Page 80 of The Lost Bones
They looked at each other. Mackenzie’s nerves sizzled. In all their years together, they had never stepped so boldly out of line. The worst Mackenzie had done was work on a lead when she was supposed to be on leave. But this was drastic and something they couldn’t come back from.
There were many reasons not to do this. But the fear of having another dead body on her hands, sacrificed in her name, was a burden too heavy to carry.
She picked up the bag. “There’s no going back now. Let’s see this through to the end.”
Mackenzie and Nick moved the DVD player and the screen out of the conference room and into their office, away from the prying eyes of those working the graveyard shift. Nick fanned out the tapes on his desk, arranging them in chronological order. Mackenzie kept an eye on the door, realizing that closing it would draw more suspicion. Plus, the screen was angled away from it.
She didn’t like this feeling of being a rebel. It was like she was being shocked with currents every few seconds. She was jittery and resisting the urge to bite her nails.
“The oldest one is from 1998.” Nick plugged the player in. “A year after DVDs first came out.”
The recording was old. The screen was frequently interrupted by static. The camera faced a faded blue couch with rips against a white wall. A few seconds in, an attractive woman dressed in a white blouse and denim skirt came in from the side and sat on the couch, smiling shyly. A man stood in front of her, only his lower half visible. They were talking, but there was no sound.
“It’s probably because the tape is so old…” Nick said, but then his voice faded and his face went pink. The woman was now performing oral sex on the man. “Okay, we’re done watching this.”
“It’s a porn film? Why would anyone go to such lengths to hide that?”
“Let’s play a more recent one.” He selected a random DVD. “This is from a year ago.”
It was the same routine. The same blue couch against the wall. Another pretty girl, in a dress this time. And an anonymous man standing in front of her. Except this time, there was audio.
“Look, I got contacts in this industry. It’s a hard one to break into. It’s just something everyone does, you know?”
“Do you recognize the voice?” Mackenzie asked.
Nick shook his head. “The quality isn’t the best. But it doesn’t sound like Hamilton.”
The girl swallowed hard and hugged her chest. “I don’t know… I’m not… It just feels weird.”
“It’s your choice,” the man said coolly. “I don’t want to force you. I’m not a bad guy. I just find you really beautiful and would like to be with you.”
The girl squirmed, biting her lips and rubbing her palms together.
“If you want me to help you, I would need something in return, right?” he continued silkily. “But there’s no pressure. If you don’t want to, then I wish you all the best.” He made a show of turning around, but the girl stopped him.
“Wait! Wait!” she cried with glassy eyes. “Okay. Okay. I’ll do it. Just once, right?”
“Yes.”
“And will you be…” she paused, “gentle?”
He cupped her chin. “Of course. I’m not a monster.”
They proceeded to have sex. The man’s face was never visible on the camera.
“So Hamilton is a porn addict?” Nick said, bemused. “Can’t you find this kind of stuff on the internet now?”
Mackenzie watched the video with a clinical eye. Nick had a point. It made no sense for Hamilton to collect porn DVDs from the last twenty years and hide them in a storage unit. But then it hit her like a punch to the gut.
The girl didn’t look at the camera even once.
“This is not porn,” she said, blood draining from her face. “This is real. These girls were lured into having sex and recorded secretly.”
FORTY-ONE
APRIL 22
Mackenzie stood in front of her weeping willow. It was her favorite thing in the garden. Over the last two years, she had neglected everything else but this tree. The grass was overgrown and uneven. Weeds had taken over the frayed flower beds. But the willow stood strong and absolute. Dramatic, with its long branches falling into an arch just touching the ground. She stepped under the canopy, relishing the light green leaves with silver undersides. As the sun began to climb up the sky, light leaked through the falling branches. She was shielded from the outside world. Inside a bubble where she could think more clearly.
