Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven – The Judgment-Only Zone

As the group moved through the hallway towards the main hall on the second floor, Robert moved out forward attempting to clear any areas where a perpetrator could be hiding. The others stopped for a moment and watched him do this and Gabe turned his head around and muttered softly to Kelly and Chloe, "Remind me why we're coming out here again?"

"To catch the killer," sneered Carl sarcastically.

"Shut up," commanded Kelly in a stern whisper, bringing her hammer close to Carl's face, "No talking!"

Carl smiled in reply, "You really are adorable."

Kelly grinned back as if to say "thanks."

"Quiet!" hushed Bibi.

Then Robert came back over to them and announced, "The coast is clear. Follow me," and he led them into the second hallway where Robert and Gabe checked all of the doors. There were four bedrooms and a laundry room. None of them were familiar as none had been assigned to any of the people standing there. The laundry room was open, but the bedrooms were all locked.

"I'm going to kick open the doors," said Robert to Bibi, "I need you to cover me with your weapon." He turned to Gabe, "You stand keep watch on the thug, here."

Gabe and Bibi nodded.

Gabe relieved Chloe from guard duty on Carl, and held his arm tightly in one hand while he gripped the axe in his other. The whole group braced for the noise of the door breaking.

The first door was kicked open and Robert flew inside. He rushed in and searched, while the others covered him outside, but he quickly returned after finding nothing. The second and third rooms were the same. He then moved over to the fourth.

Gabe noticed that the room had a certain feeling about it that made some of the hairs on his arms stand up when Robert touched the doorknob. But there was no backing down now. He took a deep breath and readied himself for whatever was inside.

"Oh my God!" he heard Bibi exclaim.

He looked inside and right there in front of him on the floor was a large muscular man at the foot of the bed, wearing only underwear. His face was not immediately recognizable as it was covered with blood. In fact the head was lying in a large pool of blood on the carpet. The body was still and motionless and next to it was the S&M paddle, bloody and covered with small bits of hair and flesh. The man, who was unquestionably Dominic, had been apparently bludgeoned several times with the paddle, and his skull was completely crushed on one side.

The next thing Gabe noticed was another body tied to the bed, a woman's. Although her face appeared to be covered with a plastic bag, it was apparent that the body was Madeline's. She appeared to have been suffocated with the bag. She didn't appear to be breathing or moving at all. Her hands were tied together over her head to one of the bedposts and her body was stripped naked.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Dominic and Madeline, I presume?" said Bibi as she moved inside the room, getting close to the victims but not too close.

"Yeah," replied Robert grimly, as he quickly checked Madeline's pulse.

"Is she dead?" asked Kelly from the hallway.

"Yeah," growled Robert, "And there's no question about him."

"Was she...um...raped?" Kelly couldn't quite finish the question.