by Sean Black
The vibe now had echoes of that, which made her telling him how little money they’d made even more nerve wracking. Still, it was better for her to tell him than wait for him to ask.
She went to her bag. “We kind of had a light night. She’s new to being on the carpet, and…”
He cut her off. “Just give me what you got,” he said, hand out, not looking at her as he studied his phone screen.
She placed the money and credit card receipts in his hand, bracing for a reaction that didn’t come.
Hanger tapped out a text on his phone. He shoved the paper into his pocket without so much as looking at it, never mind counting it.
In all the years she’d been with him, she’d never seen him not count what she handed over. It scared her so much that she could feel herself starting to sober up.
“We’ll make it up,” she said. “Tonight. I’ll take her back out.”
He looked up at her, almost as if he’d forgotten she was there.
“No. You won’t.”
She didn’t say anything. Asking what he meant would be a seriously bad idea.
“You want me to freshen that up, Daddy?” she said.
He ignored her.
“There’s two guys out looking for her. If you see them, call me immediately.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I already lost the black guy when he was following me here. I know what he looks like. He won’t catch me slipping.”
He didn’t say anything to that. He pulled out his wallet and handed her cash. He nodded to the bedroom.
“Take her to the salon. Get her looking fine. I want her hair dyed. Blonde. Platinum blonde.”
Soothe froze for a second. Suddenly it all made sense. His mood. How he wasn’t looking at her.
“Blonde?” she said.
He lifted his eyes to hers.
“Bitch is there an echo in here?” he said.
“No,” she said.
“Don’t look at me like that again,” he said. “Not ever.”
Blonde, she thought. With everything that had happened, it could only mean one thing. Hanger was about to cut his losses.
51
“Put on some clothes, we’re going to the salon.”
Kristin jumped up from the bed. She’d been lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with dead eyes. Now they sparkled, like a kid being told the family was off to see Santa.
The way she reacted made Soothe want to grab her by the throat and shake her. The kid still didn’t get that anything good a pimp ever did for you was for their benefit, not yours.
Soothe waited as Kristin threw on some clothes. Hanger had left, but he’d be back to collect Kristin later. Soothe’s stomach flipped over at the thought of it. She did her best to push the thought of what lay ahead out of her mind.
Focus on what you need to do, she reminded herself. That had always been Soothe’s mantra. She didn’t plan on being in the life forever. Hoes had an expiry date. She was about two or three years from her prime, and after that it would all be downhill.
She didn’t plan on staying with Hanger forever either. Soon she’d cut loose and go make her own money. Enough to go home and go study to get a real job.
“I’m ready,” said Kristin, emerging from the bedroom in a sweatshirt with sleeves long enough to cover her wrists.
Soothe didn’t say anything. It was a hard, unforgiving world. Kristin wasn’t her problem.
They walked downstairs and outside, Kristin jabbering on about what they’d get done at the salon. She thought it was like some kind of girls' pamper party when Soothe knew it was about getting a turkey ready for Thanksgiving.
“Can I get my nails done?” she asked as they got into the back of the Uber.
“Sure,” said Soothe, staring out of the window.
Kristin leaned over and hugged Soothe’s arm. “Thank you for taking me.”
The gesture made Soothe want to start screaming and never stop. She was sweating and her heart was beating out of her chest, almost as bad as if it was her and not Kristin who was being handed over.
Why was Hanger making her do this? It wasn’t like she was going to see any of the money from the deal. Soothe wasn’t even sure it was the right decision. So, the kid’s family had a couple of guys trying to find her. So what? It happened.
They could ship Kristin out east, out to the Bronx. Or they could move her to Florida. Disney World had some of the busiest tracks in the country. All those family men dropping their kids off to see Mickey Mouse then heading in the other direction to go party.
There was a hint of spite to what Hanger was doing. A big fuck you to her family and the guys who were trying to find Kristin. Maybe that was what had Soothe so tangled up in her own head.
She brushed Kristin off her. Part of her wanted to get the driver to stop and push Kristin out of the car. She didn’t want to be part of this.
The beauty salon was next door to a strip club. That wasn’t a coincidence. In fact, Soothe thought, it was kind of genius. Strippers spent a lot of time and a lot of money creating their look. It was a business expense.
They pushed through the door and took a seat. After a while, someone came over to ask what they wanted.
“Red and cut it short,” Soothe told the hair stylist with a wave to Kristin.
Kristin looked at her, puzzled. “I thought I was going to be blonde.”
It took everything Soothe had not to slap the hell out of her. She hadn’t even known she was going to say red rather than blonde until she’d found the words coming out of her mouth. But once they had, she knew this was the right thing.
“There’s been a change of plan,” said Soothe.
Kristin must have picked up on the rage coming off Soothe because she dropped her eyes and silently followed the stylist over to a chair.
Soothe followed them.
“How long’s it going to take?” she asked the stylist.
“Couple of hours.”
That was fine. A salon trip could take four, maybe five hours. Even pimps knew that. Two hours left an extra two hours to play with, and that should be enough.
“I’ll be back,” said Soothe as the stylist turned back to Kristin and said, “Don’t worry, sweetie, you’re going to look really cute when I’m done. You want a magazine to look at?”
There was a Target a few blocks away. Soothe prowled the aisles, picking out a new outfit for Kristin. Jeans, low top sneakers, a Vans t-shirt and a bulky jacket that would change her shape.
By the time Soothe was done, Hanger could walk right past Kristin and not even know.
At the checkout, Soothe wavered for a second. It wouldn’t just be Kristin that Hanger would be looking for. It would be her too, and his reaction would be nuclear.
“Mam?”
The cashier’s voice snapped her back to the present.
“Yeah, uh, sorry,” said Soothe, pushing her purchases over to the counter.
Once this was done, there was no going back. Her hand fell to her pocket and the knife she always carried with her. Her thumb ran along the side of the blade, enough to feel the sharpness, but not enough to break the skin.
In her mind, she was somewhere else. This decision had seemed to come from nowhere, but she knew deep down that it really hadn’t. It had been there for a while now, lurking somewhere in a part of her mind she had assumed was long dead.
She paid for the clothes and walked back outside. It was sunny. She was scared, more than scared, terrified. But she also felt lighter, like the years that had passed since she’d been in the life were behind her somehow.
Soothe had never been to church, not since she was a little girl and her grandmother had taken her. She’d sat in the pew and it was one time growing up, with the light shimmering through the stained glass that she had felt truly at peace.
There was a little of that now, a feeling of being at peace, of having made a decision and because it was a good one, of having someone watching over her.
She walked back to the salon, trying to figure out how to explain all of this to Kristin.
52
The stylist gave the chair a theatrical twirl so that Soothe could see Kristin’s new look from the front. Soothe smiled. The fourteen-year-old looked almost unrecognizable. Not only was her hair a bright, cartoonish red, it had been shaped into a bob. With her large eyes, she looked, thought Soothe, like a character from a Japanese animation. More importantly, her appearance was completely different. It would take a second or third look to realize it was the same person.
Sitting in the chair, Kristin didn’t look as impressed. “Are you sure Hanger’s going to be okay with this?” she asked.
Soothe ignored the question.
“Is there somewhere she can get changed?” she asked the stylist, holding up the bag with the outfit.
“Sure, just go through the back.”
Kristin trotted obediently behind Soothe as she led her through a door at the back of the salon and into a break room.
Pulling out the clothes, Soothe told Kristin to change into them.
Kristin held the t-shirt up, confused.
“What’s this?”
Soothe guessed that the time had come to tell her the truth, or as much of it as she thought Kristin could handle.
“You’re going to get changed into these clothes and then I’m going to put you on a bus back to LA.”
“What? Why? Does Hanger want me back on the track? I know I haven’t been making much money out here, but I’ll get better, I promise. I just need more time.”
Soothe placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders and shook her head.
“No, you’re going home.”
Kristin recoiled at the words.
“No, I can’t. Not now.”
“Listen to me, if you stay here, you’re going to die.”
“No, I won’t. Hanger’s here now. If any of the Johns try anything, he’ll mess them up.”
Soothe stared into her eyes. “No, he won’t.”
“Sure he will. That’s what pimps do. They look after their hoes. Keep them safe so they can work.”
For the longest time, Soothe would have agreed. More than agreed. She’d have been the one saying it. But it was bullshit and dangerous bullshit at that. She could barely think of one time she’d been saved by a pimp. That’s why she carried a knife.
It was strange to be here. Hearing this kid spit back the sales pitch that Soothe had heard given a hundred times. It worked too; it was a good pitch if you found the right kind of person to say it to. But the reality was different. When you were in the life, no one cared if you lived or if you died.
“Why’d you think he wanted you blonde, huh?”
The question seemed to perplex Kristin.
“I’ll tell you why. Because he’s going to pass you over to a guy who likes little blonde, white girls. That’s why.”
“So?”
Soothe had to fight back her temper.
“When he finds a girl he likes, he likes to hurt them. Do all sorts of crazy stuff to them, like a horror movie. If you don’t finish up dead, then you’ll wish you were.”
“Hanger wouldn’t let anyone do that. I’m a swan.”
“Oh, you think? This guy pays a lot of money for the right girl, and you’re a whole bunch of trouble right now.”
Kristin’s gaze dropped to the floor. Those words seemed to find their target.
“I’m going to take you down to catch the bus now, and you’re going to get on it, okay?”
No answer.
“You’re going to get on it or you’re going to die,” Soothe repeated.
Kristin finally looked up.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“What are you going to say to Hanger?”
“Let me worry about that,” said Soothe. “Now finish getting changed.”
“I don’t know if I can go home,” said Kristin.
She sounded less defiant than defeated.
“You don’t have a friend you can maybe go stay with?”
Kristin just looked at her and Soothe realized it was a stupid question. Girls with lots of friends weren’t usually the ones who got caught up in the life.
She dropped the subject and watched as Kristin got changed into her new set of casual clothes. When she was finished, Soothe jammed her old clothes into the bag.
“Come on, I’m going to show you where you can catch the bus.”
Together they walked out of the salon and out onto the street. Taken by a sudden wave of paranoia, Soothe looked around for Hanger. He was nowhere to be seen. He was likely still back at the apartment, planning how he was going to spend the money he’d get from handing Kristin over.
Her phone chimed with a text. It was Hanger. He was asking for a picture of Kristin’s new look. For a second Soothe thought about sending him one, but that would be like throwing gasoline onto a fire. She powered down her phone and put it back into her bag, then she turned back to Kristin.
“You’re gonna be okay. You’re going to get on that bus and if you don’t want to go home, there are places you can go, places that have girls just like you.”
Kristin blinked back tears. Soothe’s words finally seemed to be hitting home.
Soothe could feel her own throat start to tighten. There would be no going home for her. Not ever. Maybe one day she’d also be able to leave the life behind her.
Today wasn’t that day.
53
A call from Joyce Walker flashed up on Lock’s screen. He debated answering it. He’d have preferred to speak with her when they had found her daughter. Leaving it unanswered felt unfair. It was better to know, even if the only news was that there was no news.
“Ryan Lock.”
“Mr. Lock, I’m sorry to bother you.”
“You’re not bothering me. We have a tip that Kristin may be in Las Vegas. We’re heading there now to check it out.”
“Oh, that’s great. You’ve no idea what a relief that is.”
“Like I said, right now it’s only a tip. We don’t know if it’s true or not.”
On the other end of the line, she let out a loud sigh. “Still, I can’t tell you how nice it is to hear something positive finally. Especially after the news earlier about Angie. I can’t believe it.”
Lock looked over at Ty, both men thinking the same thing. What news?
“What’s the news about Angie, Mrs. Miller?”
“You haven’t heard.”
Lock was hoping that she was talking about the fire at the refuge. She probably was.
“I know the refuge was the subject of an arson attack and that Angie was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, but I think it was mostly precautionary.”
There was silence from Joyce Walker. Not a good sign.
“Mrs. Walker, are you still there?”
“Yes, I am. I’m sorry. I thought you would have heard.”
“No,” said Lock.
“I guess there were complications or something. I think Angie already had some trouble with her heart, you know, from all those years back when she was using drugs and drinking.”
“What’s happened?” said Lock. “Is she okay?”
“No, I’m sorry to say she’s not. She passed away.”
Next to him, Ty’s face was stone cold, a reflection of his own. If they’d been weighing Andre’s fate, this had sealed it.
Lock wrapped up the call as gently as he could, telling Joyce he’d call her the second they found Kristin or knew anything more. She thanked him again.
“That’s murder right there,” said Ty.
“It sure is,” said Lock. “How long do we have to go?”
Ty checked the time to destination.
“An hour and twenty.”
“Let’s see if we can make it an hour ten,” said Lock.
54
On her way back to the apartment, Soothe ran through the things she could say to Hanger. She’d thought
about lying, but that rarely worked with men like him. They were experts at sniffing out deception.
She paced up and down the sidewalk about the building for a while before going in. After a time, she settled on a strategy. She’d tell him the truth, weather the inevitable storm that would come. Then, when Hanger’s temper had blown itself out, she would make him see that it had been the right thing to do. Not just for Kristin, he wouldn’t care about that, but for him.
Taking a few deep breaths, she walked into the building.
Hanger was sitting on the couch, clouded in a halo of weed smoke, when she walked in. He was brooding over something.
“You stop answering messages, huh?”
She played dumb.
“What message?”
He started to get up from where he was sitting, decided against it, and sunk back down.
“So, where is she?” he said, his gaze floating past Soothe.
Soothe’s skin prickled with sweat. Her throat tightened.
This was it, the moment to rip off the band aid and unleash the storm. She’d take a beating. She was sure of it. But she’d taken beatings before. She knew how to move her body so that some of the impact was cushioned. She also knew how to make the right sounds so Hanger would ease off. After all, she was inventory, and you didn’t want to destroy inventory.
“She’s gone.”
Hanger’s eyes bore into her. He put down the blunt he was smoking.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“She’s gone. She’s not here.”
He stood up, hands clasped together, rings gleaming, as he cracked his knuckles.
“I can see that, bitch. So, where is she? And what do you mean she’s gone?”
She didn’t give him a reply.
He circled her, walking behind her. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck.
“Like she ran away, that kind of gone.”
Soothe could sense that this was going to be a big storm, one that was gathering off a coast somewhere, ready to rip through everything it touched when it finally touched land. Maybe more like a hurricane or a typhoon. She also knew that Hanger had just given her a place to hunker down if she told him that Kristin had run away.