Tainted Love

Prologue

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted and distributed in any printed or electronic form, by any means, without the written permission of the author.

This is a book of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

M / Mature Readers: This book contains language and sexual situations that my not be appropriate for young readers.

Copyright © 2013 by Queen All Rights Reserved

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Prologue

In the dark of night, a ferry raced across the ocean, heading toward an island in the distance. Upon arrival, a police car exited. Occupying the car were two detectives from the Solomon Island Police Department.

"Williams sounded strange on the phone." The man spoke with a Caribbean accent. "This case has gotten to him. I hope he hasn't called us out here on a wild goose chase."

"You know Williams wouldn't do that," Mann said, with disgust in his voice. "We've known him for years. He must be onto something to call us way out here in the middle of the night."

Letting the conversation drop, he turned and tried to look out of his window through the thick night's fog. Their car headlights were on bright but they still couldn't see the road ahead of them. Soon, they came out of the forest into a clearing. An enormous house appeared.

"Well, I'll be damned." He smiled at his partner.

"Williams might have been onto something." Mann looked at the mansion concealed inside the deep fog. The house looked old and menacing.

"I have a bad feeling about this," said Jones as they pulled up to the house and got out with their weapons drawn. The two detectives proceeded with caution to the large oak doors of the house. The fog cleared enough for them to see better. As Jones knocked on the door, it opened on contact. Mann looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, and pushed the doors open. "We need to find Williams and get the hell out of here!" Jones whispered.

"We should split up. You look around down here and I'll look upstairs."

Mann nodded his head. As he eased down the hall, his stomach turned. His instincts said something was wrong. He stopped at the first set of doors and turned the knob. The latch clicked and the door swung open. Mann stepped inside a room that was clearly an office. A few feet inside, he noticed someone on the floor

"Oh my God!" Mann ran over to the person and turned the body over. It was a black woman in her fifties. Mann checked for a pulse. He wasn't shocked to find that she didn't have one. It was too late for her. He shook his head as he rose to his feet. "What the hell is going on here?" He looked around the room for more clues.

Meanwhile, as Jones reached the top of the stairs, he got a bad vibe. He knew this wasn't going to be good.

"Where is Williams?"

On his right were a set of closed doors. He tried the knob; the door was locked. Taking a step back, Mann kicked in the door. He walked into a grand dining room. The table had been set for a nine-course meal. He moved closer to have a better look.

There were two plates at each end of the table. One was perfect, the food was still warm. The other had been knocked all over the table and floor. Jones reached in his pocket to retrieve a pair of latex gloves. A knocked-over wine glass caught his eye. The red wine that stained the white silk tablecloth still dripped on the hardwood floor. He picked up the wine glass and held it in the air. He saw brown lipstick on the rim. Jones sat the glass back down on the table where he found it. When Jones finished his search, he returned to the hallway where he met up with his partner.

"Someone made a big mess in the dining room." As Jones talked, Mann made his way to something in the hall. He stood over a red stain on the cream carpet.

"Is this what I think it is?" Jones joined him.

"Don't know. What do you think it is?"

"Blood." Jones nodded his head. Small droplets of blood led to and away from the spot. Mann followed the trail to more closed doors.

"I bet you anything there's another body behind that door."

The detectives entered the room. As sure as the sky is blue, another body lay on the floor in a pool of blood. It was the man the two detectives were looking for. They raced to his side. Mann checked his pulse.

"It's weak. Call for the ambulance. Hang in there, Williams, help is on the way." With his bloody hand, Williams grabbed his arm. He lifted his head and tried to speak.

"Did you... find..." Williams gasped for air.

"Did we find who?" Jones asked.

"The... girl?"

"You shouldn't be trying to talk. Save your strength." Mann told his friend.

"You have...to find her...before...it's too late." His head fell to the floor.

Williams wasn't going to be able to help them. Mann stood and pulled out his gun. Both of the men cocked their weapons and continued their search. In a bedroom, they found a young woman who had been shot. She was lying on her back in a small pool of blood. Her dress had been ripped. Both men looked at each other and hoped this was who Williams was talking about. He looked at the color of her lipstick.

"It's her!" Jones said, as he bent down next to her. "Her pulse is weaker than Williams'. If someone doesn't make it here fast, neither of them are going to make it!" He took a good look at the woman's face. "My God, what happen to her?" Black, red and purple bruises covered her body. He looked at Mann as he continued to search the room. That's when they heard the sound of the helicopter. "Hold on, lady, help is on the way."

"Hey, Jones I need you to come here for a minute." Mann stood on the other side of the room. "We have another one." He stood over the body of a large black man who was face-down on the floor. The man's shirt was covered in blood. It looked like the man had been beaten to death.

"What the hell is going on? We have one dead body downstairs and two unconscious people. The woman hardly has a pulse. Now we find this one. Is he alive?"

Mann checked his pulse. "He's like the other ones." By that time, the paramedics had reached upstairs.

"Hello! Is there anyone here?" One of the paramedics yelled as he came up the hall.

"We're in here!" Jones yelled. Mann raced outside to get the paramedics He returned with two men.

"Okay, what do we have here?"

"We have two gunshot victims. This woman and the detective in the next room," Jones said.

"Carl, go with him and check the detective. Do you know what happened here?" the paramedic asked.

"No. We haven't been able to talk to anyone," said Jones.

The paramedic put on a pair of gloves to assess the damage to the woman. The medic tried to stop the bleeding. After he got the bleeding under control, he took a small plastic tube out of his bag. He snapped it in the middle and put it up under the young woman's nose. The woman started to move her head. Her eyes opened.

"Can you tell me where you are, ma'am? How many fingers am I holding up?" The man held up three fingers.

"You have to help...me find him. He is going to...kill him. Please..." She drifted back and forth between a conscious and unconscious state. She started to cry. "You promised you wouldn't... hit me anymore."

"Whoever did this drugged her." The medic took a light, opened the woman's eyes and looked at her pupils. Her eyes were fixed and dilated. "She's out of it. I don't know if she's going to be able to answer any of your questions."

"Can you hear me, Ms?" She slowly nodded her head. "My name is Detective Jones. Do you know what happened here?" Jones said.