Secret Worlds (587 page)

“I thought it was weird, too. Anyway, I sure as hell don’t want no sugar daddy. I mean, gross. Screwing some old guy for nice nails? I’d rather have my chipped nasty ones.” She held up her hand in proof. “Plus, even though she looked good, she had some nasty bruises on her arms. I don’t know, maybe she likes it like that.”

“Like what?” Ms. Cox pushed.

“Rough.”

That information settled in Ari’s stomach like a brick. “What happened? How did all that end up with you getting arrested?”

“I told her ‘no thanks.’ That I wasn’t interested. Which was fine with her, or at least she seemed fine. Then this black car rolls up. It’s nice and flashy. Too nice for the park. Shanna got this big smile on her face and said, ‘That’s my man. Don’t be jealous of my ride.”

“So, he rolls down the window and waves her over. He doesn’t get out, but I can see part of his hand and face. He’s a white dude. Which again, isn’t real typical down at that park late at night, but Shanna’s part white, too, I guess. He sees me looking and waves me over. I shake my head no. I’m not about to get caught up in this craziness.”

“Did Shanna leave with him?” Ari asked, trying to keep Devon focused. She suspected the girl was just happy to be out of her cell and would’ve talked for hours.

“Not then. Shanna came back over and flashed me a Benjamin. She said it would be mine if I came with them.”

Ms. Cox interrupted. “Did you take it?”

“Didn’t get the chance. I wasn’t going to, but I wondered what else he may have up in that car.” She looked to the side. “Didn’t matter. The po-po came and everything got crazy. He whistled at Shanna and she ran over to the car like a dog and they took off. I was so confused and distracted that I didn’t even think to run ’til it was too late.” She touched her face. “That’s how I got this cut. I tried to climb over a stupid fence. The cops thought I was carrying or selling. I was just in the wrong place.”

“Right. Not at home. In bed, like your contract says.”

“I know, Ms. Grant. I was just looking for some fun. I ain’t no old lady,” she argued. “You gonna help me out in court?”

“Maybe. I’ll see what Judge Hatcher says, but the charges seem fairly minor.” Ari looked Ms. Cox. “I think we’re done here. She can go back up.”

Devon stood up when the guard came in to escort her back to her room. She stopped and said, “You need to find Shanna. That guy seemed weird. What’s he doing sniffing around ghetto girls? I don’t like it.”

“I will, Devon. Thanks for telling me about it.”

“She’s my girl. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

Ari put on her most reassuring smile and said, “Me, either.”

“What do you think of this Reggie guy?” Ms. Cox asked after she left.

Ari shook her head. “I think he’s trouble.”

***

Oscar’s funeral took place that afternoon. Ari didn’t go. Making out in a smoky, dingy club was one thing, but attending the funeral for a boy she didn’t know because she was mixed up with his mentor seemed to push the boundaries of their teetering relationship. She wasn’t really in the mood to see him, anyway. Well, she was, if only to feel some heat on her skin, but not emotionally. Everything had become so confusing.

She’d worked out a plan for the night. Devon gave her just enough information to finally do something for her girls. Ari found Oliver sitting by himself in the living room. For once, Veronica wasn’t over.

Ari blocked Oliver’s view of the television and said, “So, no work tonight? Or Veronica?

“No,” he said. “I thought I’d chill a little.” He craned his neck to see the screen. “Umm … I can’t watch crappy reality TV though your ass, Ari. Could you move a little?”

She stood her ground and took a deep breath. “I’m about to do something reckless and possibly stupid. Do you want to come with me?”

Oliver furrowed his eyebrows for a moment. “Scale of one to 10, 10 being the highest, how reckless and stupid?

“Seven.”

After a moment of consideration he smiled. “I’m in. Let me get my coat.”

Ari drove since she had a vague idea of their destination. Oliver sat in the passenger seat dressed in full black. He fiddled with the heat and buttons on the front panel, trying to warm up the car. The car’s windshield wipers scraped against the barely wet window. It wasn’t exactly raining. More like an obnoxious spitting from the sky.

“You picked a great night to go out and...what are we doing? Something risky?”

“I’m spying on my clients.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“It means I’m going to spy on them and see what they’re doing. Or if I notice anything strange. My girls keep going missing and I want to know why.”

“You’re going to confront a pimp? Yeah, that does sound risky.”

“Ugh, I keep telling you. S-p-y-i-n-g. Just spying. It’s just the park we’re going to is kind of in a dangerous part of town.”

“Well, whatever. Just let me know what to look out for.” Oliver reached under his jacket. “I came prepared.”

“What are those?”

“Binoculars. I figured we may need them.”

“You didn’t even know what we were doing, but you brought binoculars anyway?”

He shrugged and began cleaning the glass with a small, white cloth. “I had a hunch. Mostly because you’re so freaking nosy.”

Ari ignored him and drove across town toward Glory Park. The park itself sprawled over several miles. Biking and running trails crisscrossed the area, and a popular dog park used a large fenced-in section. Ari drove past the well-lit areas toward the section with the basketball courts. This was the only part of the park that was used after dark.

“Do you think they’ll be out tonight? The weather is miserable,” Oliver asked when he realized where they were headed

“The courts are covered. Half the people out here are doing business. They don’t care about the rain.”

Sure enough, the basketball courts were hopping. “So we just sit here?” Oliver asked. He double-checked the door lock.

“For now. I just want to get an idea of what’s going on. And to see if my girls are telling me the truth.”

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Oliver broke the quiet. “See anything?”

“Honestly? Not much. I think a couple of those boys actually playing basketball come to my office but they’re not on my caseload. There aren’t many girls out tonight, though, and I haven’t seen Shanna or Hope. But that car has been idling over there for a while.” Two or three guys had walked over to the car’s window since they’d been there.

Oliver nodded. “I noticed that, too. Drug dealer?”

“Possibly. Devon said Shanna’s sugar daddy drove a black car.”

“That one looks gray to me.”

“Me, too,” she admitted.

Ari searched the park again and frowned. “Do you see that guy over there? Behind the goalpost, in the blue sweatshirt? What is he doing?”

“No idea. But I noticed another guy up in the bleachers sitting by himself.” Oliver lifted his binoculars and adjusted the view. “Okay, so there’s a guy behind the goalpost, one on the bleachers and two others lurking around the edges. Who are these guys?”

Ari squinted, trying to see better. “Hand me those binoculars,” she said, holding out her hand. Ari held them to her eyes and searched for the men Oliver had seen. She spotted them all, including one more perched on top of a playground set. “Hold on,” she said. “How do you make this bigger? More magnified?”

Oliver spun the wheel that sat at the bridge of her nose with his thumb. “Try that.”

Ari looked through the binoculars and said, “Holy crud. I know that guy.” She looked at the other men closely and then gave the binoculars back to Oliver. “Look. Tell me who you see.”

He only looked for a second, passing over each person. He dropped the binoculars in his lap and stared at Ari. “Those are the guys from the GYC. From the fights! What are they doing here?” Boyd sat on top of the play set, which meant this was an approved outing.

“I don’t know. Oscar’s funeral was today. Seems a little inappropriate, right?”

“Maybe they just wanted to blow off some steam. They like to do all that marital arts stuff. Maybe they’re waiting for the playground to clear out. They’re keeping their distance.”

Ari grabbed the binoculars again and studied the men. Boyd sat on the playground. The other men weren’t really men, but boys. She slowly searched the area. If Boyd was there, then Davis could have been, too.

“Look,” Ari said. One of the GYC boys approached a group of guys and the few girls loitering around the edge of the covered court. “What do you think they’re saying?”

“I don’t know, but those guys are leaving.” All the men shuffled out the park entrance and down the street. “Those girls look pissed,” Oliver said. “I think they just lost their dates.”

“What the heck?” Ari said. The GYC kid waved the girls over, and with one glance in the direction of the idling car, it backed up and drove out of the park. When Ari looked again, the girls were gone and so were all the GYC guys. Except Boyd, who’d stood from his crouched position on the play set. “That was totally mob like. He looks at them and they just leave?”

“What’s he doing now?” Oliver asked, but Boyd answered the question himself when he leaped from his perch 15 feet away to a high stone wall surrounding the basketball courts. “Um … wow.”

“I know,” Ari said, taking one last look for Davis. He wasn’t there, though. But someone told that kid to approach those girls. And someone gave that group the power to monitor and remove a whole group of kids and a possible drug dealer with one look.

Increasingly, Ari suspected she knew who.

***

“Okay, so that last part? Not so risky,” Oliver said. “But this? This seems dumb. I mean, you suspect this guy is kidnapping teenage girls. So you what? Go straight to his house?”

“I don’t think he’s kidnapping girls. Something’s weird and he’s first on my list of subjects. And technically this isn’t a house.”

“Nice. This place is huge! He could have a whole brothel in that place and no one would know,” sarcasm evident in his voice.

“Which is why I have to check it out.”

“Ari,” Oliver said in a serious tone. “I love you. And I know you like to push the limits. But this is idiotic. I can’t let you go in there.”

Ari looked at her roommate and best friend and gave him a hug across the center console of the car. “Oliver, I love you, too.” She unlatched her seatbelt and opened the door. “Call the police if I’m not home by morning.”

Oliver hopped out of the passenger seat and chased her down. Ari had just reached the GYC’s door when it swung open. Davis stood in the middle of the opening with a confused expression on his face. “What’s going on?”

“We need to talk,” Ari said. “Oliver is convinced you may slaughter me or something. Will you promise not to do that?”

They both looked at Oliver with his set jaw and his puffed out chest. Impressive, but there was no way he could take Davis in a fight. Davis gave Oliver one of those dude nods. “I’ll get her home safely.”

“See?” Ari said.

Oliver sighed. “Fine. But don’t come crying to me when you’re working on Stewart Street, okay?” He turned in defeat and got in his car. Ari wasn’t sure if he’d really just go home. She suspected he’d probably run straight to Detective Morgan.

“I’ll text you in an hour, okay?” she yelled but he’d slammed the door and started the car. Ari followed Davis into the building and he locked the door behind her, reminding her that Oliver might be right. There could be a brothel under the building. She just needed to find it.

Ari followed Davis past the lobby. He turned unexpectedly away from his office and pushed open a door leading to a different stairwell than she’d used before. She hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. “Does this lead to your secret brothel by chance?” Ari asked.

“What?” he asked.

“Never mind.”

“This leads to my apartment, where, for the record, I do not take prostitutes.”

Like he has to pay for sex, Ari thought. She relented and followed him up the stairs. She focused on his tight green shirt and the way she could see the taut muscles down his back. Ari shook her head. That was not what she was there for. She had questions and needed answers.

Even though Ari thought the building only had two levels, they walked up a third. At the top, Davis stopped and entered a series of numbers into a touch pad next to a heavy wood door. He glanced back. “I have the best hopes for those kids,” he said. “But I don’t trust them near my stuff. Or anyone else, really.”

He held open the door and Ari walked through. She didn’t know what to expect, but what she saw wasn’t it. Dark hardwood covered the floor, stretching to all four corners of what looked like a studio apartment. The ceiling slanted upwards, peaking over a huge wall of windows. The space was meticulous. Gleaming stainless steel shone from the kitchen. Cool slate lined the fireplace. Ari eyed the rich, blood-red rug in the living area and wondered if it was an antique. The place reeked of money, something she never assumed Davis had.

From the door, she could see the twinkling lights of Glory City. The opposite wall held another long row of curtains. Davis said, “There are windows behind the curtains that look over the gym. I can keep an eye on things from here.”

“This is pretty amazing, Davis.”

“It took me a long time to get it like this but, yeah, it’s nearly how I want it.”

She surveyed the room again and noticed a half-wall obscured what Ari assumed was Davis’ bed, offering a little privacy. The idea sparked warring butterflies in her stomach. Davis walked over to the leather couch near the fireplace and said, “So this is where things get complicated, right?”

Ari sat down and he followed. “Yeah, I think so. I saw your guys down at the park tonight.”

“The boys go down there when they can and try to keep the park safe.”

“Safe?”

“Yeah, everyone in town knows them. Or of them. They’re under instruction to keep things pretty calm or call the police if necessary. Their presence is enough to keep a lot of the troublemakers away.”

“Like scaring off drug dealers?” she asked.

He nodded. “Those bastards are like cockroaches. Turn on the light and they scatter, but they’re never really gone. They’re also not nearly as brave as you would think. They’re scared of trouble. They can’t make money from prison.”