Pauline spoke in a quiet voice. “He…hurt you?”
“Not outside of the parameters of what I thought acceptable, but the things he was saying, what he wanted to do to me, they were…disturbing.”
“What kind of things?” Pauline said carefully, fingers poised to type down his answer.
“He wanted to have me against my will. He wanted toreallyhurt me.”
Pauline nodded. “But he didn’t.”
“He didn’t,” Scott agreed. “And he paid me double what he said he would and told me he would be interested in seeing me again in the future.”
“That encounter ended amicably?”
Scott thought back to that morning. Warren had been polite again, making him breakfast, smiling at him warmly, but his words of the previous night had chipped off the veneer. There was something unhinged about the man, something swirling in his eyes.
“Did he try to see you again?”
“No,” Scott admitted. He lowered his gaze. “It was me who messaged him. I…I needed money. I needed it fast, and I knew he’d give it to me if I arranged another date with him. At first, he said no.”
Pauline pushed back in her chair. “He said no?”
“I said…” He paused to ease out a breath. “I said he could live out his sick fantasy for real.”
“Why?” Pauline whispered. “Why would you do that?”
“I needed the money.”
“How much?”
“£100,000.”
Pauline’s eyes and her mouth both widened at the figure.
“He paid me in advance. I picked a day that I knew I wouldn’t be able to make, and then for three years, I didn’t think much about him. He couldn’t get to me where I was.”
“And where were you?”
“Prison.”
“Prison,” Pauline echoed. “You’ve served time?”
“I was in Brixton for blackmailing a politician I’d slept with. I needed the money. I got caught, arrested, charged, and right before I was sentenced, I made the deal with Warren.”
“£100,000? Why did you need that much? And why then?”
Scott shook his head. “It’s not important anymore. I owe him his fantasy, and he was so close tonight, too close. And I need your help. I need you to find out who he is and arrest him.”
Pauline winced. “Arrest him for what?”
“I’m sorry, but have you not heard what I said. He’s going to hurt me.”
“Has he threatened you? Has he directly said he’s going to harm you?”
Scott rubbed his brow. Even the first time, when it had been consensual rough sex, Warren had said things like,I want to… orI wish I could… He never directly threatened to hurt Scott. When Scott had contacted him, it had been him suggesting the violence, not Warren, and when he’d escaped through the window that night, no words had been spoken between them. Warren had grabbed his ankle but let go when Scott kicked out.
“He put a shock collar on me –”
“You said your date for this evening, Anthony, put the collar on you.” Pauline scrolled through the notes on her computer. “I can send someone over to speak to him tomorrow morning if you’ve got his details.”
