The initial clean-up was followed by more detailed ablutions and Ward removed the worst of the bloodstains from the carpet, curtains and furniture.
The scraps of clothing and the boot he saved.
It was approaching five in the afternoon when he finally collapsed, exhausted, on to his bed. His body was sheathed in sweat and he had a raging headache.
He needed to go downstairs and take a couple of Nurofen but he just lay staring at the ceiling, his mind spinning.
It was another hour before he finally hauled himself upright.
Thirty minutes more before he remembered the camcorder inside the office.
NO WORDS OF WISDOM
W
ard unlocked the office door and trudged
slowly up the stairs. Four pieces of paper had spewed from the printer. He approached them and picked each up in turn.
THE
DESERVED
CUNT
TO die
there was no other way
A REVELATION
Ward stared at the four pages for what seemed like an eternity then he laid them carefully with the rest of the manuscript on his desk.
He crossed to the camcorder and took it from its tripod.
The cassette had been used up. All ninety minutes of it. He had to see what the machine had caught on film. Before he left the office, he switched off both the monitor and the printer.
FILM SHOW
Ward poured himself another glass of Jack Daniel’s while he waited for the tape to rewind. Once it was ready, he changed the necessary cables and leads that connected the camcorder to the television then pressed the play button.
He sat back in his seat and exhaled deeply.
There was a second or two of blank leader, then a startling flash of black and white across the screen.
Ward swallowed what was left in his glass.
The picture on his television screen came into focus.
He sat forward in his seat.
What he saw before him wasn’t his office. It was the spare bedroom of his house.
He swallowed hard and studied the images before him.
Jenny was tied to a wooden chair. She was naked. The bonds that held her securely in place were strips of sheet. One around each ankle and one around each wrist. She was wearing a blindfold. Also made of sheeting.
The camera panned slowly from her perfectly pedicured feet, up the smooth curve of her calves to her slim thighs. It paused at the neatly trimmed triangle of her
pubic hair then continued to rise until it came to her breasts. The nipples were already hard and prominent.
Further it moved. Up the hollow of her neck then to her face. She was smiling.
Ward moved closer to the screen, his hands shaking.
He could see her lips moving but he couldn’t hear what she was saying. He reached for the TV remote and increased the sound. She had stopped speaking now.
He saw her clothes scattered around the bedroom. Some on the bed. Others on the floor.
‘Are you ready?’ The voice he heard on the tape was his own.
It came from off-camera.
The gaze of the camcorder was still riveted on Jenny.
His own image stepped into shot. Naked.
He knelt between her spread thighs and rubbed his hands over the smooth flesh before pushing two fingers into her vagina.
Jenny moaned expertly.
Then he withdrew the digits and concentrated on her breasts, massaging them, turning the nipples between his thumb and forefinger.
Again she moaned with practised accomplishment.
Ward watched himself stand up. Saw his throbbing erection as he paused before her. Then he stepped out of shot again.
‘Don’t tease,’ Jenny said, still smiling.
When he stepped back into shot he was holding a knife. It was at least a foot long. Serrated and wickedly pointed.
Ward shook his head as he watched the video, transfixed by what he saw.
The image on the screen moved towards Jenny and again stood between her open legs.
‘Take this blindfold off, Chris,’ Jenny said. ‘I like to see what you’re doing.’
On screen he moved the blade to within inches of her throat.
‘Chris,’ she persisted, her voice soft and coaxing. ‘Let me see you.’
Ward tried to swallow but his throat was chalk dry.
On screen, the knife was practically touching the flesh of her neck now.
‘Open your mouth,’ the on-screen Ward told her.
Jenny did as he instructed. She licked her lips exaggeratedly.
He touched the blade to her tongue.
Her smile faded. ‘What’s that?’ she said.
They were the last two words she uttered.
SNUFF MOVIE
Ward watched as the images on the screen suddenly became more animated.
The knife was driven forward with incredible power. He saw it slice through Jenny’s tongue. Saw most of that appendage severed. Saw the blood erupt into the air.
She tried to scream but the blood gushing back into her throat made the noise little more than a liquid gurgle.
The knife sped back and forth with incredible speed and ferocity.
Through her cheek. It was torn free, ripping the flesh.
Into her neck. More blood bursting from the wound.
Then into her chest. Once, twice. One breast was practically severed.
Four, five times. Every cut was deep.
Blood spurted madly into the air but the hacking and slashing continued.
The blade was driven into her belly and pulled upwards. A slippery, seething mass of intestines spilled from the eviscerated body. He saw the green of bile as the gall bladder was hacked in half by another frenzied cut.
A nipple was severed and fell to the floor.
The blade was drawn across the throat from side to side. Ear to ear. The throat opened and yawned like a blood-filled mouth.
And still the stabbing went on.
Several deep wounds were inflicted on the thighs. One severed a femoral artery and blood sprayed several feet into the air.
Another buried the blade, handle deep, into Jenny’s vagina like some lethal, metallic penis.
She made no sound after the first five or six cuts. The only noises audible on the tape were the liquid sounds of blood spurting or flesh being hacked and then the soft hiss as her sphincter muscle collapsed. Faeces and urine mingled with the blood that was already soaking into the carpet.
