“Not at all. I’d appreciate the company.”
Carlo rested one plate in front of Armstrong and the other across the table. He moved to the front door, engaged the lock and shut off the Open light. With a quick flip of a button, the motorized window blinds slowly rolled into place, cutting off the outside view. Before taking his seat, he disappeared into the back room and returned with two bottles of chilled beer. For the next hour the two talked sports, politics, business and family. They discovered they had a number of mutual acquaintances and much in common. Occasionally, the college student, a young man named Richard, interjected, expressing opinions that were indicative of his age. Carlo and Armstrong exchanged a look.
“That’s why there is more wrong with the city than there is right,” Carlo stated. “These kids today don’t have a clue.”
“Say it again!” Armstrong chimed.
“You two old heads just need to come out of the dark ages,” Richard said with a deep laugh.
“Did he just call us old?” Armstrong questioned, throwing a glance toward Carlo.
“You better school him!” Carlo teased.
The laughter was abundant and easy, and when the meal was done, Armstrong understood what Danni saw in the man. Under different circumstances they might have been friends. Depending how things went with the case, and Danni, they could still be. Rising from his seat, he shook the man’s hand.
“Thank you! Are you sure I don’t owe you anything?”
Carlo smiled. “Maybe one day but not this one. I don’t have a license to sell beer, so I couldn’t charge you and not be breaking the law. I would not want to be downtown standing sideways while they take my picture.”
Armstrong laughed. “My father often says, ‘Obey all laws except the one you’re breaking.’”
“Your father is a wise man,” Carlo said as he unlocked the door. “You have a good night, Detective.”
Armstrong gave Richard a slight salute, said his goodbyes and disappeared out the door.
* * *
Two slices of pepperoni and one orange pop later, Danni felt like she’d fallen into some bizarre sorority house movie. She wasn’t sure if it was a sick comedy or a horror film, but she knew there could be no happily-ever-after for many of the young women under Pius’s roof.
She knew the statistics and had quoted them often. Each year countless women and children were sold for sex in America, many through classified sites that regularly faced litigation for the advertisements traffickers placed in their adults-only sections. Even the more popular social networking sites were now being used by traffickers to promote prostitution and solicit the sale of minors.
Seeing it up close and personal had actually moved her to tears. Everything in her had been ready to wave her gold badge and call in the troops, but she knew that doing so would send many of the girls fleeing into worse situations and just allow Pius to move his operation to another home in a different neighborhood. Shutting him down for good was going to require the patience of Job and a fortitude she wasn’t quite sure she possessed.
It took no time at all for her to understand the lay of the land. Between what she knew from previous research and what the girls in the house shared, Danni was garnering a wealth of information. Dozens of online ads on those popular sites advertised sex disguised as innocent massages and platonic companionship. These code words allowed posts that seemed innocuous at best but actually promoted illegal transactions to take place: bareback for unprotected sex, Greek, French or Roman for anal, oral or group sex. Fees were called roses or donations, and the word discreet opened the door for illicit activities Danni couldn’t begin to fathom.
Pius had mastered the art of selling sex. Each of the girls had an online profile that was uploaded to various sex sites to bait their perspective clients. The images ran the gamut from sweet to graphic. Some dates stayed online, the girls coquettishly teasing perverts over private channels in the comfort of their own homes. Others were booked for physical dates, the bodyguards driving them to secondary locations to provide sexual favors in exchange for payment made by cash, credit or bitcoin.
As a group, they considered themselves a family of sorts, and Pius was their caregiver. Danni heard horror stories of pimps who had prostituted and abused them until they’d been saved by the almighty Pie. In their young minds they lived well, better than others, and he cared for them. Care included a regime of required STD testing, birth control pills doled out at breakfast and the watchful eye of Pie invoking fear in all of them. Inasmuch as Danni found it all disturbing, one girl who couldn’t fathom any more for her young life was one too many.
“I want to be like Ginny,” Angel said as they all watched her leave for work.
Ginger had changed into a formfitting dress and love-me pumps that accentuated her mile-high legs. Another of the girls had pulled her hair into a high bouffant, and her makeup had been meticulous. She’d looked stunning and expensive.
Marissa rolled her eyes. “Why? She’s still a whore just like the rest of us.”
“Yeah, but she chooses and she gets dates with the wealthy guys. She has regulars and they’re doctors and lawyers, and one of ’em is even a judge.”
“She still gets her ass beat sometimes,” a girl they called Diamond interjected. “I heard her judge is a freak. And he’s crazy!”
“Plus, she has to service Pie,” another girl said as she cringed. “That’s nearly as bad as being sent to the tombs.”
“The tombs?” Danni questioned, looking from one to the other.
“It’s where they send the girls who become a problem. It’s overseas somewhere, and we hear they keep them drugged and tied up there.”
“Yeah,” someone else said. “I only know one girl who came back, and she wasn’t the same after. Now she’s turning tricks for twenty dollars a pop just to stay high.”
“After the tombs you either don’t come back, you come back dead or you come back wishing you were dead,” another interjected.
“Crystal came back,” Angel said softly.
“And then she was gone,” Diamond added. “I heard they found her body in a Dumpster. It was on the news.”
“Shut up,” Marissa snapped, looking from one to the other. “We have it good here. Any of you mess this up for me and I will kill you!”
“You shut up!” Angel barked. “Crystal was my friend.”
Ginger suddenly hissed from the doorway. “Are you trying to get yourselves hurt? You know better,” she said as she shot them all a look.
Pie suddenly stepped into the room behind her. His eyes shifted slowly, inspecting each of them one by one. His stare was cold, and Danni felt Angel stiffen as she shifted her body closer. When his gaze rested on her, pausing a minute longer than necessary, she felt herself sit up straighter, her body tensing. No one said a thing, and then just as quickly he exited the room. Time stood still as they listened to his footsteps fading away to the upper level of the home.
“All of you shut up,” Ginger finally snapped. “You know the rules! And you,” she said, pointing at Angel. “You’re walking on thin ice. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
* * *
Girls came and went all hours of the night. Angel cried herself to sleep, muffling her sobs beneath her pillow and blankets. Ginger had scared her, and she’d barely spoken two words to Danni after they’d gone back to their room. It was well after midnight when Ginger and Pie disappeared again, not returning until daybreak. Danni hadn’t rested well, anxious about what could happen if she closed her eyes and relaxed. Hours later, when she rose, the two were still sound asleep in their room on the top floor.
Slipping out of the house wasn’t a problem, and when the car service Danni had summoned pulled up at the corner, no one knew, or cared, that she was gone.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” Armstrong said, flashing her a bright smile from
the driver’s seat.
Danni smiled back. “Am I glad to see you.”
“How’s it going?” he asked as he shifted gears and pulled into traffic.
“We’ve got to get those girls out of there.”
“You ready for us to raid the place?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. I need more information,” she said as she detailed everything that had happened since her arrival. “The kid named Pace is very chatty. He likes to show off what he knows. He thinks he’s brighter than everyone else. I also think he has a little crush on Ginger, so he’s not a big fan of Pie’s.”
“So, you’re telling me none of the girls are being held against their will?”
“None in that house. They can come and go as they please. They just exchange sexual favors for the privilege of staying.”
“What happens if they want to leave?”
“That’s the thing...none of them want to leave. They don’t necessarily like the work, but most have been through worse and what Pius offers is the closest thing to family they know. They’re protected. They eat well. There are occasional shopping sprees. Most only have to work a few hours a day, and in the house it’s like a slumber party twenty-four/seven.”
Danni jotted notes onto a lined notepad resting on the back seat as she continued. “I need you to see what you can find on a little girl named Alissa. Not sure of her last name, but she goes by the nickname Angel. And so that you know I’m earning my keep,” she said as she wrote a series of numbers at the bottom of the top sheet of paper, “here are some of the IP addresses for their computers and a website link they’re uploading profiles to.”
“How’d you pull that off?”
“Photographic memory. I wandered into the computer room, being nosy, until I was thrown out. Everything I saw is written down here for you and the team.”
“They have a computer room?”
“A dozen computers with their own network servers in the dining room. It’s all here,” she said, gesturing with the notepad. “And I drew you a layout of the house.”
“Nice work, Detective.”
“Not nice enough. I need to figure out where the tombs are and what gets you sent there. And the girls also knew Crystal. Apparently she came back from the tombs before Pius took her away.”
“They said that?”
“They said Pius took her away, and then she was dead. That’s what they said.”
“Do you think they’ll testify to that in a courtroom?”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Danni said after a moment of pause. “They’re scared of Pie. They might not be willing to testify against him. Hell, he scares me!”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to convince them,” Armstrong said.
Danni turned to stare out the window. “I sure hope so,” she said.
For another good hour, the two strategized as Armstrong drove around the city, giving her a quasi-tour of the city. He pointed out his former high school, the YMCA where he often played basketball and his favorite doughnut shop. During the drive, they pondered resources that would help with their case, and the girls, when the time came. Armstrong promised to do some digging to discover what more he could about Pie and Ginger. Neither one of them mentioned Carlo.
Chapter 11
There was a brief moment before Armstrong had dropped her off around the corner from the coffee shop when Danni found herself wanting to tell him that she missed him. Missed his company. His laugh. The way he looked at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. She had dismissed the thought as quickly as it had risen, but remnants still lingered. Every ounce of it was out of character for her. She rarely ever let herself get so emotionally entangled with a man, most especially a man she hadn’t known long. But from day one, when she wasn’t thinking about the case, she was thinking about Armstrong.
She pulled her jacket closed around her torso and stuck her hands deep into the pockets. The weather was turning, a cold chill vibrating through the early-morning air. Something about it felt ominous, and Danni found herself a little homesick for a little Georgia heat and sun. As she turned the corner toward the coffee shop, she saw Carlo and Ginger were standing outside. She paused, slowing her stroll as she eyed the two curiously.
Ginger’s body language was telling as she stood with her shoulders rolled forward, her head hanging low. Every so often she would cut an eye toward the inside of the store, something like fear furrowing her brow. Carlo stood with his arms folded over his chest. His expression was cold, his eyes were narrowed and his jaw tight, his teeth clenched. It was obvious he wasn’t happy about something. Danni watched the two of them until Pie suddenly jumped from the passenger seat of his car, his arms flailing as he spewed a lengthy list of expletives that the entire neighborhood could hear. The two men suddenly stood toe to toe in heated conversation, and then just like that the moment was over. Pie stomped back to his vehicle as Carlo turned and shook his index finger in Ginger’s face, then pointed her after his brother. When the two pulled away in Pie’s car, the tires screeching on the street, Carlo turned, spying her for the first time.
Danni watched as he took a deep breath to stall his anger, and then he forced a smile to his face. He waved his hand and called her name.
“Hey there!” Danni exclaimed, smiling back. She walked to his side, closing the distance between them. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s good, but I was worried about you. Are you all right?”
She nodded. “I’m fine. Spent most of the morning pounding the pavement to find a job.”
There was a split second of pause as he stared at her. “Ginger didn’t know where you’d disappeared to.”
“Is that why you were yelling at her?”
“I wasn’t yelling at her. But I did let her know I wasn’t happy that they didn’t know where you were.”
Danni shrugged her narrow shoulders. “She and Pie were still asleep when I left. I didn’t want to bother them.”
“It’s all good,” Carlo said. “Sometimes I just need to get my brother in check. Ginger is supposed to be watching out for him and...well...lately he’s been out of control.”
“He has a lot going on. With his business and all,” she replied.
There was another lengthy pause as he pondered her statement. “Maybe,” he finally said. “It still doesn’t excuse him.” He gave her another smile as he changed the subject. “So, can I interest you in a cup of coffee and a chocolate Danish? Fresh baked!”
Danni smiled as he held the door open for her. “I’d really like that.”
Inside, the coffee shop was empty, not even college students there debating politics, their physics classes, the world’s social evils or the purpose of dryer lint. As he moved behind the counter, Carlo made small talk about the weather, something he’d watched on television and his to-do list for the business. Danni only half heard what he was saying, still trying to make sense of what she’d witnessed. She had more questions than answers and, truth be told, was beginning to think she was getting nowhere with the case. The pretense of being seventeen was starting to take its toll on her, and she hadn’t been undercover long enough to have it all make sense. The evidence thus far was circumstantial and barely enough to drag anyone in for questioning and definitely not enough to execute a warrant or arrest that would lead to Pius’s prosecution and conviction. She needed more to prove he was the master of their operations and pulling everyone’s strings, and more meant biting her tongue and pretending to close her eyes to things that turned her stomach and made her blood boil. She knew what her reasons were, but she couldn’t begin to understand his.
A half dozen customers had come in needing to be served before Carlo was finally able to take a break. While she waited for him to join her, Danni pretended to be interested in the morning newspaper, using a dull pencil to circle prospective jobs. When Carlo finally
sat down, he shook his head.
“I told you there’s a job here for you. Why won’t you let me help you?”
“You’ve been very nice. I just don’t want to be a burden to you.”
“It’s only a job. An honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work,” he said.
She gave him a slight smile. “May I ask you a question?”
He met her stare, his gaze curious, and he gestured for her to continue.
“Does what your brother does bother you? His business?”
“What business?”
“The prostitution and using young girls for internet porn.”
He studied her intently. There was an awkward pause as he seemed to be searching for what to say. “I’m not sure what you think my brother’s business is, but it’s not what you might think it is.”
“Have you ever been to his house? Seen the girls? The computers?”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Danni. Or what you think you saw. I know Pie and Ginger take in the occasional stray and help them out when they can. Much like they took you in. I hardly think that’s a business.”
Danni shook her head. “I think it’s more than that,” she said softly.
He shrugged. “Well, I also know he might occasionally sell a little pot, but that doesn’t make him some kind of crime lord, either.” He chuckled softly. “Prostitution? Porn? Really? You’ve got quite the imagination, little girl!”
“I know what I saw,” she responded.
He nodded. “Well, maybe I need to go see this for myself,” he said. “And if he’s really into those things, I will call the police on him myself.”
“You would?”
“Of course. I could never condone that kind of behavior from Pie or anyone else!” he said emphatically.
“I don’t want to get him into any trouble. Or make him mad,” she said.
“Did he do something to you? Or try to make you do something you didn’t want to do?”
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