Manipulation

By William Elliot

At times raw and confronting, 'Manipulation' doesn't pull any punches. It grabs the reader's attention early on and keeps hold of it until the final chapter. Manipulation is a little bit crime novel and a lot thriller, with a good dose of action and drama to keep the story moving along. Weaving together past and present, it takes the reader on a series of twists and turns, offering just enough pieces of the puzzle to keep reader guessing right up to the end.

Manipulation tells the story of Sarah Reynolds, a young woman with her life ahead of her. She has a wonderful husband, a job she loves and she has finally managed to put a painful past behind her. Life couldn't get any better.

But it does when her husband Nick is offered the chance of a lifetime. After agonising over the proposal with Sarah, Nick accepts the position. At first all seems well, Sarah becomes the devoted wife of a successful analyst and Nick finds the work challenging and satisfying. When Nick starts to experience strange episodes of blankness, though, the demons lurking below the surface start to nibble away at each of them. Sarah begins to doubt who she is and starts to slip back into a past she thought she had escaped.

In a desperate bid to save herself, she tries to unravel the web of lies that keep taking her back to her past. The more Sarah uncovers, the more chilling the truth becomes. Only by unlocking the past will she survive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Elliot
• Release date: Oct 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311058379

William Elliot

An over-analyser with a creative side, by day I solve problems and manage stuff. When I escape, I cross over into the fantasy genre, both as reader and writer. I take inspiration from everything I experience and like to like keep my readers guessing right up to the end. The more brutal the twist the better.

Book preview

Prologue (1995)

Denis took another deep breath. He was thankful for the cool air. It helped drive the urge to puke away. John passed him a water bottle, Swirl it around and spit, it'll help get rid of the taste. Denis nodded and did as John suggested. He was having trouble just staying upright at the moment. His legs were like jelly. This was so fucked up.

John slapped him on the back and urged him to take another swig. Don't take it personally mate, you'll get used to it. Just a pity you had to start with one this bad.

Denis gave him a pained look and tried not to throw up - again.

John raised his hands, Honest man, this has gotta be one of the worst I've ever seen. Denis nodded and took another swig of water. Jesus, his breath must stink.

John's words made a difference - a big difference. His opinion meant a lot to Denis. John Duggan was a 20 year veteran who had seen and done it all. He might be a crusty old bastard at times, but he was a great mentor. They had only been together for four weeks and Denis had already learnt a lot from him. He also knew that John wasn't cutting him any slack. This was a bad one to cop first time out.

Denis Rodda was four weeks out of the academy and this was his first homicide. He could have been a poster boy for the force –tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, chiseled features and an athletic build. He also had a sharp mind and, usually, a strong constitution. He and John had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had responded to a complaint about a possible disturbance in a suburban park in the early hours of Saturday morning and found a lot more than they had bargained for. Expecting to find the aftermath of a rowdy group of drunken teenagers, they had, instead, found the battered body of a teenage girl. At least they thought she was a teenager. Someone had done a real number on her and it was hard to tell. If she had no dental records, identification was going to be a real problem. Fortunately, the body was hidden from public view by a small copse of trees.

As sickening as it was, Denis could have handled the badly beaten body. Dead bodies were part of the territory and covered fairly well in his academy training. Admittedly, he had never seen anything this bad. This girl, though, had also been the victim of a brutal sexual assault. Evidence of the attack was all too graphic.

After just a few minutes at the scene, Denis' imagination had got the better of him and completely destroyed his defences. Before he knew it he was racing to find somewhere to throw up. Normally, it would have been an amusing cliché and Denis the brunt of jokes for the next few weeks. In this case, though, he'd be spared the discomfort. Even John had needed to turn away to compose himself. He too had left the area grey faced and obviously shaken.

John had called it in and secured the scene. All they really needed to do now was wait until the experts arrived. There was no need for Denis to go back. It would have been quite acceptable for him to stay just out of range and wait for forensics. Unfortunately, he couldn't help himself. He wasn't trying to be macho; he simply had to go back. He just hoped that he could hang on to what was left in his stomach.

Denis swilled more water and spat it out. He took a couple of deep breaths to clear his head, stood up straight and walked back toward the body. As soon as he saw her again he felt his gut clench, but managed to keep it in check. He let the training take over and carried out a preliminary recording of the scene. He was doing it by the numbers and it would help him answer investigators' questions later. All up it took about five minutes and he was extremely careful not to disturb the scene in any way. He then went and joined John to wait for forensics, the image of the girl burned into his memory.

Denis was both anxious and excited. John had called in a couple of favours so that they could work on this case. The lieutenant in homicide, a long time friend of John’s had agreed, but made a point it would be peripheral stuff. Homicide would be doing the heavy lifting.

Peripheral or not, Denis was glad to be involved and had thanked John. John had dismissed his thanks, saying that for all their gruffness Homicide welcomed their help. There would be a lot of minor leads they didn’t have the resources to chase down. In a case like this one, where it was starting to look like a random sexual attack, any one of a dozen minor leads could be important. The big boys would be happy for them to do the leg work and muscle in if they found something.

And found something, they might have. The body had fairly quickly been identified from dental records. She was a high school senior by the name of Rachael Norris. As a result, they had started their day talking to Rachael’s teachers. John hadn’t expected them to be able to provide anything of value and they were true to form. They described Rachael as exceptionally pleasant; a well liked girl who made friends easily. As far as they were aware, Rachael had no enemies and, to the best of their knowledge, had never even shared harsh words with another student, neither male nor female. Nor had they noticed any of the boys show any unusual interest in her. Rachael was attractive, but far from stunning, and certainly not the dream girl of most of the boys at the school. Intelligent, mature, and responsible, she was focused on her studies and not yet distracted by boys.

This pretty much mirrored the description the homicide boys had received from Rachael’s parents. Her parents also confirmed that Rachael wasn't seeing any boys outside of school that they were aware of, she didn't have a part time job, and spent most of her free time in the company of three of her classmates. The four of them were pretty tight and did just about everything together.

With the permission of their parents, Denis and John had arranged to talk to the three girls at the school. They were honest and open and, as expected, knew Rachael much better than either her teachers or her parents. Even so, their insights into Rachael's personality and habits provided little additional information. Rachael was exactly what she appeared to be; a bright young woman with no enemies and few cares. There was, however, one recent incident that might be worth chasing down. Rachael had had a run in with one of the girls at her school - another senior, Penny Philips.

The Philips girl turned out to be the daughter of a fairly wealthy local businessman. They had expected to have to agree to lots of conditions from the family lawyer to get an interview. In the end, though, they hadn't needed to. Penny had apparently wanted to be interviewed alone and her parents had agreed. She had also wanted to get it over and done with and so they had found themselves back at the school two days later waiting for Penny.

Denis wasn't sure if Penny's desire to be interviewed alone was a good sign or not. It could mean that she had absolutely no information about Rachael Norris' death. It might, however, mean that she did know something. He was hopeful it was the latter, but didn't want to get his hopes up.

Denis was tapping the table with nervous energy, Think it will lead anywhere?

John laughed at the look on his face, Don’t get your hopes too high, but you never know what we’ll dig up.

Denis’ face lit up then dropped. If she didn't turn up soon, he'd be mentally worn out.

Penny Philips was stunningly attractive. On the surface she was confident and sophisticated, with just a hint of the angst-driven attitude that typified many of her peers. Underneath the wafer thin veneer, however, she was as anxious and lost as most teenagers. It didn't take long for John and Denis to work out that she was also petrified.

Penny responded to their questions about her run-in with Rachael politely but hesitantly. Her description of the incident conformed with what they had been told by Rachael's friends, and she was less than complimentary in her description of her own behaviour. According to Penny, she had lashed out at Rachael for bumping her. She didn't have anything against Rachael - barely knew her - and knew it wasn't deliberate. She had been feeling angry and frustrated after a fight with her boyfriend. Rachael had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

John believed Penny's version of events, but she appeared far too nervous, even taking into account that she was being interviewed by police. There was something she wasn't telling them. Something, John believed, that she was too scared to tell them.

Working on a hunch, John asked, So Penny, you have a boyfriend?

Yeh.

Both cops noticed the change in her voice and her demeanour immediately. John kept his voice quiet and casual, What's his name?

Penny started fidgeting. Ned.

Ned who?

She shifted in her seat, I'd rather not say.

Why is that Penny?

Penny kept her head down, avoiding John' gaze, I'd just rather not.

It's just a name.

She shook her head. She was clearly getting anxious now.

Is there some reason why you don't want to tell us?

She shook her head again, eyes downcast.

John softened his voice slightly, Are you afraid of him?

Her head snapped up.

John caught and held her gaze, He'll never even know we talked about him.

She gave him a dubious look, clearly not convinced.

Honest Penny, if he's not involved, he'll never know.

Penny looked down at the table.

She looked back up, visibly shaking. What if he is involved?

Denis almost let his composure slip. He'd been keeping quiet and still, so he didn't distract Penny's focus from John. He had sensed John was on to something, but not this.

Penny went on quickly before she lost her nerve. If he is involved you'll have to do something. Then he'll know you found out from me.

Found out what Penny?

She shook her head.

John changed tack to keep her talking, Ok then, don't tell us what he did. Tell us why you're so scared of Ned.

Penny was hesitant at first, clearly still uncomfortable talking about Ned. But once she started, the dam burst and she couldn't stop talking. The words poured out of her. After ten minutes they had a good description of Ned, and it wasn't pretty. They also had their first real suspect.

Penny’s description portrayed Ned as a dumb, nasty little fucker. According to Penny, he solved most of his problems with drugs, booze and violence and had roughed her up on more than one occasion. Based on Penny's description Ned might very well be connected with Rachael's murder. He certainly warranted further scrutiny.

Now that Penny had opened up, it was easy to get her to talk further. John reached across the table and held Penny's hands, How was Ned involved with Rachael's death?

Penny barely managed a whisper, but it was as clear as a shout, I think he might have killed her

Why do you think that?

The way he was acting the night Rachael got killed.

John kept his eyes locked on hers, Go on.

Penny's voice was still a whisper, but stronger now she had started. It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. We had a fight that afternoon and he stormed off. I stayed at his apartment to wait for him to come back. It usually doesn't take very long, and he gets real pissed off if I'm not there when he gets back.

That night was different. Ned didn't get back until well past midnight. I had been dozing on the couch when he had burst in. He was all fucked up. Penny blushed slightly at the use of the ‘f’ word.

John gently prompted her, What do you mean Penny?

According to Penny, Ned had been as high as a kite, but far from mellow. He was, in fact, frantic - pacing back and forth like a caged beast, talking ceaselessly and punctuating his words with highly animated hand gestures. Penny had trouble understanding him. He seemed to be trying to say several things at once and he was talking too fast. All Penny got was a jumble of disjointed sentences.

While Ned’s ravings lacked coherency, they were enough to get Penny very worried. He was paranoid about the police, constantly checking the windows for signs of them. He had done something real bad. Penny wasn’t quite sure what, but she got the impression that he’d lost it and hurt someone badly.

Penny had tried to calm Ned down for hours. Nothing she tried worked. He was far too worked up. Eventually, she had to give him some pills to knock him out. It was the only thing she could think to do.

He crashed until about ten the next morning. When he woke he claimed that he couldn’t remember anything about last night. When Penny pushed him on the subject, he slapped her and told her to shut her mouth or she would really be sorry. He then told her to fuck off and threw her out. She was more than happy to leave. She hadn’t seen or spoken to him since.

Penny breathed a sigh of relief as she left the interview. She was confident the cops had bought her story. Men might be easy to fool at times, but playing mind games with them could have unintended consequences. Recent events had certainly reinforced that message loud and clear. She knew Ned was a dick-led arsehole. That was the whole point of keeping him around. But God, she never knew things could get this scary.

Penny had met Ned by chance in a 7/11. She had just withdrawn cash from the ATM and was on her way out. Fuelled by a bad case of the munchies, Ned was on his way in. They quite literally collided in the doorway. She reacted by slapping him across the face and screaming obscenities at him. Ned responded by forcing her up against the wall with a hand around her throat. Ned’s violent nature wasn’t spared on women. He liked to make them feel worthless. A psychiatrist would probably suggest that he had developed a narcissistic complex as a result of his parents’ relationship. She didn’t know any of this, but she was very turned on by his treatment of her.

Ned had looked her up and down while he held her pinned to the wall. He liked what he saw, particularly the hint of fear in her eyes. There was spirit there too. It was a delicious combination. She remembered their first conversation like it was just yesterday.

He'd moved in real close and whispered, You up for a little partying baby?

She felt a flush of desire. She was glad he was holding her up.

Faking more confidence than she felt, she looked him in the eyes, Yeh, why not.

Ned let go of her throat, slipped his arm around her shoulders and led her outside. It was a five minute walk to his apartment.

He puffed his chest out like a peacock, So what’s your name, babe?

Penny. What’s yours?

I’m Ned babe, and I’m gonna show you a real good time.

She was starting to have second thoughts. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

They arrived at Ned’s apartment. He hustled her inside, kicked the door closed and pinned her against the wall again.

She was scared, but she felt the hot flush of desire again.

Ned groped her roughly. All thoughts of fear were driven from her mind.

Penny was far from sexually experienced, but knew what rough sex was. Ned’s tastes, though, were far more perverted than she’d imagined. She found that she liked being treated like she was worthless. It satisfied a sexual need she hadn’t even known she’d had.

She also quickly worked out that she and Ned had nothing in common apart from sex. She was intelligent, articulate and controlled. He was a moody, loud-mouthed arsehole who spent most of his waking hours stoned or drunk. He would lash out with little provocation. It cost her more than a few bruises early on in their relationship. But she wasn’t a victim. She could have walked at any time, and probably would, sooner rather than later. For the time being, though, she wanted to further explore this new sexual craving. Rather than be repelled by it, she embraced and drew strength from it. She might like to be demeaned sexually, but she wasn’t about to let any man control her. And that was the second reason she stayed. She wanted to know how to push Ned’s buttons. Step-mother dearest had shown her how easily men could be manipulated. Two could play at that game and she was confident that she could do the same with Ned.

She wasn’t disappointed. As long as Ned thought he was in control he was putty in her hands. She quickly learnt the subtle combination of submission and defiance required to make him do her bidding. It was a delicate art and she was a natural.

Her confidence increased as she became better acquainted with Ned’s moods. She began to toy with him, deliberately inciting his aggression then keeping him balanced on the edge of exploding. Then all she had to do was entice him to screw her rather than beat the shit out of her. When Ned was in this state the sex was rough and demeaning. She found it exquisite.

She also found that Ned had one other redeeming feature. Her stepmother hated him. It was almost worth keeping him around just to see the pained look on her face every time she brought him over.

As enjoyable as Ned’s two roles in life were, (treating her like a worthless whore in bed and offending the sensibilities of her stepmother), he was starting to outlive his usefulness. They had been together for four months and he was really starting to irritate her. Stroking his overly large ego, in particular, was becoming tiresome. She knew