The Old Men's Sex Club Murders Page 7

“How about the same restaurant?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Rob answered. “What time?”

  “I have to do some work tonight for a client. I’m doing some translating on the side. So I’m going to be up pretty late. How about lunch? Say 12:30 or so.”

  “Sounds fine,” Paul answered.

  “Oh, hi, Paul,” Christos said. “I assume it’s Paul.”

  “It is,” the older man answered. “We’re on speaker so we can both hear.”

  “No problem.”

  “So we’re all set then?” Paul asked.

  “Right. See you tomorrow,” Christos said.

  It was 12:30 on the nose when Rob and Paul arrived. “Dr. Barton and…Mr. McKenzie, is it?” the hostess greeted them.

  “Just plain Rob will do.”

  “And Dr. Barton sounds so formal. Let’s just make it Paul.”

  She gave them a big smile. “Are you meeting a young man named Christos?”

  “We are,” Paul answered.

  “He’s arrived early and is waiting for you on the patio. Come on, I’ll escort you to his table.”

  “Sorry,” Christos said as the hostess led them to where he was seated. “Got here early. Very early.” He shrugged. “I know you said I’m no longer a suspect, but I started to feel…jumpy, I guess, is the best word. Couldn’t keep pacing around the living room any longer, so here I am.”

  “Sorry,” Rob said, “we didn’t mean to worry you.”

  “Christos, what we want to ask is if you saw anything unusual when you were at the gym the night Harvey was murdered.

  “But didn’t I come after that? I mean, you and Rob and Mr. Carlton were there, right?”

  “And Harvey’s body had already been picked up,” Paul said. “But we thought that the murderer may have hung round just t see what happened.”

  “Why would somebody do that?” Christos asked.

  “Why would someone commit the sort of murder he did?” Paul asked.

  “So you’re implying he hung around just to see what happened.”

  “We figured,” Rob said, “that a person like the murderer must be really mentally ill and might do it just for kicks.”

  “For kicks?”

  “To see how others reacted. To see what happened to Harvey’s body. Or simply to gloat about how smart he is and how dumb everyone else is,” Paul answered.

  Christos frowned. “Why would you think that?”

  Rob pulled a piece of paper from his shirt pocket. “Because of this.” He handed the paper to Christos. It was the note that someone had left at Rob’s condo.

  “So this has to be the killer, you think?” Christos asked.

  “Can’t see any other reason for a not like this,” Rob said.

  Christos looked up. “So this means it has to be one of the members of the sex club.”

  “Why do you say that?” Paul asked.

  “It’s pretty obvious. Who else would know you’re involved in this? Who else would know where Rob lives and even that you two are…are now lovers.”

  “I’m sure you’re right, yet it could be someone who worked for us.”

  Suddenly, Christos tensed. “Like me.”

  “No,” Paul assured him. “You’re above suspicion?”

  “May I ask why I’m above suspicion…or at least am no longer a suspect.”

  Rob gave him a reassuring smile. “Your reaction to the new of Mr. Winton’s death was too genuine to be faked.”

  “I’m certainly glad about that. But what did I do that makes you say that?”

  “We doubt anyone could make his face drain completely of color as yours did when we told you about Harvey,” Paul said.

  “I’m relieved. Even though you said you didn’t suspect me anymore, I felt…vulnerable. Maybe fragile is a better word.”

  “I’m sorry,” Rob said. “We didn’t intend that.”

  “So you think I may have seen something?” Christos said.

  “Possibly,” Paul said.

  “But I don’t remember anything out of the ordinary.”

  “Maybe something that hardly registered,” Paul said.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know, Christos. Maybe if we take you step by step through the time you approached the gym to the time you left.”

  “Ran away, you mean? When my courage went one way, and I went another?”

  “I wouldn’t put it that harshly,” Paul answered. “But let’s start with how you arrived in the area.”

  “That’s easy. I took the subway and then walked. As you probably know, it’s only three blocks from here to a subway entrance.”

  “Okay,” Paul continued. “You walked to the gym.”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you see anything unusual along the way?”

  “What sort of thing.”

  “Unusual activity?” Paul said. “Anyone doing anything strange?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding. This is New York. The Big Apple, right?” He glanced from Paul to Rob. “You might expect anything here—from someone urinating on the sidewalk to panhandlers to street performers to who knows what.”

  “Too true,” Paul answered.

  “I have a suggestion,” Rob said. The other two looked his way. “Why not take us along with you on the walk from the subway to the gym.”

  Christos frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Remember back and try to think of everything you saw after you left the subway. Anything at all. And tell Paul and me what you saw. That may even spur your memory.”

  Christos sighed. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt.”

  “Who knows what you might think of?” Rob said.

  Christos shrugged. “Okay. I was sitting in the middle of the car, far side. Just before the stop, I stood up. I glanced, as you sometimes do, at the others sitting nearby. There were a couple of teenagers bent over a radio, snapping their fingers, and moving their upper bodies. A woman with a small child—a girl, I think—maybe two years old. I wondered why she was out so late.” He broke off. “This is silly. It was just a group of people, like any you might find on the subway.”

  “Keep going,” Paul said.

  “All right, but I don’t think it’s going to help.” He closed his eyes a moment, as if in concentration. “I’ve rarely ridden the subway so late, so I was surprised that people were still on the street.”

  “How many?” Rob asked.

  Again, Christos shrugged. “A few homeless people—old clothes, a couple of them lying on flattened cardboard boxes. Out of the way. Hmmm. Let’s see, there was an old man still panhandling, or trying to. Everyone was giving him a wide berth. I turned the corner and started down toward the gym. The sidewalks were totally deserted there. Which seems a little unusual, no matter that it was late. And that’s it as far as I can remember— Wait a minute.”

  “What is it?” Paul asked.

  “There was this man.”

  “What man?” Rob asked.

  “It was less than half a block from the gym.”

  “Can you describe him?”

  “Man, I’d forgotten all about him. Can I describe him? Yes, to a degree. It was one of those peripheral things where you don’t pay much attention. But he was standing there, his back to the street. When he saw me, he turned around—as if he were trying to find a taxi or something.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Not really, except he was wearing this oversized raincoat. Like a homeless person might. But he seemed too…I don’t know…maybe self-assured or something to be homeless.”

  “You never know,” Paul said. “It might have been someone who had been fired, who’d had his property foreclosed. Whatever. What else? What did he look like physically?”

  “I had the impression that he was perhaps middle-aged. Early middle age.”

  “What made you think that?” Rob asked.

  “The way he moved. Not like a teenager, for instance, nor like an older man either.”

  “Then w
hat did he do?”

  “Strangely enough,” he hurried across the street almost into the path of a car.”

  “What do you think, Rob?” Paul asked. “Could this be our murderer?”

  “I hate to jump to conclusions, but it certainly seems like he could be.”

  “You can’t think of anything else about him?” Paul asked.

  “No…except, this is weird. He glanced back at me a couple of times. I couldn’t really see his face. But something about his movements led me to believe he was playing some sort of game. Looking back to see if I was following. Pausing twice to turn around and almost challenge me to follow.”

  “But you have no idea who it could have been?” Paul asked.

  “None at all. Except that I could tell he wasn’t fat. He didn’t move at all like an overweight person.”

  Paul’s cell phone rang. “Yes?”

  “So has Christos told you all about seeing me near the gym?”

  “It’s him,” Paul said before turning back to the phone.

  “It is ‘he,’ English professor. See, I told you I was smarter than you.”

  Paul laughed scornfully. “Without a doubt. You’re very smart, and I have a very low IQ.”

  “Are you making fun of me?”

  “Wouldn’t think of it,” Paul answered. “So what do you want?”

  “To gloat a little, nothing more.”

  “Well, then, I suppose I might as well hang up.”

  “Now wait a minute.”

  “Now what?”

  “I called to warn you. Are you interested?”

  “I’m tired of your games.

  “Just one more thing.”

  “I’m losing my patience.”

  “All right then. I just wanted to tell you that someone in the club better be careful. Very, very careful. At least for the next three or four days.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know? All I’ll let you in on is that one of the members of the club could be in very great danger.”

  “In danger from what?”

  “Don’t be naïve.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Just think of Harvey, dearly departed Harvey.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  The man laughed.

  “Who are you?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know? You and your little investigator?” Abruptly, he disconnected.

  Paul closed the phone and slipped it into his pocket.

  “What did he say?” Rob asked.

  “Said he wanted to warn us that another member of the club was in danger and should be very careful for the next few days.”

  “My God, he didn’t say who?”

  “No. He only implied that the person would be murdered, just as Harvey was.”

  “He has to be insane,” Christos said.I

  “The first thing we need to do is let Dale know. He’ll have to contact all the members.”

  “Do you think the killer will follow through with the threat?” Rob asked.

  Chapter 12

  Rob was scheduled to spend the evening with Clyde Smithton at the Old Men’s Sex club, something he dreaded. Of all those in the group Smithton, a child psychologist, was the one of the two he didn’t especially like. He had no reason he could figure out for not liking him. It was something about his personality. Too grating maybe; too insensitive. Too much into pain. And yet he was a psychologist.

  Funny how his perceptions had changed since the night he had sex with the members at the meeting of the Old Men’s Sex Club. Then everything had been exciting. With them and with Mr. Carlton ahead of time it had meant that all his sexual fantasies had been fulfilled, and then some. But then there was Paul. Meeting him and being with him had changed everything. Now he had no desire to be with anyone else—a complete switch.

  Rob was especially averse to participating in S&M or any type of torture, when earlier he’d wanted to be controlled, hurt, humiliated. No longer. So there was the problem with Smithton and others, largely Victor Ramsey who’d unexpectedly punched him so hard in the cock and balls that he doubled over in pain. Once he recovered, he was excited and highly attracted to Ramsey and to the others who beat or tortured him.

  So it was with trepidation that he accompanied Paul to the gym that evening.

  “Don’t worry,” Paul told him. I’ll be right behind the lockers. If he tries anything—”

  “I know you will, Paul. It’s just that I’m leery when it comes to Smithton. I don’t really know why. It seems there’s something…‘off’ about him.

  “Don’t most mental health workers have a reputation for being a little crazy themselves? I’m kidding, of course.”

  “There may be a grain of truth there, though I have little experience with psychologists or psychiatrists.”

  “You’ll be okay,” Paul reassured him. “I’ll be only few steps away.”

  “Okay,” Rob said and gave Paul a smile.

  When Smithton arrived, Rob felt awkward and didn’t know exactly how to react. He hadn’t felt that way with the other men.”

  While Smithton undressed, Rob hesitated and then realized he had no choice but to go ahead with the charade of having sex with him. Smithton folded his clothes and stood completely nude, his cock sticking straight out in front of him.

  “Is there a problem?” he asked as Rob finished undressing.

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s like you’re holding back. As if the last thing on earth you want to do is have sex with me.”

  “I’m sorry I’m coming across that way.” He folded his clothes and placed them in the locker.

  “But you don’t deny it.”

  “I suppose I’m still upset about Mr. Winton. He was a good man.”

  “You sure you didn’t just like what he did to you?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “I’m suggesting that it wasn’t the man himself whom you liked, but the torture.”

  “I’ll admit I liked the torture. But more than that I liked Mr. Winton. He was a decent man.”

  “Who just happened to like to beat the shit out of you.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re being so negative about him.”

  “Oh, you don’t? Well, maybe you should rethink your attitude. Winton is dead. It’s over and done with. Nothing anyone can do to bring him back.”

  Rob felt his temper flare. “You’re all heart, aren’t you?”

  Smithton’s face darkened. “What was that?”

  “I apologize,” Rob told him. “I had no right to say that.”

  “No you didn’t. And now you’re going to suffer. You think last time was bad when I raped you. Well, this time is going to be lot worse.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You didn’t notice this, did you?” He pulled a giant dildo out of his locker.

  “You’re not going to—”

  “Oh, but I am. And there’s nothing you can do about it, you piece of shit.”

  “Now wait a minute.” Rob was both frightened and angry. Smithton was a powerful man with a gym-toned body and then some.

  “No, you wait a minute. I’m going to shove this dildo so far up you all it will come out your mouth. And you know I’m not one to take it easy.”

  “I’m not going to let you do that.”

  “I’m afraid you don’t have any choice. Now turn the fuck around.” Smithton grabbed Rob by the shoulders and spun him around. “Ready or not, here it comes!” he taunted.

  Rob tried to break free but the grip was too powerful. Where was Paul? he wondered. And what could he do anyhow?

  Smithton shoved Rob so hard against the massage table that his abdomen hit the edge, and the impact slammed his chest into the top. It hurt like hell.

  “Allie, allie in free,” Smithton taunted as he raised his arm with the dildo and prepared to shove it hard up Rob’s ass.

  “All right, Clyde, that’s en
ough.”

  “What the hell are you doing here?” His voice had almost a whine to it. “It’s against the rule. No one is to spy on anyone else.”

  “It’s also against the rules to do what you were about to do.”

  Smithton shrugged. “Okay, I overreacted. But did you hear what this piece of shit said to me?”

  “I did indeed,” Paul answered. “And moreover I agree with him.”

  “Oh, you do. Well, the members are going to hear about this.”

  “Both sides, in fact, Clyde. Both sides.”

  It as if a switch were turned off. Smithton suddenly smiled, a sunny smile. Guileless. “Okay, I admit I was wrong. So can we just forget about what happened?”

  “Not sure about that, Clyde.”

  “What is this garbage? Oh, I know. You and Robbie boy are playing detective, trying to find out who murdered poor Harvey. And I don’t mean that sarcastically. I miss Harvey.” He turned to Rob. “And if you want to know the truth, I too think he was a good man.”

  “But why did—”

  “I react as I did?” He shrugged. “Each of us deals with grief in his own way. That’s what I tell my patients who’ve lost a parent or grandparent. My way was to act like Mr. Tough Guy.”

  “Okay,” Paul answered. “But I think your evening with Rob is over.”

  “What can I say? I’m a human being, as well as a psychologist. I have flaws like anyone else. But I promise you I won’t lose control again.” He held out a hand to Paul, who hesitated and then shook it. “Rob,” Smithton said. “I apologize both for what I said and what I intended to do. Though the truth of the matter is that I doubt I would have followed through with it. It was more a threat than an actual—”

  Rob didn’t believe him, but still shook his hand. He just wanted the evening to be over with.

  “So what do you think?” Rob asked as he and Paul relaxed with a beer back at the condo. It was only about 8:30 or so.

  “About Clyde?” He took a deep breath. “It was certainly a different side of him than I’ve seen before.”

  “In what way?”

  “Totally lacking in control,” it seemed. “Yes, he’s into rape, but never anything so harsh as to threaten anyone like he did. Where in the hell did he get that dildo and why?”

  “You think he planned the entire time to use it?”