Chapter 4
Harold Holden left the house first that morning. He came out the front door at seven-twenty-five. The five-year-old compact car he used for going to work and back was parked behind the family station wagon in the drive. He walked toward it, pausing once on the still-dewy lawn to stretch and look around. It was a beautiful morning and he seemed well pleased with his world.
When he climbed smiling into his car and left his house for work, he was totally unaware that his departure was being filmed from a car sitting just across the street and one house down. He had no way of knowing what lay in store for his lovely and cherished wife as he drove off down the street to begin his day's activities. He turned the corner and disappeared, having no idea that his wife would never reach the safety of her job on this day.
The foursome sitting in the car across and down from the Holden residence waited patiently for Mrs. Holden's exit. The details of their plan for the innocent wife and mother were now complete. Her abduction was the most dangerous part. Grabbing her in broad daylight would be risky, especially the way they were going to do it. But Red had insisted on making it bold and dramatic for the sake of realism. "It will be the best stag movie ever filmed," he'd kept repeating. "A fucking masterpiece!"
Twelve minutes passed before the front door of the Holden residence again swung open. Mrs. Holden and her small son came through the door in hand. She stopped to pull the door closed and lock it as the boy moved across the stoop and clung to the wrought-iron railing to shakily descend the three steps to the walk.
"Look, Mama! Look!" he shouted, standing on the walk and beaming proudly up at his mother. "Mark a big boy!"
"Mark is a darling," Virginia beamed back at him.
She swept down the steps and stooped to gather him in her arms. As she stood, she hugged him to her breast and kissed him. Then she hurried across the lawn, carrying him to the car, and both of them laughed gaily.
"Perfect scene," Red said as he kept the camera on the car, backing from the drive. "Perfect!"
Red kept the camera on the station wagon as Virginia drove up the street and turned at the corner. "Now," he said, shutting off the camera and dropping it between his legs to reach for a cigarette, "let's beat her to the day nursery."
Virginia drove a cautious five miles-per-hour below the legal limit, and Bob drove a careful five above it. He easily overtook the station wagon and passed it. As Red had cautioned them to do, they ignored the occupants in the station wagon completely; all four of them kept their eyes straight ahead as Bob pulled up beside Virginia and passed her.
When Virginia stopped to drop Mark off at the nursery, Bob had already parked on the opposite side of the street. Red filmed the scene as Virginia stopped her car and got out to take her son in. He filmed her coming out of the nursery and getting back into her car, then again shut off the camera.
"Let's go," Red ordered.
Bob started the car and quickly pulled away front curb. They had to be waiting in the Hitchcock parking lot when Virginia drove in to park. All four of them were tense now. The next step was the crucial one. If the grab went off as planned, the rest would be no problem. Once they had Virginia in their car and away from the downtown area of Little Rock, she would be helpless to prevent them from doing with her as they pleased.
The drive to Hitchcock was swift and silent. Each knew what to do, so there was no need to go over the plan. Lotta had suggested that since she knew Virginia slightly, the easiest way to snatch her would be for her to lure Virginia to their car. It would be the easiest, they had all agreed, but Red vetoed her suggestion as not dramatic enough. He insisted it be done his way.
And now, as they pulled into the Hitchcock parking lot to await Virginia's arrival, it was Red's bold plan of action they would follow. It would be dramatic. It would be swift. It would be dangerous. But it would also make one helluva realistic scene.
Bob drove to the back of the parking lot. He turned the car around to face the exit and stopped near Virginia's parking space. He left the car idling. Red passed the to Lotta in the front seat, then sat back beside Wash. They waited.
Five minutes later, Virginia turned into the parking lot of Hitchcock Mutual Life and Casualty. The lot was crowded at that moment. Three other cars were moving into their slots and several men and women were walking through the lot toward the building.
Virginia had to stop and wait as a co-worker with a space nearer the building came to a stop in front of her and backed slowly into place. She drove on then, swinging wide to pull into her own slot nose first. She noticed the car with four occupants sitting in the drive space, but paid it no particular attention. She was too busy concentrating on her driving to see the camera pointed at her through the car's windshield.
"Pull up, Bob."
Bob caught the excitement in Red's voice as he disengaged the emergency brake and goosed the car forward. His hands were trembling nervously as he braked to an abrupt stop directly behind the Chevy station wagon. Glancing to the side, he saw that Lotta had the camera aimed at the opening door of the woman's car. He saw feet encased in high-heeled pumps swing from the car. Nyloned knees came next. Then the pretty face. Tits, thighs, and a head with long, flowing, brunette hair followed quickly. Mrs. Holden was standing beside her car and reaching back into it for her purse.
As Virginia slammed shut her door, the back door of the idling car in the drive space swung open. Two men-one big and black and the other red-haired and average-sized-rushed from the car and came at her.
The sight momentarily stunned Virginia. The action was so unusual, so out of place. Something was wrong, she finally realized. But still she did not comprehend their intention. Her first reaction was to offer assistance. The men were quite obviously upset about something. Perhaps she could help. She stood watching them come at her at a fast walk, feeling a bit uneasy as they drew closer.
"Can I help you with anything?" she asked, when the men were within two steps of her.
"Yeah, baby. That's exactly what you can do," Red said. "Come on."
They didn't stop in front of her. Instead. Instead they rushed on - one on either side of her-and each grabbed an arm.
"What? What do you want!" Virginia asked loudly, suddenly realizing they meant her harm.
Then she was struggling as the men forced her toward their car. "Stop it! Stop it!" she demanded, wrenching from side to side in a futile effort to break free of the grasp, "Mrs. Holden?"
It was a male employee, coming toward them on the run.
"Is anything wrong here, Mrs. Holden?" the man called. Then they pulled Virginia from between the parked cars and he could see what was going on. "Stop that! You turn Mrs. Holden loose. Turn her loose!"
The man broke into a fast run now, coming at Wash and Red as they shoved the screaming Virginia into the back seat of their car. Red jumped into the seat and forced Virginia down to the floorboard as her male friend came at Wash swinging.
The man didn't stand a chance. Wash slapped aside his wild punches with his left hand, then hooked out forcefully with his right. Wash's big fist caught the Samaritan under his chin. A sharp, cracking noise heralded the impact. Snot and spit flew as the man's feet were lifted off the ground.
He fell to the asphalt, flat on his back, holding his jaw and groaning as Wash jumped into the back seat and Bob goosed the accelerator.
Half a dozen people were running toward the scene now. At Red's barked order, Lotta spun around and aimed the camera toward the crowd. The men and women split and darted out of the way of the onrushing vehicle. Women were screaming and men were cursing as the car shot past them and out of the parking lot. Tires squealed as Bob swung into the street, barely avoiding an accident before he eased up and blended in with the flow of traffic.
"Get the camera back here," Red shouted.
Lotta swung around and came to her knees in the front seat, sighting down at the floorboard to film Virginia. One of Virginia's pumps were off and her skirt was hiked halfway up her hips. She lay cringing as Red covered her with a musty tarpaulin and put both his feet on it to keep her from getting up.
"No! No, please!!" Virginia begged from beneath the tarpaulin. "Don't hurt me!"
"Shut up!" Red barked. "You yell again and I'll shove my foot in your mouth!"
Virginia moaned.
"Mrs. Holden," Bob said in a soothing voice. "If you'll do just as Red says, you won't be physically damaged."
Her voice came muffled from beneath the tarpaulin. "What do you want with me? Whet are you going to do?"
"First we're going to ta-"
"Shut up, Bob!" Red snapped. "Do you want to spoil the whole effect after we've gone to so much trouble already? Mrs. Holden doesn't need to know a damned thing. Let her wonder."
And Virginia did wonder. She couldn't help it. The air was foul and heavy under the canvas but she dared not try to push it off. The man called Red had his feet on her to hold her in place. She was lying face down. One of his feet was at the back of her neck and the other was pressing painfully into the small of her back.
Fear kept Virginia quiet and still as ordered. Fear also made it hard for her to breathe. She gulped the foul air in frantic little gasps, her chest heaving and a cold sweat breaking out over her entire body.
They were quiet now. Virginia wished they would talk. At least then she could strain to make some idea of what they wanted with her from" their words. But they were not talking now and the silence in the car caused her mind to dart frantically from one terrifying thought to another. She thought of the string of butcherings up North. Six girls had been slain for no apparent reason-or was it seven now? Or eight? She saw herself shot and stabbed and thrown from the car to lie dead and alone in a roadside ditch. For a moment she could not breathe at all. An icy chill sped up her spine and she shuddered.
Stop it! Stop it! She forced her mind from the morbid thought and listened. Inside the car all was quiet. Outside, she could hear the sounds of traffic. Cars were moving on either side of them in the same direction. She could make out the sounds of traffic whipping past in the opposite direction. She heard an occasional truck. They were moving away from the downtown area, she realized. But where? Where in God's name were these-these what?-taking her? Kidnapers? Yes. But what else? Don't think about it. Don't.
Kidnapers, Kidnapers. Yes, of course. One of the men had told her that she wouldn't be hurt if she did what the one called Red said. It was just a case of mistaken identity. It had to be, because there was no reason for kidnapers to want her, thought Virginia. She and Harold both worked to make a living. They had no big money to pay for ransom. It was all a mistake. As soon as they found out who she was, they would turn her loose.
But would they? The thought of what might happen when they discovered they had grabbed the wrong woman sent Virginia shuddering again.
"Mrs. Holden? Are you all right? You're not epileptic, are your?"
"No," she wailed. "No!"
The sudden realization that they were calling her by name knocked the false hope she had been trying to build from under her. Virginia began sobbing bitter tears. They had the woman they wanted, all right. She was it. But why? Why? Why? And for what?
The car turned off the main street and came to a stop in a quiet residential section. Virginia perked up her ears and stifled her sobs. Bob reached under the front seat and picked up a damp cloth, then climbed from the car and went to wash the water colors from the license. The three 3's suddenly became 8's again.
"Now," Red said, as Bob crawled back under the steering wheel, "let's head for home."
Again the car began to move. It seemed as if they were never going to stop again. Virginia wondered where they were taking her and what they were going to do after they got her there. She tried not to think about it, but she couldn't help it. She had no control over her mind now. Fear had taken possession and driven out common sense.
Twenty minutes from the time Bob had sped from the Hitchcock parking lot he was turning off the street and pulling slowly up the drive of their rented house. The garage was open and waiting. He drove in and stopped. Wash jumped from the back seat and shut the pull-down door. The front car doors swung open as the bang from the garage door hitting the concrete reverberated through the air.
"Okay, baby," Red said, quickly snatching the tarpaulin from Virginia. "You can get up now ... Damn! What an ass!"
Virginia felt his hand on her buttocks, rubbing and rolling her soft flesh. "No!" she gasped. "No!" She sat up on the floorboard and hurriedly pulled down her skirt.
Bright light suddenly filled the back of the car. Virginia swung her head and blinked through the open door as Red muttered, "Perfect. . . perfect," and grabbed her wrist to drag her toward the light.
As Red pulled her from the car, Virginia could see that the light was coming from two floods mounted on a camera. She could see a man's feet walking backward beneath the lights as Red pulled her along after him. The big Negro was holding open a door to a kitchen. Red tugged her through the door as the cameraman stepped to the side and followed their action.
Virginia recognized the blonde girl who stood grinning in the kitchen. "Lotta!" she gasped.
"Surprised, Mrs. Holden?"
"What's going on, Lotta? Why am I here?"
Lotta threw her an enigmatic smile, then turned and walked from the kitchen.
One high heel clacking and one stockinged foot thumping on the linoleum floor, Virginia was pulled through the kitchen and into the living room. She saw Lotta move through an open doorway on the far side of tin-room. Red was pulling her in the same direction.
"Move, damn you!" he barked.
Virginia fell to the floor as Red jerked roughly on arm. She winced as he jerked her arm again in an effort to pull her off the floor. Following the pain in her shoulder, Virginia kicked off her remaining shoe and came to her feet. The bright light flashed on behind them as Red pulled her the rest of the way across the living room.
But when they neared the door, Red did not go through it. Instead, he swung Virginia by her wrist and slammed her back against the wall, knocking the breath from her. He grabbed her other wrist and came against her. His loins pressed tightly against her cunt. His knees forced open her legs and he hunched at her pelvis.
"Do you like to fuck, Mrs. Holden?" he asked as he leered into her frightened face.
"Oh dear God!" she screamed, struggling to break free as she felt his organ growing hard against her pussy.
But he held her helpless between his body and the wall, and her efforts only made his dick grow harder.
"Noo . . . please don't," she begged. "Please!
"Bring her in," Bob called. He and Wash had gone past them and were waiting in the bedroom with the camera, ready to film Virginia's entrance.
Red stepped back from Virginia and jerked her from the wall. He spun her around and pushed her through the door. Again she blinked at the bright lights. She stood just inside the bedroom door, glancing around the room. She saw the bed. She saw the camera. She saw Lotta's leering face. Suddenly she knew shy she had been brought to this place.
Panic grabbed at her guts. She stood for a second, shaking her head, then screamed and began backing from the room. "Oh no you don't!"
It was Red, coming up and grabbing her from behind. She wrenched violently from side to side as his arms squeezed around her and held. He was too strong. She could not break free. Virginia was panting and crying when she gave up.
"Feel her up, Red," Lotta urged. "Go on. Film it, Bob. It'll make a good shot."
Tears rolled down Virginia's cheeks. She stood whimpering and sobbing, sagging against Red as his hand came over her breast and squeezed down. Her mouth dropped open and she sucked in her breath at the pain of his brutal grip.
"Why?" she moaned. "Why are you doing this to me?" No one answered her. Bob kept the camera grinding away and the other three only laughed. How humiliating it was. How utterly humiliating. She felt Red's fingers undoing her blouse.
"Oh, no!" she protested, again trying to jerk free. Red grabbed a handful of her long shiny hair and snapped back her head. His face came upside down over "Listen, Mrs. Holden," Red spat. "Quit fighting it. Do as I say and you won't get hurt."
Her face contorting at the pain in her scalp and back, Virginia gasped, "What are you going to do to me? Tell me. For God's sake - tell me you're not going to kill me!"
"We're not going to kill you, baby," Red assured. "All we're gonna do is strip off your clothes and sex you up a little. That's all."
"No! No, I won't let you!"
She fell to her knees when she struggled this time. Red pulled her back to her feet by the hair of her head, Virginia yelping at the sharp pain and putting her feet to the floor and helping to raise herself as soon as she could. When she was standing once more, Red whirled her around and slapped her resoundingly across the face.
"You gonna behave now?" he demanded.
Virginia's hand shot up to wipe at the trickle of blood oozing from the corner of her mouth. She sobbed and nodded her head quickly as Red's hand drew back to strike her face again. "I'll behave. Don't hit me again. Ill do as you say."
Grinning, Red lowered his hand to his side. "That's being smart, Mrs. Holden. You have such pretty teeth. I could have knocked several of them out, you know. Wouldn't that have been a shame?"
She nodded quickly this time, her eyes growing wider as she realized there was no choice. The taste of blood told her plainly that Red would not hesitate in making good his threat to maim her if she gave him the slightest reason.
No matter what indignity they forced upon her she would simply have to bear it. Resisting them any longer would not help. It would prevent nothing. She was positive of that now. Red would only beat her severely and they would still use her for their evil purpose in the end, when she was battered and bloody and toothless and unable to resist any longer.
God would understand. He would know that she detested the wicked acts to come. He would forgive her. Under the circumstances He would most probably give her the strength to endure her tribulation. She prayed silently, asking in Jesus' name for God's help in the terrifying hours ahead. She pleaded for Him to shut off all feeling below her neck in order that she not have to suffer pain as well as the humiliation and degradation.
Virginia offered no resistance as Red turned her around to face the camera once more. She stood with her eyes closed, still praying as she felt him unbutton her blouse and push it from her. As her blouse fell silently at her feet, she felt his fingers working at the hooks of her bra. She shivered when it came undone, then whimpered softly as he pulled the straps over her shoulders and whisked her bra away.
Cringing inwardly, she felt the rush of cool air on her breasts as they dropped loose and swayed naked before the wicked strangers. She felt the heat in her cheeks and knew shame as she stood helpless. The Negro seeing her this way was the worst of all, she thought. The Negro? Was he going to use her body too? She panicked at the idea of him coming into her body and began praying more urgently, asking God to make her unconscious so she would not have to live with the knowledge of defilement for the rest of her life.
Red's loins were pressed against her butt. His prick was hard, probing into the crack of her ass as his hands rubbed at her stomach and pulled her tighter to him. A tremor shot through Virginia as she felt his hands move up suddenly and cover her breasts, she choked back a scream and went on praying as he took both of her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers and began rolling them back and forth.
"You've got a beautiful set of knockers, Mrs. Holden," Red whispered in her ear.
She ignored him and called on God to shut off her hearing as well as her feeling. She felt his fingers suddenly tightening down on her nipples, sending instant pain shooting up to sear her tortured brain.
Moaning and sobbing, she opened her eyes to see his fingers pinching and twisting her tender flesh. She fell against him for support, trembling and gasping for him to release her nipples.
"I paid you a compliment," Red said, still punishing her tits. "You ignored me. That's very rude, Mrs. Holden. When someone pays you a compliment, you should at least say thank you."
'Thank you," she whimpered. 'Thank you very much."
Red released her swollen nipples and cupped her tits, massaging gently as he talked. "What's your first name. Mrs. Holden? Now that we're beginning to understand each other it seems a little silly to be so formal. Don't you agree?"
His fingers came back to her nipples, making Virginia nod quickly and say, "Virginia. Yes, call me Virginia."
"I don't like the name. It's too stuffy. Ill call you what your husband calls you. Does he have a nickname for you? "
She nodded, reluctant to tell this evil person and have him call her by the same name her husband did.
"Tell me or I'll pinch off your nipples."
"Ginny," she blurted. "He calls me Ginny."
"You don't mind if we call you Ginny too, do you, Ginny?"
She shook her head. "I guess it's all right." Red dug his nails into the sore buds. "Don't you want us to call you Ginny?"
"Yes!" she wailed. "I want you to call me Ginny. Please."
"Now, that's more like it, Ginny baby," Red laughed. "Hey, Wash. Come over here and feel Ginny's tits, man. Get a double handful of these luscious boobs and give me your expert opinion."
Virginia shuddered as the Negro came toward her with a broad grin spreading over his black face.
"You don't mind if my black friend handles the merchandise and renders an opinion on their quality, do you, Ginny?"
Wash was standing in front of her now, reaching out to put his dirty hands on her breasts. Virginia shook her head as she stared up, wild-eyed, into his face. An emphatic "NO" welled up in her throat and she almost choked with the effort to keep it from escaping her mouth. She succeeded in keeping back the word but the choking sound rippled from her throat as his hands covered her breasts and handled them intimately.
"She's got as fine a set of tits as I've ever had hold of," Wash grinned. "I think I'll kiss 'em."
With that, Wash bent and took a nipple between his fat lips. Virginia cringed as his kinky hair brushed her other tit and left a grease spot on her white skin. She forced herself to stand still as his mouth opened wider and took in more of her tit. Then his big hands came to her hips, holding her as he tightened down in suction on her swollen nipple. His tongue licked warmly at her sore flesh.
The Negro's wet mouth was pleasant and soothing to her abused nipple. Before Virginia realized what was happening, his lips and tongue were sending tiny spears of delight into her breast. Trembling, she prayed once more.