Best Laid Plans(42)

Before Barry could comment, she called Tia and put her on speaker. “Hi, Tia, it’s Lucy. You’re on speaker with me and Barry Crawford.”

“Hi, Barry. It’s been a long time.”

“Yes, it has,” Barry said.

“I have some info on the girl we’re looking for.”

“So do I. She goes by the name Elise. One of her johns said he usually uses a girl named Bella, but Bella was sick and the service sent him Elise. I have a number if you need it.”

“I know who you’re talking about. Not Elise, but Bella Jones. She works for Mona Hill. I’ll send you Mona’s file—it’s thick. The woman is a piece of work. I’ve tried taking her down a couple of times, but she has friends in high places. I can’t make anything stick, and she walks after paying a fine or time served. If Elise is working for her, Mona won’t flip her.”

“Is Bella underage?” Lucy asked.

“Probably, but I have no way of proving it. Solid fake IDs. You know how it is, Lucy. We only have so much time and resources.”

“Help those who want help,” Lucy said. There were so many young girls exploited in the sex industry that the older girls—over fourteen—were often beyond help. Younger girls, whether they wanted the help or not, were given priority, then came the older girls who sought help. Usually they were arrested for solicitation or drugs and if they showed signs of wanting to get out of the business, Tia would connect them with the right halfway house, get them into school or a GED program, or develop opportunities for them to go home, if feasible.

“If you can nail Mona, I’ll help you wield the hammer. I keep an open file on her, just in case she gets wrapped up in something bigger.”

“What do you have on Elise?” Barry asked.

“I didn’t have her name, but I showed her picture to one of my CIs. He recognized her, said she’s new and not from Texas. Didn’t think she was working for anyone but herself, and definitely didn’t work the streets. I was thinking she was a special order—she’s young, probably fifteen. These girls rarely work for themselves, and none of the girls are chattering about an interloper.”

“Would Mona Hill know about her?”

“Mona keeps her finger on the entire sex trade in southern Texas. If there’s a new girl in town, she knows.”

“That number I have—would you be able to confirm it belongs to Mona?”

“Probably, but I couldn’t say for certain. She uses different numbers for different johns. When she wants to cut someone off, she disconnects the number. But send it to me, I’ll run it.”

“Thanks, Tia.”

“Be careful with Mona. She’ll do anything to protect her organization.”

“What is she scared of?”

“Nothing.”

“Everyone is scared of something,” Lucy said.

“Not true. Read Mona’s file before you talk to her. I just emailed it to you. If you can find a weakness, more power to you. This woman has seen more violence than you and me combined. Prison doesn’t scare her. Death doesn’t scare her. She’s worked herself up from the bottom multiple times. If her business is destroyed, she’ll re-create it elsewhere. San Antonio isn’t her first town. And absolutely don’t let her get in your head.”

“If she’s not scared of anything, then we simply have to shut her down.”

“That might be all you can do. Call me if you need anything else. I’m not afraid to go after her, but I need something solid before my boss will let me take another run. She’s already slipped out of my hands twice.”

Lucy hung up. Her phone beeped with the email Tia had sent her containing Mona Hill’s file. She said to Barry, “I need an hour to read this.”

“If we go down this path, we’re going to be stirring up a hornet’s nest,” Barry said.

Tia didn’t have to be explicit for Barry and Lucy to know that if Mona consistently walked on criminal charges, that meant she had someone in law enforcement or the judicial system on her payroll—either as clients she blackmailed or people she bribed. While law-enforcement agencies at all levels tried to keep their houses clean, there were a few bad apples in every barrel. “We have to do it,” Lucy said. “Elise is new in town, gets tied up with Mona Hill, is at the Worthington crime scene, then leaves Worthington’s phone with her next client—one she’s never been with before?”

“We have no evidence that Elise is affiliated with Mona,” Barry said. “And how would she benefit from killing Worthington and trying to frame Everett? His alibi is solid, we confirmed it through hotel security that he was in his room during the time of death.”

“He could have hired her.”

“Why? And if he was involved in any way, why would Everett leave Worthington’s phone in a hotel room registered in his name?”

“Maybe she intended to kill them both.”

“Again, why?”

Barry was right in all his questions—and not having answers meant all they could do was speculate. At this point, nothing made sense. There was no motive, and while there was no doubt that a teenager could kill someone in cold blood, the way this all unfolded seemed too well planned.

“Maybe Elise is as much a pawn in this as Everett,” Lucy mumbled.