The videotape arrives at Daily Bugle offices accompanied by a handwritten note:

"Alone in a forbidden room,
Sordid, subterranean tomb,
Held for ritualistic play,
Endeavoring to get away,
Slave faces almost certain doom."

With trepidation, and taking care to touch only its corners, reporter Ralph Axe inserts the unmarked tape into a VCR. Almost immediately a nearly naked woman in handcuffs and ballgag appears onscreen. "It's Darlene Hightower!" someone exclaims just as the entire newsroom falls silent. During the previous winter local resident Ms. Hight... Show more