by Sophia Rey
“Like what?”
“Well, one day my family and I went to see one of those Civil War reenactments in Tucson. Mason said he had to go to Las Vegas that weekend, to see some relative. Well, he knew was wild about him.” I blushed. It was embarrassing telling all of this to a detective. “Anyway, I was hoping to see him on Sunday and he said he might be back by then. He left on Friday and our trip was just on Sunday.”
“Well, he texted me on Sunday to say how great the scenery was in Sedona and that he was coming back to the valley soon. He didn’t say anything about wanting to see me – just stuff about how the scenery was so beautiful there. I told him that was leaving Tucson soon. I wanted Mason to say that he was coming back to Mesquite soon and we could get together. But he didn’t. He just talked about the drive. It was almost like he wanted me to tell him I was leaving soon, and would be available to see him, but just wanted to leave me hanging.”
“He wanted to control your emotions,” said Detective Isaaks, with no hesitation. “That’s how these types work. They must have control.”
“Yes. That’s how I felt because we rushed back to Mesquite and I was glad we were going so fast. I wanted to see Mason. I kept waiting for him to text, but he didn’t.”
“And you didn’t want to text because you didn’t want to seem needy.” Detective Isaaks finished my thought.
“You’d think a guy would want to see his girlfriend after he’s been away from her for two weeks,” I went on. “But he didn’t”.
Detective Isaaks looked at me inquisitively. I hoped it was a look that meant If I was your boyfriend, I would want to see you, but I knew I could be letting my emotions get the best of me. Sometimes it’s hard for me to gauge what emotions are proper, with Asperger’s. He waited a moment then prompted me, “Go on.”
“Well, that’s about it,” I told him. “I just felt that during the whole relationship that if I tried to plan things there was a good chance he’d say no or wouldn’t show up. But if he planned something he knew I’d be there. At first I thought it was because he had a full–time job and I was just working part–time and going to school. But later I could see that he would just cancel our plans for no reason.”
“Go on.”
“My feelings toward him still seem to come and go. When I see a blue Camry – that’s the kind of car he drove – I get reminded of him. Do you know how many blue Camrys there are?”
“Lots. Do you know his plate number?”
“Yes. It’s PBJ1283.”
“Good. Are there any other distinguishing features about his car that you can remember?”
“No. It’s just a blue Camry.” After a little silence, while Detective Isaaks put this information into the computer I asked him, “Why do you want to know so much about Mason? I mean, he didn’t really do anything to me. Nothing illegal, I mean. I just don’t understand why he dumped me like a hot rock.”
“There may be a reason for that.”
“Wadaya mean?”
“This Grant Sterling is a big time operator: drug dealing, pimping, kidnapping. He knows there are guys who want to have sex with a girl who looks sweet and innocent like you. Less chance of getting STDs and stuff like that. They’re psychopaths. They don’t care who they hurt. He might have known that Mason was interested in you. There’s a term pimps use. It’s called “Doing the Georgia”, which means they have sex with a girl before selling her. He may have been trying to convince Mason to add you to a list of girls he had control over. It was probably the car accident that made them change their plans. Grant could have told Mason to hang out with you for a few weeks. They have lots of money, these traffickers, and to get someone hooked into their way of life they’re willing to spend a few bucks. After a while Grant probably saw that you weren’t the type they were looking for.
“You come from a tight–knit family and you don’t dress provocatively or use a fake ID or anything.” He rifled through some papers on his desk for a moment before continuing. “Actually, I think Sterling was going to have your boyfriend dump you a lot sooner, but then Mason ended up with two broken legs and it didn’t fit into their plan. Figured you could stay with him through the recovery when Mason wasn’t doing much to bring girls into the business. You never know. He may even have liked you. But I doubt it. If I know Grant, he just looked at you as a business expense and when it looked like it was gonna take too much effort to hook you, he told Mason to dump you and look for an easier catch.”
“Can’t people think for themselves?” I huffed angrily.
“Sure they can, but Grant probably used everything he had to get Mason interested in somebody else, someone else cute (and he did smile at me this time), but who doesn’t have a close family or a lot of other interests. Men like this look for girls who are easy prey. Girls who are easily tricked into thinking they’re not worth much. We want to get these guys off the streets. Phoenix is a big trafficking area. The reason we’re so interested in Mason and Grant is that so many families are being hurt by this. Thanks to you, we have some good information about the way Mason operates. I’ve already put out an APB on Mason’s license plate, and if we can find him, maybe we can find Sterling. It pains me to see girls, even one in my own family, being taken advantage of by this scum!”
Wow! I thought to myself. I remembered the time I went to Mason’s house and was tempted to go further physically, but I couldn’t imagine myself being caught up in this mess.
Detective Isaaks saw the look of disgust wash over my face. “That’s the look that probably told Mason you wouldn’t be a good fit for their scheme. Let me guess what you’re thinking. You probably almost did something you would have regretted, right? The girls these guys want are the ones who are already pretty sexually active. It’s not as big a step for some of the girls who make it known that they’ll do whatever, whenever, to get involved with a Grant Sterling. When these jerks go out with them and tell them that they need to ‘show them that they love them’ after three dates, they just want to see what they can get away with.
I thought, Just because a girl is intimate with her boyfriend doesn’t mean she’s going to have sex with everyone.
“The problem comes when she’s dumped over and over again. She might feel like she’s being uses anyway, so why not get paid for it.”
“I don’t think most girls think like that,” I spoke up.
“I learned the hard way that everyone thinks differently. Listen, the reason we’re questioning you is that Mason went out with you for a long time. Seven months of consistent dating is almost a record for a guy like him. Did he do any other things that you found controlling?”
“Well, I didn’t see it at the time, but now that you bring it up I can see how he might have been trying to control me.”
“What did he do?”
“Well, you know he broke both of his legs in the car accident and had a hard time getting around, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well I used to go to his physical therapy appointments with him. I would help him get started on his stretching exercises and keep him company while he did his routine.”
“Mmmm-hmmm.” Detective Isaaks seemed interested.
“Well, we’d go to these appointments two or three times a week and then we’d out together and talk or grab some ice cream or something. We did this for about six weeks in a row. Then one day he called and told me he didn’t want me to come. No explanation. Just ‘Don’t bother to come to PT today.’ When I’d see him a week or two later I’d be kind of down, wondering why he just blew me off. Then he’d be real annoyed and say, ‘What’s bothering you?’
“He just wanted to see what he could get away with,” Detective Isaaks shared. “How you would act. Either you could just forget about him or you could try to figure him out – get closer to him. Most girls would do what you did, trying to figure out what was going on and hoping that things would get back to the way things were. I call that ‘the bait and switch’. He seems like he’s interest
ed in you and then he backs way off to see what you do. If you take the bait of acting even more interested in him when he backs off, he keeps playing the game until you’re so confused you don’t know what you’re doing. Believe me, his next step would be to get you to do something you’d regret.”
He looked at his phone and then at me. “I hate to say this, but I only allocated a half-hour for this interview. Do you have any time in your schedule next week or the week after?”
As much as I wanted to meet with him, school was really difficult this semester and I needed time to study. “How about the week after next?” I asked.
“Perfect.” He reached out to shake my hand and held onto it for a moment. “You seem like a very nice young lady. Don’t let this get you down. You deserve better than a guy like Mason.”
I was a bit disappointed. A very nice young lady? I thought. He’s not much older than me.
But then he flashed me that dazzling smile and I thought I might have seen him wink before he shut the door to the room we’d been in. I walked toward the parking lot in the best mood I’d been in for months.
CHAPTER 35
THE DAY OF THE party came. Amire came early for the party and to stay the night, and she and Maurine went outside with a box of supplies to decorate the park for the party, giggling and smiling as they walked out the door. Kai had volunteered to make cupcakes, so he and Carol were busy at work in the kitchen. I worked on finishing games, then helping the girls to finish decorating the park. Everyone was in a great mood, and everything was looking wonderful by the time the party started at three.
Kids were running all over, playing the obstacle course games I had made, and inventing some games of their own. When they finished with games, we gathered them for pizza, Takis, cupcakes, and ice cream. But when the time came for cupcakes, I noticed one thing: Maurine was missing. I asked Carol if she’d seen her, thinking maybe she had gone inside to use the bathroom or something. Carol went inside to look for her, while I made a mental count of the kids at the party. There was one other kid missing. Amire. When Carol returned, I mentioned that Amire was also missing and did she think they’d run off somewhere? “I don’t think so,” Carol told me. “She’s been really looking forward to this party. And she’s been excited about seeing Amire again. Maybe they’re off in a corner of the park talking. I’ll go check.”
Carol ran off to check the park while I finished serving the other kids food and helped them sing to Kai.
Mom showed up as Kai was about to open presents, and I told her the situation. She went off to find Carol and look herself for the girls, and brought back Carol a few minutes later. Carol was sobbing. “What’s the matter, Carol?” I asked her, but in the pit of my stomach, I already knew.
Carol handed me a piece of paper, saying she found it on one of the picnic tables on the far side of the park. I opened it up to find a hastily written note.
She’s coming back to Mamma. You will, too, if you know what’s good for you.
“Oh, no,” I murmured under my breath. “What are we going to do?”
Thankfully, parents were beginning to show up for their kids. One by one they left, and it was just us standing at the park when Detective Isaaks and Rosa pulled up in a squad car, lights flashing. Rosa immediately sat down with Carol and gently started asked her questions, while Mom and I talked with Detective Isaaks.
“Now tell me again what happened, Emily.” His voice was calm, but firm. He sounded ready for action.
“We’ve been having a birthday party for Kai and Maurine. Maurine and her friend, Amire, went missing, but I’m not sure when. Sometime between 3:00 and when we ate pizza at 4:30. We thought maybe they just sneaked off to play catch–up, but Carol found that note.” I pointed to the piece of paper clutched in Carol’s hand. “It says that she’s gone back to Mamma Laura’s house. That’s the woman who has the trafficking house Carol and Maurine lived in for awhile, until they moved in with us.” I sighed. “I just don’t know how they left without us seeing or hearing them. You’d think if someone was taking them, we’d have heard them scream or something.”
“Do you know where this Mamma Laura’s house is? Maybe how they’re getting there?”
I was anxious to get moving and didn’t really want to spend a lot of time answering questions, but I knew the questions needed to be asked. “Um, her house is in downtown Phoenix. I don’t remember the address, but I’ve seen it once. I’m sure I’d remember it. And I remember the neighborhood. I know I could find it again.”
He repeated his question. “Do you know how they might get there? Did you see an unusual car, or someone lurking near the park you didn’t know? Could they have gone willingly? Maybe walked away and taken the bus or met someone?”
His questions made my mind reel as I thought back over the last few days and weeks. Sure, there were times when Maurine could be really unhappy, and times when she was quite a pill, but would she have willingly gone back to Mamma Laura’s? Maybe she would. “I honestly don’t know. She could have done any of the things you said. I guess I don’t know her very well. I just can’t imagine her doing it, is all.”
Rosa came over with Emily and took Detective Isaaks aside, speaking in a low voice for a couple of minutes. They talked back and forth for another few minutes while we stood there, wondering what was going on and what was going to happen. Finally, they turned back toward us and Detective Isaaks spoke. “Since we don’t have the full address, we are going to need someone to come with us and help us find the right house.”
Carol broke in. “I’ll do it! I’ll come. I want to save my sister.”
Rosa’s gentle voice rose above Carol’s panicked voice. “Carol, hon, we can’t let you come. It would just be too dangerous to bring you back to that area, especially knowing that someone found Maurine already. If your pimp found you, even in police custody – and maybe because of police custody – your life could be in danger. You see that, don’t you?”
“I don’t care! I don’t care what happens to me!” Carol sobbed. “I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“We do care, Carol. All of us care what happens to you. And none of us want to see you get hurt. I think that it’s best if someone they don’t easily recognize helps us retrieve Maurine. Best for your safety…and for hers.”
Carol backed off and turned toward Mom, who wrapped her arms around her and said to the detectives, “If it’s not safe for Carol to go, is it going to be dangerous for Emily?” She had more than a tinge of worry in her voice.
“I promise you, Mrs. Fine,” Detective Isaaks said. “We will make sure nothing happens to your daughter. I personally guarantee that she will come home safe and sound. You have my word.”
Looking at the tall, buff detective, it was easy to believe him. He told Mom that she could also come along, since I was a minor, but we all agreed that Carol needed her more than I did.
As I stepped into the back of the police car, I looked Carol in the eye and told her, “Don’t worry, Carol. I have a good memory. I’ll find the house and we’ll bring her back. Don’t worry.” Then I closed the door and we were off.
CHAPTER 36
WE DECIDED TO FOLLOW the route of public transportation to find the girls. It seemed like the most likely scenario, knowing Mamma Laura’s cohorts. That way, if we saw them in route we could apprehend before they reached Mamma Laura’s house and save a lot of headache. There was the bus line down Gilbert Rd. Then the Light Rail into down town Phoenix and another bus from that stop. We followed the McDowell street bus to Mamma Laura’s neighborhood.
As the detectives approached Mamma Laura’s neighborhood Rosa got a call that came in through the car’s speaker. “Alvarez, this is McKenzie,” he said. “Captain wants you to meet up with Johnson and Dakota on Dover St., approximately one block west of the residence. He wants you and Isaaks to try and get this Mamma Laura to take Maurine and her friend out of the house so Miss Fine can talk to them. Drop Miss Fine off at Johnson and Dakota’s car be
fore you head to the house. Might be a dangerous situation. Their undercover car is license plate BES1479.”
“Copy that,” said Rosa.
“One more message for Isaaks,” McKenzie went on. “Captain wants you to remember that this is NOT a raid on Mamma Laura’s business. Just get the girls out and bring her to the car where Miss Fine and the other officers will be waiting. ‘Course, if you see anything else goin’ on right in front of yer nose you can do something about it, but with a civilian along we don’t want trouble.”
“Copy that.” Detective Isaaks moved to put the microphone end down, then thought again and pressed the talk button. “I’ve had a number of key conversations with Emily Fine in the past few weeks. I can tell you she’s a valuable asset to the Mesquite Police Department. Be assured I won’t put a civilian’s life in danger.”
I smiled from ear to ear. A valuable asset to the Police Department! I thought. How cool is that!
As we drove along, I could have sworn I saw Maurine through the window of the bus. But I also knew that I wanted to see her so much I could be making a mistake…and I didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of Detective Isaaks by making him stop the bus. We were following the bus, anyway. We were on our way to Mamma Laura’s whether she was on the bus or not, but it would be better to intercept Maurine before she got there, Rosa decided, and suggested that they search the bus at its next stop. At the next stop, I was told to stay in the car while the officers searched the bus; easy enough to do since I couldn’t open the back door from the inside.
Maurine wasn’t on the bus.
When we reached Mamma Laura’s street, we drove down Clairmont St. first, so I could point out the broken down house to the detectives. Then we drove over to the meeting point and I went over to sit in the unmarked car with Detectives Johnson and Dakota.
I watched as the detectives drove down Clairmont St. Around the opposite corner came three girls, one about sixteen, one Amire, and one Maurine. They quickly went toward the house as though they were escaping something. I saw who I knew from Carol’s description must be Mamma Laura open the door for the girls and let them in.