Necro Files: Two Decades of Extreme Horror

bullshit, okay? If this has to do with work, and I’m sure it does, some asshole planted some shit on my computer and got me fired for it!”

The African-American cop cleared his throat. “Um, excuse me, sir, but we realize the allegations against you probably are trumped up, but still …”

Dennis looked at the officers with numbing horror. “You mean …”

“Do you mind if we look around a little bit?”

Dennis was just about to say no when an alarm went off in his head. To say no now would only spell trouble down the road. They’d get a search warrant and he might not be able to get the tapes out of his safe. If he let them poke around they might not even see the safe, much less ask to see what was inside. Ditto on his briefcase. He sighed. “Go ahead.”

As the two officers poked around his living room, he herded Carrie into the kitchen. Carrie’s eyes were wide and scared-looking. “Dennis, what’s going on?”

He told her. Not about his recent Internet activities, nor his deviant pornography addiction, but about his being fired from his job. He told her Bob Lansing had been out to get him for a long time now, and that he was fairly sure Bob had gotten that information planted on his computer. Carrie swallowed the story, hook, line, and sinker. “And now he’s trying to get you arrested? Why, that’s outrageous!”

“I know,” Dennis said, his voice low and trembling. It just occurred to him that whoever had complained about him at work was now anonymously calling the police. Whoever it was, they wanted to get him bad. “And that’s why we’re going to fight this thing tooth and nail.”

The police didn’t search for very long. After poking around the living room, the den, and his study and bedroom for a few minutes, they emerged looking sheepish. “Sorry to have troubled you, Mr. and Mrs. Hillman.”

“No problem,” Dennis said, seeing them out the door.

By the time he stowed his briefcase away and began to undress, Carrie was getting steamed about the whole incident. “I can’t believe somebody would stoop so low just to have you fired. That’s outrageous! I bet it was that Bob Lansing; he’s been envious of you ever since you got that position. I wouldn’t put it past him to come up with something like this. In fact—”

Dennis grinned as he changed into casual clothes. As long as he had Carrie believing him, he was home free.

* * *

The following day he left the house dressed in usual business attire. With Carrie knowing he was now unemployed, it would be easier to keep odd hours. Giving her the illusion he was job hunting was his chief source of cover. She left at her usual time this morning, carting the kids to school on her way to her job as an executive secretary, while Dennis dressed and made phone calls to prospective employers. When they were gone, he went to his study and extracted the rape tape and placed it in his briefcase. Then he left the house.

Harvey Ponozzo had left a message on his cell phone last night and instructed him on where they were to meet today to make the drop-off for the tape. Dennis returned the call late last night, telling Harvey he would be there, and now as he made the drive to Colorado Boulevard, looking for Phan Liquor store, he hoped to have all this swept under the rug as soon as possible. Get Harvey the tape, then he could resume his life. He was positive he could get a new job soon and when he did, he wasn’t going to look at a porn magazine or website ever again. In fact, he was going to expand his job search and consider positions out of state. The further away he could get away from Los Angeles, the better.

He made the drop-off quickly. Harvey was waiting for him in his silver Mercedes and Dennis handed him a brown paper bag containing the tape. “I’ll call you later this afternoon,” Harvey said, starting his car. He pulled out of the parking slot and Dennis went back to his car, feeling as if a heavy burden had been suddenly lifted from him.

The rest of the day would have gone smoothly except for one thing.

Harvey Panozzo never called him.

Dennis began to worry about it that evening as he feigned normalcy in the den. Carrie was watching the evening news. The kids were … well, who knew where the kids were this time of the evening. Dennis made a half- hearted attempt at getting his resume updated and actually visited a pornography addicts support group on the Internet. He’d been thinking about his actions all afternoon, and how they’d affected his job and his life. He was finally coming to terms that he had a problem and he had to face it, deal with it, correct it. He still didn’t want Carrie or the kids to know about it, and he hoped that keeping it away from them while secretly trying to conquer his problem would do the trick. He still had to stay away from the stuff. He hoped Harvey Panozzo didn’t call him back.

“How’d the job search go today?” Carrie asked from her spot on the sofa.

“Good,” Dennis lied, rustling the paper. “I updated my resume, made a few phone calls. I’m hoping to get at least one interview by next week.”

“Think you’ll have something by then?” Carrie looked concerned. “Our house taxes are going to be due pretty soon. With Wendy’s college tuition coming up in Fall, it’s going to be kinda tough.”

“We’ll be fine,” Dennis said. Shit, he thought. He’d completely forgotten about the goddamn taxes. Without a job to cover him, Wendy’s college tuition was in jeopardy. The money he had in the bank was already earmarked for it. The house taxes would eat all that up.

“Are you sure?” Carrie was looking at him with concern.

Dennis smiled. “We’ll be fine, honey. I promise.”

He told himself that over and over all night until he was convinced things would be fine. And they would be. He was sure of it.

* * *

Harvey called him the following morning.

“How’d you like to make some money?” Harvey asked.

Dennis was sitting at his desk in front of his computer. He had just updated his resume and printed ten copies on nice bond paper. The Los Angeles Times Employment section was spread out in front of him and he’d circled five job descriptions that appeared to match his skills and educational background. “Doing what?” he asked. He was immediately suspicious.

“Don’t worry, it’s legit.”

“I think I can find a new job on my own,” Dennis said. “Thanks for the offer of help, though.”

“I want to help,” Harvey continued. “Like I told you a few days ago, we prefer our members be professionally employed. That includes being able to network with us, allow us to help each other.”

“I don’t think I’m interested,” Dennis said. “In fact, I’ve changed my mind about the group. I no longer want to be a member.”

“You have three more tapes in your house,” Harvey said. “The police didn’t find them yesterday, but they will if they make another visit. While possession of bestiality films are only punishable by a small fine, possession of a necrophilia film will probably carry a murder charge.”

“What are you talking about?” Dennis felt his stomach drop. My God, did Harvey call the police and have them search my house? Did he get me fired from my job? If so, how?

“The film,” Harvey continued. “The one showing that guy screwing corpses. They’re murder victims, Dennis. Unsolved murders, I might add. The man in the videos is a hardcore junkie like you who’s a necrophile. Surely you don’t want your wife — your children—to know that you’re a—”

“I don’t have any such film in my safe,” Dennis stammered.

“You do now, and it’s not in your safe. It is in your study, though. When you were gone yesterday, one of our operatives broke into your home and planted it.”

Dennis felt all the spit dry up in his mouth.

“Go ahead and call the police and tell them about us if you want to,” Harvey purred. “They won’t be able to prove the group exists. The tape will have your fingerprints on it. We can arrange it so that the evidence of murder points to you. And with your … unique tastes in pornography, you could be in jail for a long time, Mr. Hillman.”

“What do you want?” Dennis felt his entire body go slack with shock. He felt totally helpless.