Chapter 13
Ed drove back to the Bynum house. It was 7 o'clock when he pulled up in front of the house. It would not be dark for about another hour and a half. Ed parked the car and walked to the front door. He rang the bell and waited for an answer. Ed saw someone looking through the peephole in the door and the door opened.
"Well, the private detective," Mrs. Bynum said, "Can I help you?"
Ed stayed on the front step, "Mrs. Bynum, I haven't been totally honest with you. I need your help. Can we talk inside?"
She stepped back to allow him to enter and closed the door behind him. She was dressed as she was earlier except she had taken her shoes off. She motioned him into the living room.
"The maid goes home at 5, so we can talk in here," she said, "Now what more do you have to add to what you told me this afternoon."
Mrs. Bynum, again what I have to say is delicate," Ed started.
"It's Katherine with a K," she interrupted.
"Katherine, I wasn't hired to watch you," Ed started, "Your husband hired me to watch a girl he described as his girl friend. He said that he wanted to check on her before he married her. I knew that that wasn't the case when I saw his wedding band. The girl got involved in a situation with some gang members while I was tailing her and I stopped them from molesting her. Later I found out that your husband and his friends had drugged her and raped her. I have evidence that he did this with at least 1 other woman, but I don't know the other woman's name."
Katherine's face got red and Ed saw that she was having trouble controlling her anger. Ed decided to continue and he told her about the pictures and how the investigation didn't make any sense to him.
Katherine started ringing her hands and tears were forming in her eyes. Ed paused a minute to allow her to get hold of her emotions and to digest what he had told her.
"How do I know that what you have told me is true?" she snapped.
Ed had printed one of the tamer pictures while he was eating dinner with Betty. He pulled the picture out of his jacket and handed it to her. She took the picture and unfolded it and sat staring at the picture for several minutes. Ed could not tell from her face what was going though her mind. He sat quietly waiting for her to say something.
"Oh my God," she said, "That poor woman."
Katherine started crying and Ed handed her a tissue from a pack of tissues on the end table. Ed sat and waited for her to get control of herself so he could continue talking to her. Katherine cried for several minutes.
"I know all of these men," she sobbed, "Oh God, what will their wives say when they find this out?"
"Katherine, I want you to keep everything that I am telling you between us for now," he told her, "I'm trying to get to the bottom of this. The police are looking for the woman and they want to question her. She's the daughter of a minister and your husband told her that he would show the pictures to her family if she ever told anyone about this. I am going to be truthful with you, I can go to jail for what I have done for this woman so far."
"You don't have to worry about me, I couldn't tell these woman about this anyway, ' she said.
Katherine got up and went to the bookshelf and opened it, revealing a bar. She took 2 glasses and poured Cognac each glass. She brought the glasses back and handed 1 to Ed and sat down in her chair. Each glass was half full. She started taking large sips of her Cognac and staring across the room
"Katherine, I need your help," Ed said, "Would you have any idea who the second woman is? I only have her body in the picture. She has a tattoo of a butterfly on her stomach."
Katherine shook her head and continued staring across the room. Even though she and her husband had not really been husband and wife for about five years, she knew that the pictures could destroy her family name.
Ed realized what was going through her mind, "Katherine, we have the CD with the pictures. Your husbands face does not appear on any of the photos. Apparently he was the photographer. What you have in your hand is the only hard copy that I know of. When this case is solved, I promise you that the CD will be destroyed and no one will ever know of its existence. The police do not know about the pictures and I am not about to let them know about them. I need your help. The woman in the pictures is in possession of the disk. You can be sure that she doesn't want anyone else to see the pictures."
Her shoulders dropped and she started sobbing again. Ed handed her more tissues and waited for her to calm down before continuing.
"I'm sorry," she said wiping her eyes, "it's just that in the past few days I'm finding out that my life is just one big lie."
Katherine looked at him, "How can I know that you will destroy the disk?"
"You can't be sure, Katherine," Ed told her, "But I ask you to have faith in me. If it would convince you, I will let you meet the woman in the pictures if she is willing to meet you."
Katherine shook her head; "I don't think I could face her after what my husband did to her. I think that I can trust you. What do you need from me?"
"I need the addresses and home telephone numbers of the men in the picture. I would also like to have the private number in their office if they have a private line."
Katherine left the room. In a few minute she returned with a piece of paper. She had written the names and home addresses of the 5 men and their home phone numbers.
"I don't know if any of them has a private line in their office," she said, "I had no contact with them except socially. Are you going to destroy these men? I know their wives."
Ed looked at her, "How would you feel if you were the woman in the picture?"
Katherine handed the paper with the phone numbers to Ed.
"What is this woman to you?" she asked, "A girl friend, wife, why are you so involved in this case?"
Ed stood up, "This is a nice woman who was taken advantage of and needs a friend right now. I intend to be that friend and to see that she gets out of this mess as clean as possible. "
Ed started toward the door and Katherine got up and followed him to the door. Ed opened the door and turned to her.
"Please don't tell anyone what I have told you tonight," he said, "I need a few more days to wrap this up and then I'm going to try and make the woman in the picture head back to Iowa. She's too nice for the big city. She'll be eaten alive by the people here."
Katherine looked at Ed for a minute, "She's lucky to have a friend like you."
Katherine kissed him on the cheek, "I hope that if I ever need a friend, I can call you too."
Ed smiled and she moved away and held the door for him. He reached in his pocket and pulled out one of his business cards. He turned it over and wrote down his home phone number and cell phone number and handed it to her. Ed walked to his car and started for his apartment. Ed knew that, although Katherine wasn't much help tonight, she could be a powerful ally later. She had contacts in circles where Ed was not welcome. Katherine Bynum was also a very beautiful woman.