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We gave Allie a chance to mourn. She cried, but I wasn’t sure if it was stress or actual grief. I didn’t know how well she knew the other girls. When Allie asked to use the bathroom, Terri said she’d stand by the door and that Allie couldn’t lock it.
Technically, we didn’t have the authority to do something like that to someone who was not under arrest. But neither of us wanted to risk having to chase her down the fire escape again. Even if it seemed like Allie wanted to talk to us, there was no telling if she’d change her mind.
For her part, Allie took not locking the door in stride.
I looked at some framed photographs on the wall next to the breakfast counter. Allie with her mom at a play. With her dad at a shooting range, holding a Beretta 9mm. A photo of her playing soccer in high school, her blond hair flowing behind her as she streaked down a field.
When we were all sitting around the breakfast counter again, Allie said, “I can’t believe any of this. I’ve always been worried about my parents finding out. That’s one of the major reasons we’ve kept everything so secret. We make sure that none of the girls know one another. Well, most of them don’t know one another. We use burner phones, and all the calls come through this phone.” She held up an older Samsung. “It’s prepaid and untraceable.”
Terri said, “You didn’t hear about the homicides on the news or in the paper?”
“Who’s got time to read the paper? I might’ve heard something about a murder on TV, but I didn’t make the connection to any of our girls. Like I said, most of the girls are just trying to get through college and don’t want their parents to find out. I rarely speak to them more than once. Usually just texts. I make it a point not to track someone down if they don’t answer a text.
“I spoke with Suzanne more than most of the girls. She was always wanting to meet for lunch or a drink.” Allie thought about it for a moment, then added, “I guess she hasn’t called in at least a month.”
I chimed in. “Do you know who her clients were?”
Allie shook her head. “I’d have no way to know unless it was a first-time client who called the main, burner phone. Then all I’d have is a cell number.”
Terri asked, “How much do you make per event?”
Allie shrugged. “I’m booked almost every Friday and Saturday evening, and I usually bring home about ten to twelve thousand dollars a month.”
“And you don’t even have sex with your clients?”
She shrugged. “Some of the girls negotiate for it as an extra. Not many, but the whole idea is that we’re each responsible for ourselves.”
Now I asked the question. “Have any of the girls ever mentioned being threatened by a client?”
“No, never. If I ever hear about a problem client, we cut them off and never deal with them again. We simply block their number. Once I had to tell a guy I was calling the cops if he didn’t leave us alone. Our clients aren’t drug dealers, they’re businessmen and professionals. Since none of the clients knows where we live, we’re safe. At least, we thought we were.”
“Do the clients know you aren’t working for an agency? They know you’re all on your own?”
“That’s one of the things I tell every client before any of us will meet them. They don’t have to worry about anyone bothering them, the money has to be paid up front, and if one of the girls says no, it means no. I swear, in two years we’ve never had a problem.”
I asked, “Are you still in school?” I knew the answer already but wanted to see her reaction.
She looked down and away from me. After a moment she said, “I dropped out of NYU last year when I had two twenty-thousand-dollar months back-to-back. My parents have no clue.”
I said, “Most parents have no clue. About anything.”
Chapter63
THE LONGER WEtalked, the more Allie Pritz started to trust us. Terri Hernandez was the main reason. She was certainly more relatable to a young woman than I was.
The story Allie told us was similar to a lot of stories I’d heard about getting started in the escort business. When she was a sophomore at NYU, a girl Allie knew asked her if she wanted to make some extra cash. She explained that Allie would act as a young man’s date to a wedding, and that sex was not required. Allie attended the wedding, had a good time, and couldn’t believe she got paid nine hundred dollars. The girl who had told her about the job took a pretty hefty cut.
After that, Allie was in the rotation in The Girlfriend Experience. Eventually, she sort of took it over as other girls moved on or graduated.
Allie said, “All the girls who work in The Girlfriend Experience are terrified their parents will find out or the cops will decide to bust us. Either way, we keep a low profile.”
I repeated, “So none of the girls interact with one another.”
“Not that I know of. If I can’t take a job, I have one or two girls I can call, and I keep half of the fee. The other girls in The Girlfriend Experience do it the same way. It’s not like we’re a bricks-and-mortar business. It’s a loose alliance.”
“How many girls are involved?”
“I hand off assignments to about six girls. Sometimes there are as many as ten in the rotation. If a client asks for someone by name, I always send that tip directly to the girl. Otherwise, I sort of cherry-pick the better assignments.”
