I was shaking my head. Was he insane?
Paul grinned at me. “It comes down to this. We need offworld money; that’s the best thing we can do for Lagarto.”
“This is too far out for me, Paul.”
“Hey, man, I wouldn’t ask you to do this with me. I’m okay doing it alone. Just let me do it if you don’t want to be part of it.”
I was tempted. Despite it all, I was tempted. Crime-free zones could actually work. Paul’s ideas, no matter how fucked up, could be infectious. Then Natasha’s picture came front and center. “I can’t let you do it, Paul. If you don’t want to arrest Yashin, I’ll do it myself.”
Paul clenched his drink. “You would do that to me? We’re supposed to be partners. You can’t just go and take a collar for yourself. We’ve been working Yashin together.”
“I’m going to do it tomorrow. I’m going to walk in there and arrest the fucker. Are you coming with me or not?”
“Why are you so hot to do this? We’ve got Yashin sewn up. Why the rush?”
“I’m sick of waiting. I don’t want to watch that family anymore.”
“What are you talking about? You love to watch them. What are you going to do if we arrest Yashin, and you can’t watch Natasha anymore? I’ve seen the way you look at her.”
“It’s weird to watch them like that-in their own home.”
“You didn’t think it was weird when we started. You told me yourself that you liked it. You said that watching them made you feel invisible. You could move from room to room, and they couldn’t see you.”
“That was at the beginning. I don’t feel that way now.” Let it go, Paul.
Paul downed his drink and held up two fingers for the bartender. An overweight Tarzan filled our glasses halfway and hurried back down the bar to keep up with the late-night rush. Paul looked like he was going to say something. He took a couple long pulls on his brandy before he spoke up. “There’s something you’re not telling me. What made you have a change of heart?”
He was going to find out anyway. “I’ve been seeing Natasha.”
Paul just about busted a vein. “What? How long?”
“Since April.”
“Is that who you’ve been seeing all this time? Shit, what are you thinking? Does she know you’re a cop?”
“Yes.”
“Does she know we’re after her father?”
“Yeah. She knows, but she won’t tell him.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“She hates him.”
“Does she know about the cameras?”
“No.”
Paul rubbed his face with his hands. “How could you do this? We put too much effort into this case for you to risk it all for some tail.”
“It’s not like that.”
“What is it like?”
“We’re serious about each other.”
Paul finished off his drink with a gulp and put two fingers back up. The bartender came and filled Paul’s glass then gave me an irritated look when he had to wait for me to empty mine.
Paul frowned. “How serious?”
“Serious.”
Paul took a deep breath and let it out slow. “Is that why you’re so gung ho on getting Yashin? You feel guilty about those cameras, about watching her without her knowing.”
I didn’t have to answer. I just took another drink. The brandy burned all the way down to my stomach.
“Why did you go off on those lizards?”
I told him about the fight I had with Natasha and how I thought her father abused her. I told him about the suicide scars on her wrists that she wouldn’t admit to. Her father put them there-like my father put scars on my wrists. I was going to arrest that asshole. He had to pay for what he did to her. I hoped he’d resist arrest. Any excuse to get a few licks in would suit me fine.
We sat for a long time without talking. Finally, I said, “So are you coming with me when I arrest the bastard or not?”
“You’re really serious about her?”
I nodded.
“You love her?”
I nodded again.
Paul put his true-friend hand over mine. “Okay, Juno. I guess Bandur can wait. We’ll pinch Yashin tomorrow.”
EIGHTEEN
SEPTEMBER 31, 2762
I pounded on the door. “Get up, Josephs!”
After two minutes of continued pounding, Mark Josephs finally opened the door, heavy lidded with cowlicked hair. His voice was a half-awake croak. “What the fuck are you guys doin’ here?”
“You going to let us in or what?” Paul challenged.
Josephs let us through. We didn’t bother wiping our shoes. The stone floor was already covered in muddy footprints. We settled in his living room. Dried up tea bags were stuck to the walls-he’d do the same shit at the office, make his tea and whip the tea bag at a wall to see if it stuck. I had to move an empty liquor bottle to make room on the sofa. A gecko scuttled out from underneath. A poof of moldy air came up out of the cushions as I sat down, making me sneeze.
Josephs sat on a chair that looked ready to collapse. “It’s too early for this. What do you two want?”
Paul said, “We’re going to make a sweep this morning. We need your help.”
“Can’t it wait?”
“No, it can’t. You know that morning is the best time to catch drug dealers, when they’re still sleeping.”
“Shit. I wish I was still sleepin’. Who are you bringin’ down?”
“Pavel Yashin. He sells O to a high-class crowd. You know him?”
“I don’t know him, but I know who he is. What do you need me for?”
“You’re just our first stop. We’re going to wake up Reyna, Cheng, and Banks next. We have names and addresses of the top guys that work under Yashin. Juno and I are going to arrest Yashin in two hours, and we want all of you to pick up the scraps.”
“You have evidence?”
“We have a bundle. Convictions will be a cinch.”
“Damn. Who would have thought you two could put together a bust like this?”
A female voice came from the back. “Are you talking to somebody?”
Josephs yelled back, “Yeah, it’s just some guys from work. Go back to sleep.”
“Are my clothes out there?”
Josephs ignored her, spoke to us. “How do you want to do it?”
I could see a bra on the floor. I handed Josephs a name and address. “When you get set in position, you call me or Paul. When everbody’s set, we’ll call and tell you to move in. It’ll be synchronized.”
“Did you find my clothes?” The woman came out from the bedroom with a dingy-gray sheet as a wraparound. She snatched up her clothes from the floor. When Josephs turned her way, she said, “Thanks a lot, asshole. Some gentleman you are.”
Josephs turned back to us and spoke in a voice that didn’t care if she heard. “Don’t mind her, guys. She’s just a roundheels I picked up last night.”
She was gone to the back-I couldn’t tell if she heard him or not.
“I never should’ve brought her home,” Josephs said. “If I didn’t work vice, I would just pay for a pro. Sure it costs some money, but by the time I bought that skank enough drinks to get in her pants, I just about could have paid for a hooker, and then I wouldn’t have to deal with this broad’s attitude.”
A door slammed. Josephs grinned. “Good, she’s gone. Hey, speakin’ of hookers, are you gonna to nab Yashin’s daughter while you’re at it?”
Did I hear that right? “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Yashin’s daughter, I can’t remember her name.”
“Natasha.”
“Yeah, that’s it. Natasha. She’s a high-class hooker and a hot one at that. When I leave vice, I think I’ll look her up. I’ll probably have to save up two months’ pay, but it’d be worth-”
My world turned red. I was on top of him in a flash. I socked him in the face once, twice. Paul grabbed me from behind. “LET ME GO!” I s
houted. I fought against the arms holding me back. “LET ME GO!”
I was wrestled to the floor from behind. Paul buried my face into the mildewed rug. My nose tickled uncontrollably. I went into a sneezing fit. Can’t BREATHE. I turned my face to the side and heaved as much air into my lungs as I could with Paul on top of me.
Josephs was yelling at Paul, “Let him go! I’m gonna fuck him up!” Josephs started trying to pull Paul off me. “Let him go!”
Paul managed to stay on top, his hands clasped under my stomach in a bear hug. As Josephs’s rants petered out, Paul’s pythonlike hold began to loosen. Once Paul was sure we’d both calmed, he whispered in my ear, “Are you all right? Can I let you up?”
I nodded, my cheek scraping carpet.
Paul let up superslow. I stayed still. When he let go, I rolled over, sat against the wall, and blew my nose into a dirty napkin.
Josephs was on the couch, nursing a bloody lip.
I said, “Natasha’s not a hooker.”
“She sure as hell is a hooker,” he said. “I arrested her myself. Check the fuckin’ books if you don’t believe me.”
My insides went to jelly. “Tell me about it.”
“Apologize first.”
I gritted my teeth. “You’re right, Josephs. I shouldn’t have come at you like that.”
Josephs thought it over, deciding whether or not I was sincere. I wasn’t. He said, “Okay, Juno. I’ll tell you, but only because we go back a few years.”
“Thanks.”
“Why are you so interested in her? You seein’ her?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have said those things about her if I knew you were pokin’ her. You know I’m not the kind of guy that talks about another guy’s woman.”
“I know. I just lost it, okay? I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You can say that again. You were like some kind of fuckin’ animal, man. You were flashin’ your teeth. I was afraid you were gonna bite me.”
“Sorry, Josephs.”
“Hey, man, that’s okay.” He wiped his lip with a towel.
“Tell me about Natasha.”
“It must have been a year ago. Back then I was all jazzed to arrest an offworlder. I’d only arrested Lagartans up to that point, and I thought it would look good on my record to have a few offworld collars. I got all dressed up, got my clothes ironed and everything. Then I hit some of the nice restaurants near the Town Square, you know, the touristy places. I’d hang out in the bar and wait for an offworlder to proposition a hooker. Didn’t have to wait long.”
Josephs wiped his lip again. This time it came away clean, and he tossed it on the floor. “You ever been in a restaurant called Afrie’s?”
“Yeah.” That’s where I’d met her.
“Your Natasha was there with two other hookers. They didn’t look like hookers though. I thought they were just out partyin’ together. There was also this group of five miners there. The two groups were makin’ eyes at each other, then the miners started sendin’ drinks over. One of the miners went over and sat with Natasha and her friends. You should’ve seen this dude. He had this fish skin-you know, scales and shit. They was all into touchin’ it, seein’ how it felt. He was turnin’ it on and off. One second he’s a fuckin’ fish, and the next, he’s a normal person. Natasha and her friends were oohin’ and ahin’ like schoolgirls. At this point, I wasn’t suspicious at all. I’m thinkin’ it’s just some innocent flirtin’, but then he goes back to his table, and the five of them pool together a bundle of cash. Then the guy goes back over to Natasha’s table and leaves the money with a hotel key. I followed them to the hotel and busted the whole lot. All eight of them.”
“You’re sure we’re talking about the same Natasha?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. When I booked her, she said her name was Yashin. I asked her if she was related to Pavel Yashin, and she said he was her father. I just about shit when I heard that. I asked her why she was hookin’. She’s got all the money she needs. She wouldn’t answer.”
I went for the door-had to get out of there.
Josephs stayed seated. “Sorry to break it to you. You were gonna dump her anyway, weren’t you?”
I stopped, my hand on the doorknob. “Why do you say that?”
“You’re about to arrest her father. Aren’t you gonna sting him? Give him a line like, ‘You’re under arrest, and I’ve been fuckin’ your daughter.’ Shit, that’s cold! That would sting him good, Juno. You could even dress it up a little-”
Paul put his hand on my shoulder and guided me out.
I couldn’t think straight. All this time she’d been with me, she’d been…
Paul yelled over the rattle of rain on the aluminum overhang. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. I have to talk to her.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“No.”
“Can you keep that temper under wraps?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“What good would that do?”
“I can watch while you talk. The second I see your switch go off, I’ll stop you before you hurt her.”
“You think you can stop me?”
“I just did.”
I called Natasha, told her to come down to my place right away. Paul and I sat together wordlessly waiting. My emotions cycled with alarming speed-anger, hatred, disgust, grief, resentment, hostility…They all burned through me-their combined combustion nearing a flash point. A knock on the door launched me from my seat. Paul went in the bedroom, leaving the door cracked.
I opened the front.
Natasha’s gray dress matched the sheeting downpour. The smile on her face didn’t last long. “What’s wrong?”
I let her in and led her into the living room, into Paul’s view. “I talked to Officer Josephs today.”
Her defenses snapped into place. “So?”
“He told me he arrested you a year ago.”
“So what if he did?”
“You’re a prostitute. That’s what you do when you say you’re going out with your friends.”
She looked away.
“How could you do that to me?”
When she turned back, her eyes had ignited. “How could I do what? Open my legs for money?”
My vision started to blur. “Yes. How could you do that?”
“Because they fucking paid me.”
“I don’t pay you.”
“Yes you do. You’ll pay me when you arrest my father-a onetime fee!”
“Is that all I am to you? A means of getting rid of your father?” I was pacing now.
“Yes. That’s all you are, just a cop that can get me what I want. And I’m getting sick of you stringing me along!”
I could feel my pulse in my temples.
Natasha unleashed. “I came here expecting you to tell me you were going to arrest him today. For months, you’ve been leading me on. A real man wouldn’t be so chickenshit scared of my father!”
My head pounded; my stomach churned. My whole body ached for release.
She kept at me. “I’ll tell you another thing. I didn’t have to fake it with my johns!”
I wanted to lose control. The only thing holding me back was the fact that I knew she was deliberately provoking me. She wanted me to strike her…punish her.
I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. I just hit her with the truth. “You hurt me, Natasha.”
She was positively fuming. My emotions suddenly shut down, like they’d overloaded. I watched her with a strange detachment. It finally occurred to me why I was so attracted to her in the first place. She was the only person I knew who was filled with more rage than me.
Nothing left to say, we stared at each other for long minutes. I saw her expression move from bitter to smoldering, then from smoldering to little-kid scared.
Questions ran through my head… How long has your father be
en raping you?…Is your shame so great that you punish yourself by selling your body?…Would you stop if I took your father away?
Instead I said, “Get out.”
“What?”
“Get out. I don’t want to see you.” I wanted her to pay for how I felt.
“Please, Juno. I didn’t mean those things I said.” She was misting up now.
“Get out.”
“But I quit. I quit! I quit after I met you.” Tears rolled down her brown cheeks. “Don’t do this, Juno. You can’t do this to me. Don’t leave me!”
I went to the door and opened it.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I quit. I didn’t think it mattered. Don’t do this!”
She stepped out the door where elongated raindrops were stabbing the ground like glass pencils driven into the mud. She slipped and just managed to catch herself by dropping her hands to the ground. She pushed herself back up and pulled her hands free from the wet earth, her fingers coated with mud. She flicked her hands in an effort to get the clumps off but just wound up spraying the front of her dress with muddy water. She looked at me. Her eyes imploring.
You can’t do this to her, Juno, Don’t be an asshole.
I closed the door in her face.
Paul and I were still at my place. I called off the Yashin arrest. “Wait and see if we can get Bandur,” I said.
Paul tried to talk me out of it. “Are you sure? It’s going to kill your chances with Natasha. If we nab her father, you’ll still have a chance to patch things up.”
“After what she did to me? She can go to hell.”
“You know what her father did to her. She’s been carrying all that guilt. She hooked to punish herself, Juno. We work vice. How many hookers do we know that have the same story? Besides, the way Josephs told it, she didn’t sound like a serious hooker. Maybe she was just experimenting. Maybe it was peer pressure. You don’t know. She did quit. Doesn’t that count for something?”
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