Too Much Sausage (The Society #3)

Chapter 1 - Tanner’s Treachery

Sunday – September 24, 2023

Ash

I stared in disbelief at the photo. Tanner and Rosalie looked so happy together. One week before she’d gone missing.

And the worst part? Tanner knew I’d been searching for Rosalie. Hell, the whole reason we went to the Emerald Oasis this weekend was because I’d shown him a photo of her.

It would have been so easy for him to say, “She used to be my girlfriend.” But had he said that? Nope. Because…

Oh God. The conclusion was obvious:

“Tanner killed Rosalie,” I gasped.

“What?” asked Chastity. “No way. He’s too hot to be a murderer.”

“I don’t think that’s how anything works. He definitely murdered her. Why else would he not have told me that he knew her? Or that he’d been dating her? Or whatever he’d been doing with her at the Society.” The office started to spin and my stomach turned over. How could he do this to me? God, how could he have done this to her ? That sick fuck. I gagged.

Chastity nudged a trashcan towards me. “Please don’t barf all over that blouse. That’s like, my #3 best seduction top. For work occasions, obvs. I have way better tops for other seduction times.”

“I can’t believe I’ve kissed a murderer.” I spit into the trashcan, but it did nothing to rid me of that awful feeling of betrayal. I can’t believe I let him touch me.

“I really don’t think he murdered her.” She pointed to the picture on the laptop of Tanner and Rosalie. “Look at the way he’s looking at her. He was definitely smashing her. In a sexy way. Not in a serial-killer-who-puts-his-victims-in-a-trash-compactor way.”

“Oh God. What if he did smush her body in a trash compactor?! That explains why they never found any trace of her…” I could picture it all so clearly. Poor Rosalie.

“Nah, that’s a messy way to go. Back in the day Daddy considered adding it to his execution repertoire, but his exploratory study found that it actually left quite a bit of DNA evidence. Speaking of DNA evidence, you said Tanner’s from overseas, right?”

“How does that relate to DNA evidence? Do you think I had him do a 23andMe test or something?”

Chastity shook her head. “No. But now that you mention it, we totes should have done that when we were trying to figure out his secret. Anyway, my thought was that maybe Tanner kidnapped Rosalie and took her to his overseas harem.”

“You think he’s a sex trafficker?”

“I was thinking he keeps the women for his own uses. But yeah, it’s possible he sells them too. Either way…I bet she’s getting covered in DNA evidence.” She mimed jerking off a dick and stuck her tongue out to catch it. “That lucky girl! #HaremEnvy, am I right? ”

“No you’re not right!” The idea was horrifying. I’d watched Taken like ten times after Rosalie disappeared. I’d dreamt of calling up her kidnappers and telling them that I had a very particular set of skills . Unfortunately, I didn’t actually have any of Liam Neeson’s skills. And I also didn’t have any leads. So that phone call never happened. But now? Maybe I’d get my opportunity to say that line next time Tanner called me.

“Oooh!” said Chastity. “I have another theory. Where he's completely innocent. As we’ve established, Tanner and Rosalie were definitely smashing before she went missing. The pussy was so good that he was devastated for years when she disappeared until one day he noticed you – the sister of his one true love – watching him on the street. So he bided his time until your divorce got finalized, and then he made his move.”

“Ew. He’s pretending like I’m her?” The thought made my skin crawl.

Chastity shrugged. “Could be. Or maybe he just wanted to meet you. And then he couldn’t help but fall in love with your hot bod.” She drummed on my boobs.

I swatted her hand away. “I hate that for me.” For some reason all of that seemed even worse than him being a murderer. Or maybe better. Gah! I didn’t know! But I didn’t want Tanner to be a serial killer. Maybe Chastity was right. Maybe Tanner was somehow innocent. Ish. I took a deep breath. “It’s still creepy that he didn’t mention that he knew her. He had to know that I’d eventually find out. Especially once I sent that stock photo to him on Friday. I’m really starting to think that he was planning to chop me up into little bits during our drive to the Emerald Oasis.”

“Well what stopped him?”

“Nigel came along for the ride. I think that weird little man may have saved my life…”

Chastity shook her head. “Nah, if Tanner’s a murderer, then his houseboy would definitely be in on it.”

“Okay… But for a second let’s say that they both are murderers. Let’s put ourselves in their murdery shoes. Why didn’t they kill me when they had the chance?”

She snapped her fingers. “They were trying to gauge how close you were to the truth. And all you had was a stock photo of Rosalie alone at the Emerald Oasis. Not nearly enough to pin it on them, so they didn’t need to kill you. Those dirty murderers!”

“So you do think they were planning to murder me?! I thought you said he wasn’t a murderer!” Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Chastity’s insistence that he wasn’t actually a murderer had been the only thing keeping me from totally spiraling. God, who was I kidding? I was already spiraling!

“Ash, you told me to put myself in their shoes. I was just going along with your theory. But...”

“Gah! I don’t want a but!”

Chastity shrugged. “To each their own.”

What the hell is happening right now?!

“What I was going to say was that putting myself in their shoes opened my eyes. I do believe they were planning on murdering you. But not because they’re murderers. Like I said, they’re too hot to be murderers. ”

“Nigel is too hot to be a murderer?”

Chastity laughed and waved off the question. “Tanner’s too hot to be a murderer. But he’s willing to do whatever it takes to protect himself.”

“So they aren’t murderers but they murder people?”

“Exactly. Daddy ordered plenty of hits, but it wasn’t because he loved murder. It was just a necessary part of the business. The same applies to Tanner. Picture this. Tanner and Rosalie, full nude in a sex dungeon. Tanner takes a step back, slips on a puddle of lube, and his elbow hits a lever. The wire sparks as 250 volts of pure energy get delivered straight to the alligator clamps on Rosalie’s delicate little nips. Her heart can’t take it. Tanner panics and calls for Nigel. They get a human sized cooler and some weights and…”

I didn’t listen to the rest of her wild theory. I was pretty sure that was not how Rosalie died. But something similar could have happened. Who knew what kind of kinky stuff went down in the rooms attached to the sex hallway at Club Onyx? Tanner could have easily choked her to death.

“…and now they’re coming for us,” finished Chastity.

“Wait, what? Why?” I asked. And then it hit me. “Shit. Because now we have proof.” I pointed to the picture of Rosalie and Tanner.

“Exactly.”

“God, I should have seen this coming. I knew he was a stalker. The obvious next leap after stalker is serial killer. ”

“We don’t know if it’s a habit or it’s just something he does to Coopers. But you could be right.”

I hated how Chastity was suddenly encouraging my theories. She was supposed to be the one to talk me off the edge of the cliff. Not push me over it!

“And you just told him where we are.” She slammed her computer shut and tossed it in her purse. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“And go where?” Tanner knew where I lived. And since he was a creepy stalker, he probably knew all my friends’ addresses. And my parents’. And Chastity’s parents’. Oh God, I’m going to die!

“Anywhere,” said Chastity. “Preferably a public place.”

I looked around at the fancy BIMG offices. “This is kind of a public place.”

“Yeah, that’s currently deserted. If it was a Monday morning we’d be fine. But Sunday night? We’re sitting ducks.”

“Should we call 911?” I asked. I grabbed my phone off the ground. The screen was shattered, but it was still lit up. And it was stuck on a screen showing three new texts from Tanner.

Tanner : Ash? What happened?

Tanner : I guess your meeting started.

Tanner : I’m on my way…I’ll wait for you outside so we can grab dinner when you’re done. :)

“He’s coming,” I whispered.

“What?” asked Chastity.

I showed her my phone .

“Oh my God. I can’t believe that pervert even used a smiley face. That’s dark. Maybe he really is just a serial killer.”

I stared at the creepy yellow emoji smiling up at me. Taunting me. Was that how he’d look as he carved me up into little bits? Smiling? Laughing? Comparing me to my dead sister?

The flimsy walls of our cubicle felt like they were closing in on me. I put my hand on the desk to steady myself.

“Come on!” said Chastity. “We have to go now before he gets here!” She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the elevator. We tore out of the cubicles and ran past the reception desk. And then we stopped short.

I watched in horror as the numbers above the elevator ticked up towards our floor.

49, 50, 51…

I squeezed Chastity’s hand. “Please tell me you have your pepper spray.”

She started rummaging in her purse for it. But it was too late.

Ding.

The elevator had arrived.