What We Find (Sullivan's Crossing, #1)(78)

“Your arrest is a matter of public record,” he informed her.

“But why would anyone look?” she asked. She teared up, her blue eyes getting a little glassy.

A blue-eyed redhead? Well, they weren’t really blue, it was probably contacts, and was the red hair real? None of the four kids had red hair. She smoothed her hair over one ear and looked at him with those big blue eyes. And she slowly lowered her lids. A hand went gently to her throat.

“I was so careful.”

“Careful?”

“I’m not a prostitute. I’m more of an escort. There are a few men who come to town regularly and we go out, that’s all. Sometimes they’re a little lonely and need someone to talk to. It’s like performing a service. You know?”

“Becky, you don’t have to convince me of anything. Just tell me the facts because I’m going to find out the reason you were arrested. And it wasn’t for going out on a date or performing a service. How long have you been in this business?”

“The escort business?” she asked.

“Precisely,” he said, encouraging her.

Her graceful hands moved around as she talked, stroking the glass, touching a button, smoothing her napkin. Her tongue touched her lips and she blinked sometimes. But her mascara didn’t run.

“Business, yes. A friend I once worked with invited me to dinner with a couple of gentlemen from out of town. She was an escort. She said we’d be paid by the hour just to have dinner with these men and it was a lot of money. I can’t remember how much, but I think fifty dollars an hour or something. And when dinner was over, I just went home. I did that a few times. Then a couple of the gentlemen I’d been out with called me and asked me for a date and I said yes and they paid me—as if it was a paid date, just like before. I was thinking it was just an ordinary date—meet at the restaurant, have dinner, go home. I didn’t do any more than that for a long, long time. After a year or so, with a gentleman I happened to be quite fond of, it went further. But the money was the same so you see, I wasn’t selling my body. I was selling my time. I was a paid escort who made an adult decision to be more intimate with a client. Consenting adults.”

“I understand completely,” Cal said. “And you should know, the judge isn’t going to buy that.”

“Very narrow-minded of him, don’t you think?” she asked.

She’s throwing off pheromones like crazy, Cal thought. And while she started out as pretty, she was growing beautiful. Sexy. She was very good at this—the way she talked, moved her hands, adjusted herself in the chair, her soft voice.

“What was different about this last time?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you what—I was tricked, that’s what. Something I hardly ever do because I just don’t have the time, I was going to meet a girlfriend for a drink. There were no gentlemen involved. I wasn’t meeting a man. While I was waiting in the bar a man took the stool two down and after he got his drink, he started to talk to me. He was very nice, very friendly, and he asked me if I wanted to go on a date and I said, What kind of date? Because I was waiting for a friend. And he said, How about a short date to my room? And I laughed at him and said that didn’t sound like a date. Dinner in a nice restaurant sounded more like a date, but unfortunately I was busy. And he said, Well, if you changed your mind, what would something like that cost? He was harassing me, annoying me. Like I’d ever go anywhere with someone that pushy. And I told him I didn’t have the first idea because I wasn’t about to go on a date to his hotel room. And he pushed and said, But if you did? What would it cost? And I said, A lot! Hundreds and hundreds of dollars! And he arrested me!”

“Did he give you money?”

“No. He just talked about it.”

“And did you go to his room?”

She shook her head. “No! He was leading me out of the hotel bar when my friend was walking in. He put me in handcuffs! And my friend said, What the hell is this? And the man pulled out his badge to show her. And she asked him if he was crazy.”

“And this friend? Also an escort?”

“As it happens, she’s a yoga instructor! I called her as soon as I got home to tell her it was a terrible misunderstanding. But I think she wonders about me now. This is awful.”

“Did he show you money?” Cal asked.

“No,” she said.

“Listen to me carefully, Becky. If that police officer was wired, will the recording be exactly as you say? Or will it sound more like you were setting a price and telling him the rules for the game?”

“It will sound exactly as I told you. Ex-act-ly.”

Cal scribbled a few things on his tablet. “Well, the next thing to do is get a copy of the police report, the arrest report, and plan a defense in time for your court date.”

“It’s in a week,” she said.

“What happened the last two times you were arrested?”

“Does that matter?”

“Just to me. The fact that you were arrested could come up but the details won’t affect the outcome of this situation.”

“Well, a gentleman I was having dinner with told a ma?tre d’ that I was a hooker and he called a cop. Apparently he was irked at the escort price when he wasn’t getting sex and didn’t want to pay it. So see? I was in trouble for not being a hooker! That was the first time. The second time it was a female police officer undercover and she was asking me how I managed to get into my escort business because she wanted to get into the business, so just for fun I demonstrated how easy it was to attract a man in a bar and interest him in an escort. It was very confusing because I wasn’t going to do anything then, either. But the man was her partner and they both took me to jail. I paid a fine because it was less than it would cost to hire a lawyer. But I’m telling you, I’m not doing anything to break the law!”