Daylight (Atlee Pine, #3)(76)
It was cash, a lot of it.
“Where did you get all that?” asked Blum.
“That’s the part I didn’t tell you. The lady who helped me, she gave me two thousand dollars that night. Said it was to help me get over it.”
Pine looked at the money. “Jewel, that looks like a lot more than two grand.”
“It is. Because—”
“Because you went back?”
Jewel started talking fast. “They told me they’d pay me every time. Pick me up and take me back. I’d be home before Momma would get off work. One time they even flew me on a helicopter to New York, and we landed on top of the building. It was, like, unbelievable.”
“And Jerome?”
“He didn’t know. At first. But then he caught me coming back in one night. I tried to blow it off. But then he’d been asking around. He knew I suddenly had money. I bought some stuff, a ring and some earrings and a real Prada bag and a new iPhone and some cool clothes. I never let my mom see them. She would’ve been all over me. But Jerome found out. He got on my case about it big-time.”
“And did you tell him the truth?”
“Some of it. He was real upset. Told me to stop going. And I did. I really did.”
“But after the first time, they didn’t still drug you, did they?”
“No.”
“Was it the same man each time?”
“No. It was always different guys. But they all looked the same to me. Old white guys. But . . .”
“And what?”
“But once I did it with a woman. She was old too, maybe forty.”
Pine said, “Did you recognize her, or the men?”
“No.”
“Did they talk to you?” asked Blum. “Mention a name, anything about themselves?”
Jewel looked down and shook her head. “I wasn’t there for them to talk to. They just wanted me for one reason.”
“You’re underage. That’s statutory rape,” said Pine.
“They might not have known. Look at me, you think I’m fourteen?”
“Doesn’t matter. That’s why they call it statutory.”
“You really think they got Jerome to do what he did because of me?”
“I think it’s a safe bet, yeah,” said Pine.
“Then I’m the reason he’s dead.”
“No, you’re not. But you can help us find out who did it.”
“I’ve told you all I know.”
“No, you haven’t. When did you stop going to that place?”
“They called the day before Jerome got killed.”
“Can I see your phone?”
“Why?”
“I want to run the number they called from.”
“I already checked. It’s blocked. No number comes up.”
“When they called, what did they say?”
“That they weren’t going to bring me anymore.”
“Did they say why?”
“No.”
“Can you tell us the address of the place in New York?”
“I don’t remember.”
Pine sat forward. “How many times did you go there?”
Jewel shrugged. “Maybe a dozen, maybe more.”
“And you don’t remember the address?”
“I never paid attention. I was usually sleeping in the car.”
“Can you describe the area of town? What the building looked like? The street it was on?”
“Like I said, it was real what you call high dollar. I mean, everything about that area was dope.” Jewel thought for a few moments. “But it was a number street.”
“Like Seventh Avenue?”
“No, higher than that.”
“Fifty-Seventh Street?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Was it near Central Park?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I saw it one time when they were driving me back to Trenton.”
Pine glanced at Blum and then pulled out her phone again. “Would this be the building?”
Jewel looked at the screen. “Yeah, that’s it. That’s the one.”
Pine looked at Blum again. “Well, they don’t just use that place for parties, then.” A text came over her phone and she said, “We have to go. But thank you for being so honest with us, Jewel. I know it wasn’t easy for you. But what you told us will help us catch whoever killed your brother.” She gave Jewel a card. “Call me if you think of anything else.”
As they were leaving, Cee-Cee Blake tried to ask them what was going on. Pine said simply, “Keep an eye on your daughter and have someone come over here to stay with her when you go to work at night.”
She jogged out to the car and Blum followed as fast as she was able.
“What’s up?” asked Blum as Pine started the car and drove off fast.
“Puller’s fully conscious and is out of post-op and they’re getting him a room. By the time we get back there the attending physician will be able to brief us on his status.”
CHAPTER
48
IT WAS LUCKY THAT HE’S YOUNG and in tip-top condition,” said the doctor, a white-haired man with the calm manner of an airline pilot. They were in the visitors room at the hospital. Robert Puller had been the one to alert Pine about his brother.