Vi sighed, “Okay, but there are other advocates here that can help you. They care about you and want to help. I'm sorry that the women here aren't being kind to you. This all has to be so hard and frustrating for you.”
Long pause.
“Arey, this talk is much too serious.” Anjali exhaled a plume of smoke and nodded her head in Annabeth’s direction. “Who’s this person? Your date?”
Annabeth extended her hand in greeting, and Anjali took it with some reluctance.
“Hi Anjali, I’m a Private Investigator.”
Anjali’s face paled and her eyes narrowed.
“I was hired by a man whose daughter was taken and murdered by the same organization that took you.”
Anjali’s face fell and the tremor in her hand worsened. “Absolutely not! This has gone too far already. I will not talk to the police. Mummy-Papa will never forgive me for bringing such shame to our family.”
Annabeth nodded. “I’m not with the police, Anjali, and I’m not asking you to press charges.” Annabeth sucked in a nervous breath. “I’m just trying to stop these men from hurting any more girls. None of what we talk about here needs to leave this room... Well, this table.” She laughed, but it did nothing to relieve the tension. “I just need whatever information you can give me so that I can stop this.”
The girl took in a trembling breath. “So, what, you can hand them over to the policewalas? They will hunt me down and kill me. No thanks.”
Annabeth felt her heartbeat quicken. What this girl must have gone through. The sadness and injustice of it all enraged her. She had to stop these men. Make them pay. She took a deep breath, trying to keep the desperation she felt out of her voice.
“No one has to know that you had anything to do with this investigation.” Annabeth leaned in closer to the girl. “Is there anything you can tell me? Anything at all? They took another young woman this week—a friend, actually.”
Anjali’s eyes began to well with tears. “I just can’t. Please understand.”
This was the hardest part of the job, and she hated that it had become necessary when Anjali was obviously already so close to the edge. She would need to push this victim to get what she needed. The greater good and all that.
“You know you will never be free until they are stopped. You’ll always be looking over your shoulder. Help me stop them from ever hurting another girl, and free yourself in the process.”
After a long pause, Anjali took another puff of her cigarette. “You can’t ever let them know I told you anything. They can’t find me.”
Annabeth nodded even though she knew it was a promise she might not be able to keep. “I won’t.”
“You don’t know what you are saying. They are everywhere. They work at the University and sign up to drive those private cabs, too.”
So, I was right about the car services! Finally, I’m getting somewhere.
“Do you know which specific service they used?”
Anjali nodded. “1-2-3-Ride.”
Annabeth let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she had a lead to get the investigation jump-started again. She needed to keep the girl talking, to see what else she could find.
“I know this may be hard to talk about, but how did you get taken into the organization?”
Anjali’s eyes watered as she looked away from Annabeth.
Vi cleared her throat. “Anjali, you can trust Anna, she’s here to help you and all those other girls.”
Anjali huffed as she twirled the lighter in front of her. The tremor in her hand was getting worse. She abandoned the lighter and brought the cigarette up to her lips and held it there for a moment before taking a short puff. The smoke leaked out the side of her mouth.
“He was the teaching assistant for my Intro to Lit class. He often held bonus study sessions to help students prepare for the exams, and I always attended them because I liked the way he spoke about words and the written language.” Her wan face suddenly blushed at the memory.
“He liked me too, said I was the smartest in the class and encouraged me to pursue my poetry. My parents wanted me to study engineering or to become a doctor, but he continued to tell me what a great poet I could be if I kept trying, that I could do anything I wanted because I was the smartest and most beautiful woman he’d ever met.”
Annabeth let out a short breath, afraid to move or speak, lest she stop talking.
Vi offered her hand and the girl took hold of it like it was a lifeline.
“I was his special girl. He spoiled me with fancy gifts and showered me with compliments. He even wrote poems for me. Always the gentleman, that one. And I fell for his drama display, thought maybe we could be married one day, that maybe Mummy-Papa would even give their blessing for the match. My whole world became about him. I stopped coming here and quit going to class. Our first time together was like my wedding night,” she said as her tears fell in earnest.
Vi let go of the girl’s hand and pulled a tissue out of her purse.
“Thanks,” Anjali said as he dabbed at the tears.
“Take your time,” Annabeth whispered with a nod of encouragement.
“I just need to finish it fast.”
“All right, what happened next?”
“After we were together the first time he got really possessive. Then one night he…got us a hotel room—penthouse. A friend of his was waiting for us. It was his first time...said I was to practice on. They...I didn’t want to. When I tried to leave they tied me up. They gave me drugs. I don’t really remember most of it. I was there three days. After that I was taken to some house somewhere. They kept us locked up in the back. There were twelve of us.”
The wealth of information Anjali was providing was just what Annabeth needing to push forward with the investigation. And as much as she hated putting the girl through the trauma of reliving the worst time of her life, it was a necessary thing in order to save these young girls’ lives. Twelve!
“They always made sure that we had lots of drugs—it kept us numb. Or at least they did at first.” Anjali’s body began to shake, but she took another puff of her cigarette. “They took us to posh hotels, different ones each time. One day I lost count after fifteen men came to...to use me.” Anjali’s shaking turned to sobbing. “I can’t talk about this.”
Annabeth bit her lip, steeling herself against the guilt that bubbled up inside. “You are very brave, Anjali. I know this is very hard, but I need to ask you for just one more thing. I need to know his name. Could you please tell me?”
Anjali looked up at Annabeth with tear-stained cheeks. They had washed away some of her makeup, revealing harsh purple bruises on her face. Had the men been responsible for the marks or the accident? What horrors were yet to be revealed? Annabeth almost didn’t want to know the answer.
“Whose name?” Anjali asked, obviously avoiding the question.
Annabeth wet her lips and leaned in toward the girl. “The man, your TA?”
Anjali’s face paled and she looked away. Her body trembled. She needed the name and she was prepared to do whatever it took to get it. “Anjali, it’s very important that I have his name. He needs to pay for what he did to you.”
The young girl let out a shaky breath. “Even if it makes a dead woman out of me?”
Annabeth nodded. “Please.”
“Anna!” Vi exclaimed. She turned to the girl, her face softened with concern. “She doesn’t mean that. You don’t have to share anything you aren’t comfortable with.”
Annabeth bit her lip to keep from objecting. A long, awkward pause followed.
Anjali brought her splayed fingers to rest on her abdomen.
Long sleeves... In this heat?
When Anjali finally broke the silence, goose flesh broke out on Annabeth’s bare arms.
“Fin. That’s what he called himself, but I don’t remember his full proper name.”
Annabeth’s stomach bottomed out, and the air left her lungs in an anxious woosh. Fin. Fernando.
He’s a part of all this! How could I be so stupid to not have seen through his act?
Annabeth’s eyes welled up. She wasn’t the only one who had been charmed by this man.
“Now, please, just leave. I want to be alone,” Anjali said, turning away.
Annabeth looked over and met Vi’s eye. It was time to go. She had gotten what she needed.
They stood in unison.
Anjali avoided looking at them.
“Thank you for everything, Anjali. I know this wasn’t easy. But I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you safe and to save those other girls.” Annabeth slid one of her cards across the table. “Please call me if you think of anything else that might help.”
Anjali fingered the card but said nothing.
They walked back through the center and out the front door in silence. Annabeth had never seen her neighbor look so mad.
“Was that necessary?” Vi’s perfectly shaped eyebrows formed a hard angry line.
Annabeth bit her bottom lip before answering, “Yes. I’m sorry I had to push her, but I needed that name.”
Vi shook her head and mumbled something under her breath.
She wasn’t surprised that Vi was upset. It was her job to protect the victim, not to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“You knew her before all this, right?”
Vi looked both ways before crossing the street to where they had parked her car.
“She was a volunteer at the shelter two years ago. One Monday she just didn’t show up.” Vi paused with her key in the door. “Two years, Anna. How can she ever hope to recover from that? And to have to bring it all back up again. She shouldn’t have to do that. No victim should.”
Annabeth swallowed back the ball of emotion that choked her. “I...don’t know if she can come back from what she’s been through, but if what she told us can help save those girls, I have to believe that it was worth it.”
Vi unlocked the car and let out the rush of heat that had been trapped inside. Her quietness was disconcerting. She finally broke the silence. “Did you at least get what you needed after all that?”
Annabeth rolled the question around in her mind before answering.
If Vi hadn’t been there I could have pushed her harder and gotten even more…but at what cost?
The seatbelt buckle burned her hand as she tugged it over her body and clicked it in place. “Yeah, I got what I needed. For now.”
As they pulled out onto the road, Annabeth recalled something Anjali had mentioned about the abundant supply of drugs the organization had provided. She didn’t look to be detoxing so she must still be using. “You might want to have her room checked for drugs. Most likely heroin. I think she’s been shooting up. She had a long sleeved shirt on. Might be to hide track marks.”
Vi took her eyes off the road and met Annabeth’s with a look of defiance. “She’s not using drugs, Anna.”
Annabeth frowned. “Don’t be naive.”
Her normally meek neighbor sat up straight and squared her shoulders like she was ready to go to war. “I’m not naive. I know this girl.”
You knew this girl, she wanted to say, but Vi was obviously in denial about this whole thing. No sense pushing it now.
“Well, let’s hope you’re right.”
Annabeth took out her phone and dialed Mike, her contact at the Austin Bureau. They had gone through the academy together and still kept in touch. He had been the first one she and Marcus had called when they got the job.
He answered on the third ring. “Hey Anna, ya got something for me?”
“Yeah, I’ve got a lot for you to work on. I have a source that gave me a name of one of their mid-level operatives.”
Mike sighed. “It has to be good Anna. I can’t act unless it is solid intel.”
“One of the girls got away and I got her to talk.”
Mike paused on the other line, making Annabeth anxious.
“Will she testify?”
Annabeth bit her lip. “No.”
Mike sighed. “All right. Give me what you got and I’ll see what I can do without arousing too much suspicion.” He paused a beat before continuing. “Some of us like our jobs, Anna.”
Annabeth bristled at his comment, but chose to shake it off.
“Okay, His name is Fernando ‘The Fin’ Reyes. He’s approximately five foot ten, one-hundred and eighty pounds, twenty-nine years old, works for the University. He’s of Filipino descent and has light brown skin. He is the one who took my source into the group. He didn’t just sell her off to the dons to use. He repeatedly raped her himself.”
Annabeth felt flush with anger.
She cleared her throat. “They are meeting the dons in hotels and are using the 1-2-3-Ride App to get at the girls. See if you can get a judge to issue us a warrant so we can petition for their driver information records.”
“Okay, but on what grounds am I petitioning for this warrant?”
“I have a victim statement that I’ll shoot over to you as soon as I can.”
“All right, but it had better be good. Judges in this county are tough to get warrants from. How’s Marc, by the way?”
Annabeth’s gut twisted into a tight knot. She knew she was going to have to face it sooner or later, but for now, later was the better option. “No change. I’ll let you know if I have anything else... I’ll shoot that victim statement to you later tonight.”
“All right. I don’t think it’s enough to act on, but I’ll do a little poking around. If you could get one of their men to turn that would be the ideal. Just be careful, okay.”
Annabeth ended the call and put her phone back into her bag. It was already four o’clock and they still hadn’t gotten dressed yet.
As soon as Vi put the car in park, Annabeth jumped out.
“I’ll see you at the gala.”
Vi nodded as she walked with her shoulders hunched over. The toll of everything must be getting to her.
Heck, it’s getting to me.
She didn’t have time to explore all the implications, though; she had a party to go to.
Annabeth rushed inside and threw on the dress Ligia had given her—careful not to mess up her hair and makeup in the process. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was pleased with the outcome. Maybe Brooke really did have her best interests at heart. Hmm. That was a frightening thought.
Her phone ringing broke her from her train of thought. The hospital. “He-llo?”
“Is this Mrs. King?”
“This is she.” Her palms dampened and her breathing became shallow. She had been doing such a good job at pushing Marcus out of her head.
“Ma’am, your husband is awake and asking for you.”
Annabeth let out a short laugh of relief. “What? He’s going to be okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Tears slid unbidden down her cheeks. He was going to be okay. This amazing bit of good news made all of their problems seem insignificant. She’d almost lost him, but she hadn’t. He was going to be okay, and maybe—just maybe—they would be okay, too.
Annabeth stood, paused outside his open door. Her last words to him, I never want to see you again, bellowed in her mind. Please forgive me. The mantra played over as she walked slowly into his room.
She rested her trembling hand on his chest. The rise and fall of each new breath and the beat of his heart against her palm gave her immense comfort.
“Marc...I’m here.”
His long eyelashes fluttered and after a short pause he opened his eyes and smiled up at her. He wet his lips and his smile widened. “Anna.”
Annabeth fell forward against him, resting her head on his chest in an awkward embrace. “Oh, Marcus!” She squeezed him tight and nuzzled against him. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“Takes a lot more than a little hit-and-run to take me down.” His raspy voice, so different from the honeyed one she was used to, was still him.
He brought his arm up and enveloped her
into his protective embrace.
Tears ran down her perfectly put together face, but she didn’t care. All the hurt she had been holding in had finally found a way out and she was powerless to stop the tsunami of emotions that washed over her.
He wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. “Look at you! Maybe I died after all. My Anna doesn’t get dolled up for nothing.”
My Anna. There was a time when such a possessive remark would have irritated her, but not now. She had Marcus back. Marcus, not Marc, because with Marcus there was no sordid past, only the hope of a better future. They were together again—nothing else mattered.
Anna smiled as a sudden feeling of shyness washed over her. “Yes, well...it’s for a charity event. I—”
Marcus slipped his hand behind her head and pulled her down to him. His soft lips touched hers tentatively at first, but soon demanded more.
Annabeth acquiesced to his kiss. She could feel the stress of the day slough off her and onto the floor. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed this, she needed him.
The beep of his heart monitor going off made her smile, breaking the kiss.
“If I’d known that a little makeup would get this reaction I might have done this sooner.”
“Oh, Anna.” His dark brown eyes softened. “You are always beautiful to me. With or without makeup.”
His words warmed her heart. Maybe they could move past the whole Beth debacle and go back to the way things had been in the beginning. “I love you, Marcus. I’m sorry about what I said that night—”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about.” He smiled up at her with glistening eyes then took her hand and brought it to his lips. “I want you to know that you don't have to worry about me going anywhere. You’re the only girl for me. I’m yours, that is, if you’ll have me.”
Annabeth inched away from him. She wanted to commit to him then and there, but just couldn't. She wasn’t ready to have this discussion with Marcus, not when so much was still up in the air with the case, with Amy, with Fin. She needed to deal with all of that first, then she and Marcus could figure out the best label for what they had together. Annabeth looked up at the clock on the wall—she had to leave now or she would be really late.
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