AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He’s threatening a client of mine,” I reply. “She had her stash confiscated when she got popped and now is into him for a good chunk of change. He’s demanding payment. Or alternatively, said he’d take it out in trade.”
Billy chuckles. “Yeah, that sounds like Lucas. Your client must be hot, huh?”
“Yeah. She’s attractive, I suppose.”
I quickly take a drink of my coffee to hide my face. Saying Aria is attractive is like saying the Mona Lisa is all right or that the Taj Mahal is kind of nice. It’s the understatement of a lifetime. Aria is the most naturally beautiful woman I’ve ever met before. In my eyes, Aria makes the wonders of the world look plain. They’re absolutely ordinary next to her. But I know I can’t say that. For now, I have no choice but to hide anything I feel for her.
“Uh huh,” he says. “You nail her yet?”
“It’s not like that. You know me, man,” I say.
He nods. “I do know you. That’s why I’m asking. It would be a shock to see you show an interest in something other than work.”
It’s not like that… yet. But it will be. Billy just doesn’t need to know that though.
“It’s not like that.”
“You think if you repeat that enough times out loud you’re going to start believing it because I’m sure not?” He pauses, but I don’t reply and he takes the hint and lets it go. “If you say so, brother,” he says. “Anyway, that’s kind of Lucas’ M.O. He likes to use women to do his dealing for him. They’re less likely to draw our attention. It’s sexist, but it’s true. Which is pretty smart if you think about it.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Anyway, I’ve talked to a few of his girls before. Off the record. They’re all too scared to speak on the record about him. And forget testifying against him,” Billy goes on. “According to them, if any of his girls find themselves in a situation like your client—what’s her name again?”
“Aria,” I tell him. “Aria Benson.”
“Yeah, the name rings a bell. Yeah, so anyway, if any of his girls find themselves in her situation and owe him money, he likes to talk about taking out in trade. And he’ll use them for a little while. Breaking them in he calls it,” he tells me, and just the thought of that scumbag Lucas doing something like that to a woman wants to make me end him under the heel of my shoe like the cockroach he is. “But they’ll never get out of debt to him. So, eventually, he turns them out. Make them earn for him by turning tricks out on the street.”
I shake my head and it feels like something heavy was just dropped into the pit of my gut. I have trouble catching my breath for a minute as I digest what he just said. It’s even worse than I thought.
“How is it you guys know all this about this fucking prick but haven’t been able to touch him?” I ask.
“Like I said, none of his girls will testify against him. They’re terrified of him,” Billy says. “We can’t prove it of course, but we suspect he’s disfigured and murdered half a dozen girls who sold for him. He mutilated them to send a message to anybody who might be thinking about coming to us.”
“Christ,” I mutter.
“Yeah, brother. It’s bad. Really bad,” Billy tells me.
“So, you need to catch him dirty,” I say.
“That would help, yeah. The more weight, the heavier the time,” he says. “And maybe, just maybe, if we can finally put some bracelets on the prick, his girls might work up the nerve to testify against him. We might be able to close half a dozen open homicides.”
My hand clenches, balling into a tight fist as I think about Aria ending up as nothing more than a statistic. As nothing more than another open file on Billy’s desk. There’s a throbbing behind my eyes and venom, hot and thick, flowing through my veins.
“If I’m being honest though, I don’t know if even that would be enough. I’m not sure anything other than a pine fucking box will be. We’re still lacking physical evidence,” Billy goes on. “The guy has a slick ass lawyer. I mean, you creatures make life hard on the rest of us who are trying to make the world a safer place, amigo.”
“You creatures, huh?”
“Well, yeah. I don’t generally consider lawyers to be the same species as me.”
I grin. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Yeah. I know.”
We share a laugh for a moment, but his words sink in, and ideas start forming in my mind. I know I need to do something. If I do nothing, he’ll continue terrorizing Aria. Or worse. But what to do is the question that’s been bouncing around in my head all morning. But his pessimism about being able to keep Lucas locked up permanently only sours my mood even more than it was before.
“I see that big brain of yours working, Silas,” Billy says. “Whatever it is, stop thinking about it. Don’t get involved with this.”
“Don’t sweat it, man,” I tell him. “We’re good.”
