Forgive Me(53)

“Somehow, we have to get inside.”

“Right, by calling the cops.”

Angie returned a skeptical look. “Thin Blue Discount, remember? I want to know that Nadine is there before we give up control.”

“Girls might be in danger and we’re keeping tight-lipped? Doesn’t sit well with me, Ange. Gotta be honest here.”

“I get it Mike, I do. But hear me out. When I first opened my agency, I got a case with a girl a lot like Nadine. I don’t talk about it because it’s just too upsetting.” Angie did look upset. This was picking a scab that never healed, uncovering a very dark memory. “I traced her to a motel where I thought she was being prostituted. Her name was Elise and she was nineteen. She had a drug problem and issues at home, but her parents loved her and had hired me to find her, which I did. I got recorded evidence of different men coming and going from her motel room, enough for me to call the cops. When they showed up, her pimp, a guy named Ruben McDonald, barricaded the room and refused to come out. It turned into a hostage standoff that ended up a murder-suicide.”

“Geez, Ange. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“That’s because I don’t talk about it. It upsets me when I do. Maybe if I hadn’t called the police, if I’d gotten to Elise somehow, if I could have talked to her, maybe I could have gotten her away from that monster. I don’t know.” Angie drank her coffee. “I just don’t want the same thing to happen to Nadine. I want a chance to get her away from Markovich if at all possible.”

Mike looked skeptical. “About you doing a stakeout . . . um, I kind of think your cover has been blown. I mean, you did tase one of those guys, and you kicked the other one in the nuts. I think they’re going to remember you.”

Angie chuckled. “Yeah, that’s why I want you to get in there.”

Mike recoiled as if he’d been the one tased. “Me? I don’t want to go in there.”

“Well of course you don’t. And I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want to go in either. But you have to find out if she’s inside.”

“Hey, I’m not stripping to my skivvies, Angie,” Mike said. “No way.”

“Of course not. You go hang out on those streets. You find Fedora or Casper. You ask about any action. Say you’re new to town. Get a conversation going.”

“They’ll think I’m a cop.”

“Make them think otherwise.”

Mike groaned. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“You show them the do-re-mi. Pay extra, but not overkill. Flash a few hundred, that should do it. Make sure you describe a girl just like Nadine. That’s your type. Hopefully she’s there and there’s only one. You’ll get alone with her. Give her my card, sneak her a burner phone and some extra cash. If you’re convincing enough, I’ll get a phone call. Nobody is going to check to see if you got your money’s worth, believe me. You walk out the room with a happy grin on your face, nobody will question it. The girl won’t say anything, and we’ll be one step closer to bringing her home.”

“What if they take me to another girl? Not Nadine.”

“Keep the phone and cash. Tell the girl you have a fetish that you don’t like to touch, just look. It’s your thing.”

“You can’t go to place like that and not touch. It’d be suspicious.”

“I’m just saying you don’t have to get undressed. Maybe dance with her. Like a little waltz.”

“You want me do a waltz with a prostitute?”

“They’re not prostitutes, Mike. They’re victims.”

Mike looked a bit ashamed of himself. “Yeah. Got it.”

“I’ll be nearby. If things go south, we’ll get the cops there in a flash.”

“So I can end up in a standoff like Elise? That doesn’t sound like a good strategy.”

“Let’s get to her, Mike,” Angie said. “If she’s with those monsters, she needs our help.”

Mike gave it a few seconds thought. “Okay, okay. I’m in.”

“Good. We go back tomorrow. Tonight, I need wine from a box and a bad TV movie.”

“Wine from a box? Might be time to take your sommelier off your Christmas card list.”

“You know, I just thought of something.”

“What?”

“How am I going to explain the bullet hole in my car if my dad sees it and asks?”

“That’s easy,” Mike said. “Tell him you drove to Baltimore.”

Angie’s cell phone rang. She glanced at the display and was surprised and more than a little worried to see the call was from Walter Odette. “Walt, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“Everything is all right, but—”

Angie’s stomach clenched, her chest tightened, and her throat closed. Oh God . . . oh no. Please, please, no no . . .

“Your dad is fine, but he’s had a bit of a scare,” Walt said.

Angie felt her world collapsing. A sinking sensation came on, her vision going white. “Is my dad all right?” A crack in her voice elicited an anxious look from Mike.

“Yes, yes, he’s fine,” Walt said. “We thought it might have been a heart attack, but the doctors aren’t sure yet. He’s still in the hospital. Louise and I are with him now. We’re just waiting for more tests to come back.”