Seventeen million. That’s all the email said and all it needed to say. Seventeen million was simply the answer to the inevitable question that arose in my head two minutes ago. Just under four minutes ago I received an email from the same sender. It was a video. It was THE video. Even as I sat there staring at the computer screen with $17 mil. on it, the video was playing in the background. The b*****d had given me just enough time to realize what I was watching before sending the demand for the amount. At first I hadn’t even realized it was me I was looking at. The funny thing was, I’d been lying to the police about my wife’s disappearance so often and so well the past few days that I actually thought for a brief moment that this was a kidnapping video. Nevertheless, the question remained the same. How much?
No sooner than the thought entered my head, the second email arrived. I had no doubt in my mind that he would time the next email as he had this one. I turned off the video. I already knew how that one ended. The shrieks of my dying wife coming from the speakers stopped, giving me some comfort, but not much. I stared out the window at the twilight’s reflection off the lake aside which the house sat. If I were a little more of a nervous man I would have rushed to the closet where the makeshift snuff film had obviously been filmed from. I had already cleaned out most of that closet just a few hours after killing Sandra to make it look like she’d packed and left. There was no camera. So how did he get this footage? Right on cue a third email came in. This one went into a bit more detail.
“I’m the man who was having an affair with Sandra. The camera was just pure luck I suppose. We were filming ourselves when you came home. I hid in the closet while you accused her of cheating on you and …well, you know how that played out. I could have jumped out and helped her but I saw an opportunity. I AM curious as to how you found out about the affair. Maybe we can discuss that tomorrow at 10:00pm at Junie’s Bistro on 7th when you bring my $17 mil.
P.S. I don’t have to tell you no cops, now do I?”
Unbelievable! This guy apparently loved my wife even less than I did, and I KILLED the witch! The plain truth is, I hadn’t known about the affair until I accused her. I heard word through some prestigious circles that she had spoken to a lawyer about divorcing me and taking me for everything she could. I played the infidelity card because I didn’t want to lead on that I knew about the divorce. Her eyes told me as soon as I mentioned it though that I was right, if only by accident. That’s when I snapped. I’m not entirely sure of what happened next. Everything went black. The end is all that mattered anyhow. I had choked her to death, thrown the body in the lake and then headed up to the room to cover up what I’d done. My “email buddy” must have slipped out while I was disposing of the body.
Seventeen million smackeroos was no small amount even to the CEO of a major company as I was. Small price to pay to get away with murder I suppose? Besides, the great U S of A government would be providing my company with a bailout soon and I’d make at least half of this damned extortion fiasco back. I made calls to several of my banks and arranged for withdrawals the next morning. I then laid down in the room where I had viciously strangled my wife not four days before, and slept like a colicky baby.
The next morning I awoke with a different attitude about the whole situation. I had worked too hard and too long to get where I was just to let some adulterating scumbag take it from me. After withdrawing all the money, I made one more call to a man I had hoped not to have to call again. Rainkor was an ex-marine and mercenary for hire, of sorts, for rich corporations. I had used him once several years before to “persuade” a potential whistleblower into not testifying against my company in a financial scandal. I wasn’t sure if he had ever killed anyone in his latter career but speaking with him when we first met gave me the inkling that he had. I told him as much of the story as I felt safe to on a phone and met him shortly after to go over the finer details.
“25 percent of the blackmail cash.” Rainkor told me after I began a more thorough explanation of the situation (leaving out, of course, the part where I murdered someone). “I’ll have a clear shot at him from the roof of the store next to the bistro.”
“Great. I can give you your share right n-“Then I realized I hadn’t said anything yet about the location. “Oh sh-“and then everything went black again.