“I’m not surprised. Drugs? Money laundering?”
“Women are going missing.”
Providence stopped in the middle of the yard, her full attention on Slash.
“Karen mentioned that six women have ghosted in the past few months, but one of the dancers thinks they’ve gone missing.”
“Maybe there’s high turnover because no one likes working for her. We know she’s difficult to get along with. What’s the pay structure?”
“Tips only.” Slash wasn’t giving up so easily. “While this is just another gig, it’s personal to me. I hit a bumpy patch during my teens and worked at a strip club for a while. Those girls could have been me.”
Providence nodded.
“I checked police reports on two of the women, Terri and Kim Billiawitz. Sisters, whose parents filed missing persons reports. A detective stopped by the club and talked to Karen. She said they ghosted. He followed up with the parents. That was it.”
“I can’t assign you missing persons cases,” Providence said. “It’s not something ALPHA does. Since there’s no rescue, it’s not BLACK OPS either. You’ll have to work the prostitution case from the front of the club and let us know what you learn.”
“Hey guys!” Brit called from the porch. “We’re serving dinner.”
“I’m sorry, Slash,” Providence said. “You ready to head inside?”
“You go. I’ll be right in.”
Slash stood in the middle of the freshly-cut lawn. She didn’t like being told she couldn’t do something, but this wasn’t the first time a request had been denied.
When Elsa had plucked her from the depths of hell, she vowed she’d pay it forward.
As she made her way through the yard toward the porch stairs, she ran through her options.
Between her regular caseload, her BLACK OPS missions, and this new gig, neither Providence nor Cooper Grant knew whereshe was most of the time. It would be easy to start poking around.
I’ll work the cases on the down-low.
She needed to get propositioned so she could check out the VIP rooms. How else could the Bureau move in for an arrest?
Slash returned to the party, but her thoughts were too focused on the missing dancers and the bullshit orders about working the case from the front of the club. Why bother to send her in if she couldn’t actuallydoanything? Shaking her titties and gyrating around a steel pole wasn’t gonna shut down a damn prostitution syndicate.
Starting around ten-thirty, some of the couples headed out. Everyone else moved onto the screened porch to dance.
Her close friend and fellow ALPHA Op, Antonio Herrera, made his way over to her. “Hey, chica, you’ve barely smiled all night. What’s up with you? This is a parteeeee. Why won’t my amiga cut loose and have a little fun?”
She smiled at her longtime friend. “I miss working cases with you. How’s South Carolina?”
“We’re loving it,” he replied.
“Where’s Estrella?”
“She’s in the limbo line.” He waved at his wife and she blew him a kiss.
The music changed to a slow song and Herrera held out his hand. “Dance with me, old friend.”
She placed her arms over Herrera’s shoulders and they started moving in place. Though Herrera put his arms on her waist, they were so far apart, Slash almost laughed out loud.
“What’s going on with you?” Herrera asked.
“Boring work crap. Nothing I can’t manage.”
Standing eye level with her, he chuckled. “There’s the woman I know and love.”
