Epilogue

June 2015

"Call him, we need to be certain that he is verifiably working."

"Hey Christian. You want to join me and Mom for lunch today? Dad is out of town so as the eldest and most attractive, I'm in charge. Why don't you take a break from mastering the world for a couple of hours and get your butt over here, you could use a break."

"You have no idea bro, buuut no can do – if I want to get home to Ana at a reasonable hour I need to motor through this pile on my desk."

"I can understand that. Well, here comes Mom from the ladies room – I'll call you tonight."

…

"He's set – he's not going anywhere but home to Ana."

"And just like clockwork – the bitch emerges. Christian must have really let her have it, she seems sad – poor little child rapist - we need to get out of here and to her place, you know she'll stop at Escalva before she heads home. I'll drop you off and then double back after you text me to tell me she's at home."

"You got it."

…

…

"What…What are you doing here? Here for your pound of flesh? So déclassé. What do you want Grace?"

I cannot stand to dwell in this tacky palace for one second more than need be, so I walk up behind Elena and inject her with a shot of Etorphine – for her it feels like she got hit with a sledge hammer – hmph, excellent. For the first time since receiving Elliot's text that the she devil was at home, my heart has stopped racing.

…

…

"Couldn't wait, huh Mom?" Elliot smirks stating the obvious as he observes Elena's crumpled body on the floor of her hideous foyer.

"No I couldn't, just hearing her voice enraged me, sorry but I had to shut her up – this has been a long time coming. I'm just sad we had so little time to start, but she forced our hand with that display at the gala. Well, no use crying over spilled pedophiles – let's get her in the box shall we."

…

Twenty minutes later

"Okay…I set the candles in the foyer, pulled the gas line from the furnace – turned on the gas in the kitchen and blew out the pilot lights on her two gas fireplaces – it will take a few hours for the house to fill up with gas and when it does the candles I left burning will make this motherfu…"

"Language Elliot."

"Explode like July fourth."

Elliot constructed a steel soundproof box that fit Elena's body – she was transported in the box to the grounds of our home nearby and placed in the bomb shelter that was built sometime during World War II. Carrick's business trip allowed for just the right amount of cover needed to get the job done.

Once there, Elena was tethered to a steel bolt in the floor with a four foot length of chain. She was able to move from an old twin mattress to either of two buckets for waste and to a light just above the mattress that is solar powered and only comes on at night. The rest of her time in her dungeon was spent in complete darkness. Elena was unable to determine day or night from where she was temporarily entombed.

We fed her a couple of times per week and usually limited her menu to bread and water, sometimes tuna wrapped in a napkin, being careful not to give her anything sharp or even a plastic sandwich bag, it was the only way to make sure that she could not end it all if she wanted to. She received one roll of toilet paper with the cardboard removed every few weeks.

The thing is I was perfectly willing to allow Elena Lincoln to go on existing in spite of what she did to my son, in spite of what I knew to be true about her. She had but one job – she was to stay away, that's all, nothing more and she could not bring herself to do it. I listened to my son's bullshit enlightened babble when he asked all of us to move on in the spirit of healing, blah blah blah. He tried to convince us that Elena would suffer more from being ostracized, I knew the truth – and that truth is Elena has no soul and would never, ever leave my child alone. Christian was naïve in believing her, not only was she still abusing teenaged boys, turns out she was keeping tabs on my son as well. I had been a fool, I failed to protect him them – I will not fail him again.

She begged me to talk to her, to tell her what would become of her, she was met with silence, there is nothing left to discuss. The only thing she ever got from me was a punch to the solar plexus or face, the time for talking was long gone. I had warned her.

...

...

...

Flashback

One day after Elena was thrown out of Grey manor.

"Mrs. Grey, hello!" I am greeted with cheerful enthusiasm by Franco, Elena's salon manager, he has no idea what kind of monster toils behind that tacky gold leaf gilded door. I am disgusted that Christian is allowing her to keep this place, let alone the other locations.

"I am here to see Elena, is she in?"

"Yes of course, it's amazing though after that spill she took down the stairs at home, she is quite bruised. I'll get her…" I should have let Mia beat her unconscious.

"No, no, I'll go back, poor dear, I came to check on her."

…

"What do you want Grace? I'm going to sue that wild animal that masquerades as your daughter, just you wait. Christian won't stand for this." Delusional bitch.

"You will do nothing of the sort Elena. Listen to me and hear me well." I lean forward placing my hands on her desk and stare into her eyes.

"If you ever come near my son or attempt to interfere in his life again? I. Will. Kill. You." I recite in a slow, deliberate and quiet tone to which she responds by throwing her head back and laughing.

"Oh dear Grace, you wouldn't hurt a fly." She smirks in recovery from her fit of laughter. "We just need to all sit and talk about this, you will understand I helped Christian…"

This bitch is nothing short of insane. Or perhaps she wants me to believe she is, I mean after all she pretends to have done nothing wrong, but has spent years hiding her debauchery. Talk about a slave to two masters.

"I won't kill you right away…" I interrupt.

"I will make you suffer, I will torture you and you will long for the sweet release of death." She turns ashen at my words. I guess she's not crazy after all.

"Stay away or die Elena. Your choice." I don't wait for a response before I turn and exit her office and salon.

End flashback

…

...

Elena was stripped down to her underwear and never given clothes, shoes or bed linen, she was also forced to live with the waste in her buckets as we never emptied them. I find it only fitting that she live in and around her own filth, my revenge is her worst nightmare. But, I warned her.

…

"I saw the pictures of what you did to my child!" Was just one of the declarations I screamed as my catharsis as I beat Elena over and over with a gym sock filled with quarters.

I hit her everywhere, merciless in my assault. Christian worked through his pain with therapy and Ana and I am happy about that, but to each his own, this works better for me.

I beat the shit out of her, daily - Elena learned the hard way not to throw up her hands in defense as she ended up with two broken fingers that first day.

...

...

We needed time to formulate our plan, but it was tricky because we had to find a place to bury her without being detected, the hardest part was hiding this from Carey. Carey is my soulmate, but he has a heart of pure gold and while ruthless in the boardroom and courtroom, he could never knowingly harm another human being.

Eventually we were able to transfer her back to her box, which was much lighter after so many weeks, due to her limited diet, and move her to the construction site for Christian and Ana's new home, and while our first inclination was to bury her in the crater dug for the pool before the concrete was poured, ultimately we decided against it as Elliot could not stomach the idea of burying Elena anywhere near his brother and his future family. For now the box containing a temporarily unconscious Elena is stored in the construction shed – the workers won't be here until next week to pour the concrete for the pool and foundation.

"Mom, I have a better idea, let's leave her in the shed for now, there's no one for miles, she can't scream, she's locked in. No one will be here for a week, by that time the…" Elliot stops cold, and my blood runs cold.

"Fuck! Taylor what are you doing here?" Elliot yells, grasping his chest over his heart. Drama queen. It's his fault, he assured me we would be alone here. Hmmmm, how deep is that hole?

"Sorry Mr. Grey, Mrs. Grey, I am here doing a night time security scan to determine what will be needed to secure the perimeter of the property from here to the shoreline. I decided to come by at night so I could also assess the lighting needs." Taylor informs us as though he is not at all surprised to see us here, in this circumstance.

Taylor is standing there staring at us as though he is contemplating his next move, I really need him to resist the urge to be a boy scout right now, I really like Taylor.

"The pool needs to be about eight or nine feet at its deepest with a ten foot hole because of the water table right – is that a ten foot hole?" He asks, and I wonder where he is going with this.

"Its ten and one half feet, the maximum considering the water table, it is the farthest I could go this close to the water. This lot is perfect in that we walk down hill to the waterfront. I thought it would be a good idea to bury her here below the pool, but I thought better of it. After everything she put my brother through I don't want her sorry ass anywhere near him, Ana and their future. I would be physically ill at the thought of my nieces and nephews swimming over her rotted corpse."

"Oh Elliot, don't be so dramatic, have you thought of an alternative location?" I say to Taylor's amusement.

"Yes, I'm going to store her here in this shed until we pour the foundation for the new convention center in three days."

"Good. We need to pack her in that lime over there, we don't want the odor to attract wild life in the meantime." Taylor instructs, maybe I should be nervous.

"Mrs. Grey…"

"Call me Grace dear, you have after all caught me in the commission of a violent felony. I think we can dispense with the formalities."

"Grace."

…

…

...

2175

"And finally this morning an odd and gruesome discovery at the site of the historic Seattle convention center – popular in the early 21st century – the Grey Foundation demolished the building after the great grandson of Dr. Friday Grey Stoddart, entrepreneur Christian Trevelyn Grey Stoddart greenlit the project for the Christian Trevelyn-Grey Memorial Hoverport in memory of his late Great-great Grandfather, 21st century business Tycoon Christian Trevelyn-Grey.

A steel coffin like container housing the mummified remains of a woman along with a lock box wrapped in plastic which contained voluminous evidence of crimes against children, including child sex trafficking. Sources say that the remains are believed to be those of Elena Perry Lincoln, a notorious Seattle area pedophile who was believed to have absconded in the year 2015 to avoid charges of child rape and other abuses. A nationwide manhunt at that time proved futile, with speculation she had died in the explosion that leveled her home.

A spokesperson for the Grey Foundation stated that the land was once owned by Michael Lincoln the owner of the defunct Lincoln Timber and ex-husband of Elena Lincoln, before it was sold in the year 2015. No further information is known about the land prior to City of Seattle's acquisition.

This is Edward Bunker reporting for Kavanagh Media Group."