. Now you get a golden opportunity to make some
real money and you blow that too, you dumb loser."
She grabbed the whip and brought it sharply down onto
his legs. Then she stroked his neck tenderly, and whispered
"I think you need more motivation."
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