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Luanne looked me over. “Who dressed you this morning? You need to talk about this now?”
“Sorry,” I said, I leaned in and plastered on a sympathetic smile. “Wasn’t expecting the interview. We rushed over. Henry paired me up with her, and then…” I tried to look confused. “I mean, she was saying about the money and I…”
“He’s a guy,” she said loudly. She rolled her eyes. “He’s not a girl. Okay, okay, get inside. I’ll see what I can do.”
“From runner to escort,” Future said, heading in after Luanne opened the door wider. “It’s like a job promotion.”
I ground my teeth to keep the smile on my face and not laugh.
What I couldn’t get over was that this was Mrs. Gunther. Putting the pieces together, it still wasn’t working for me.
Mrs. Gunther was at a party when her daughter was missing.
Mrs. Gunther was an escort.
Mrs. Gunther was hanging out with the bail bondsman, the one that bonded for Fred Gunther.
I didn’t care how outside I was at this point, I really didn’t like her, even if I didn’t have all the answers. Some people were clearly not good people. You could just feel it. I felt it the first moment I saw her and I felt it now. This whole thing was messed up.
Mrs. Gunther pointed us to a posh living room. There was a set of settees facing each other. Future and I sat on one together, and Mrs. Gunther sprawled out on the other. She planted her fingers delicately over her eyes. “Okay,” she said. “What’s your name?”
“This here’s Ka—” Future started.
“Rachael,” I said over her. I squinted, trying to silently tell her not to give my real name.
“Y… yeah,” she said. “Like I was saying. Kachael-Rachael.”
“Just one of you talk,” Mrs. Gunther said. Future opened her mouth but she held up her hand. “Not you, the other one.”
“What do you want to know?” I asked. I tilted my head, trying to figure out if her eyes were closed. Maybe she was hung over from the party. When I confirmed she wasn’t watching, I studied the room. No pictures except ones of herself were placed around the area. There weren’t any toys left out. The kitchen looked barely touched, no drawings taped to the fridge. No hint of a kid.
“First off,” she said, “we don’t fuck guys. We’re not prostitutes. What you do on your own time, that’s up to you. You’re only paid to do what they tell you.”
“What if it includes sex?” Future asked.
“Shut up,” Luanne said. She pointed in my direction. “I need your ID, and I need you to go get…what’s it called?”
“A nose ring?” Future asked.
“No,” Luanne said.
“A tit job?”
“No!” Luanne screeched.
“Mom?” The small voice forced me to jerk around, looking for the source. Future moved at the same time, clocking her head into mine.
“Ouch!” We said at the same time, and Future added in a few more colorful words, expressing out loud exactly what I was thinking.
Behind us was a hallway. At the very corner was a little girl who couldn’t have been older than four. Her curly hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in a couple of days and there were a couple of food stains on the front of her pink night shirt.
“Go away,” Luanne said, making a shooing motion with her hand.
“It’s morning,” the girl said. “Can I get up?”
“What did I tell you?” Luanne said through her teeth. She gazed up at the ceiling. “Stay in your room until I come to get you. Mommy can’t handle your noise this early in the morning.”
I turned back to Future, who looked back at me. I mouthed Sara to her and she nodded.
“It’s nine,” the girl said, in a much quieter voice.
“You don’t know how to read time,” Luanne said. “Go back to bed.”
“Mom,” Sara said, her voice smaller. “I’m hungry.”
Luanne made a fist and punched at the side of the settee. She sat up and pointed a finger. “Girl, you better not talk back to me again. Get your little butt back in your room. Mommy has business.”
I looked at Future, trying to figure out the plan. There was Sara. Where was Fred? Was he already in jail? Did they find him?
“Here,” Future said. She hopped up and walked toward the girl with the biggest smile. “I’ll go play with her while you talk.”
Luanne groaned. “Fine.”
Sara looked up at Future, her mouth open, her eyes wide. “Are you Barbie?”
I snorted.
“Little baby,” Future said. “I’m the best Barbie. I’m the Barbie that likes to dress you up.” She went for the kitchen, found a box of Pop Tarts on the counter and then shimmied out, taking the girl’s hand. “Show me your room. I want to see what kind of princess you are today.”
Sara was skipping down the hall after Future. “Can I wear what you’re wearing?”
“Oh my god,” Luanne said, leaning back on her settee and pushing her fingers to her eyes again. “My daughter’s taking fashion ideas from the fag.”
“She’s cute,” I said, trying to think of an opening.
“She’s a little minion,” Luanne said. “Can’t keep her paws off of things.” She sighed and shook her head. “What was your name again?”
“Rachael.”
“Right, okay. I need to copy your license.”
Crap. We were back to that already? “Oh, uh, sorry, I didn’t bring one.”
Luanne sneered. “Who goes to a job interview without a license?”
Who runs an interview in her living room while wearing just a robe? “So sorry,” I said, trying to force a smile. “Future said we should come over right away to talk to you about it. I didn’t think…”
“That’s the problem with you girls,” she said. She stood, and started pacing around the room. “None of you girls think. You’re no better than those street walkers. I don’t pay you to be lazy shits. You’ve got to think.”
I don’t care how desperate I’ve ever been for money in my life, I hope anyone with half a bean for a brain would know better than to work for her. “Oh.”
Luanne paced for a moment. Her phone on a side table started to ring. She studied the screen, looking at the name. She reached for it, hitting the speaker button. “What Henry?”
“Hey,” he said. “I’m on my way to pick up Fred.”
My heart leapt to my throat.
“About time,” Luanne said.
“He’ll do anything to get out of that storage unit.”
That little tidbit hit me square in the face. I suddenly pictured the whole ordeal.
Luanne, the escort, wanted some money. Fred gave all he could, but it wasn’t enough for her. She talks to Henry, and they hook up. They create a scam to suck dry all of old Mrs. Gunther’s money.
It’s why it looked like Fred and Sara were in a hurry when they left. They didn’t leave willingly. They were kidnapped.
The new money gave Luanne a chance to move into a fancier apartment. The mom kept the girl at home. Fred got stashed. After enough days, after Henry gets paid, and Fred becomes willing, he goes to the jail looking guilty. Grandma is out her money, and the insurance has theirs back and everything looks normal.
Fred is separated from his daughter, probably for a long, long time.
If I could have, I’d have stabbed her in the eye with her own phone. “Ah,” I said, standing, “you sound busy.”
Luanne rolled her eyes. “Sorry, Henry, I’ve got a girl here.”
“Doing what?”
“Shut up, pervert.” She hung up. She sucked in a breath. “Where was I?”
“I needed…to get my ID. But it’s at home. I have to go get it.”
“Whatever,” she said. She started heading toward the opposite hallway. “Look, go get your damn ID, but next time you come over, tell the fag to bring you at a reasonable time. Sometime after noon or later.”
“Okay,” I said. “Well, let me go g
et Future.”
She rolled her eyes again and waved me off. “Get him out of here. And shut the door when you leave.”
After she disappeared, I dashed down the hall.
Future was on a twin sized bed, her legs crossed at the knee while she watched Sara parade around in yellow leggings and a blue shirt with puffy sleeves that was tied off at the waist to look closer to what Future was wearing.
“See?” Future said. “If you tie your shirts, it shows off your figure.”
“What’s a figure?” Sara asked.
“Future!” I seethed through my teeth.
They both turned, blinking at the same time.
I pointed to the door. “We have to run. Now.”
Future talked back to me through her own teeth. “We can’t leave. There’s the girl.”
“We have to go pick up… F. R. E. D. before Henry does.”
“N. O.”
I groaned. “He’s on the way to take him to the… P. O. L. I. C. E.”
Future shook her head and wagged a finger. “Well I’m not leaving S. A. R. A. here with the B. I. T. C. H.”
