Brian Freeman - Stalked

"Have you ever had to ask anyone to leave? Someone who behaved inappropriately?"

She nodded. "Once we had a couple who declined to wear condoms when having sex with each other at the club. I'm very, very strict about that. We didn't invite them back. Another time we had a man who slapped an alpha girl. Two of the men escorted him out immediately."

"What was his name?"

"Wilson Brunt. I don't think you'll find that he was involved, though. He was transferred out of state at least six months ago. He's in Oregon now."

Stride wrote his name down. "How long has the club been going on?"

"About a year. It was my idea."

"Big surprise."

"Oh, come on, Jonathan, don't you get bored sometimes?" Sonia waved her hand around at the living room, as if she despised her suburban surroundings. "We're in our forties. Old age is knocking on the door. You think this red hair doesn't come out of a bottle now? You think Delmar's equipment just springs to life when I take off my clothes? Tick tick tick, that's the fucking mortality clock staring us both in the face. You can go buy a convertible to deal with your midlife crisis. I wanted something else."

Stride ignored her. "How often do you meet?"

"Usually about once a month. Sometimes more."

"Does any money change hands?"

"No!"

"What about drugs or illegal substances?"

"Absolutely not. No way." Her eyes danced nervously, and he figured she was lying.

"Tell me about the alpha girls."

Sonia shrugged. "I was the first. I took on six men and three women in one night. That's still the record."

"Good for you," he said flatly. Their eyes met. Sonia knew what he thought and didn't care.

"When we started, the only alpha girls were wives of members," she continued, "but a few times, we've had women who were interested in being alpha girls for the night."

"How do they find out about it?"

"Through members. We're all very discreet. We only approach a woman if we have reason to believe she's liberated sexually, and even then, we take it slow. We don't share any details about the club itself until the woman expresses interest. An outside alpha girl never knows the names of members. It's all anonymous."

"You mean the masks?"

Sonia frowned. "You know about that?"

Stride didn't say anything.

"Yes, we wear masks. It's partly to protect identities, but frankly, we've heard from the women that they like it. There's an extra kick, an extra thrill, when they don't see the faces."

"What actually happens?"

"Why not join us and see?" Sonia asked.

"Don't be cute."

"I'm not. You're always welcome. I asked Maggie if you might be interested, but she said you'd sooner trim your nose hair with a razor blade." She realized what she had done and said, "Shit. I never use names. It's just that she-"

"Never mind. I know all about it."

"Oh my God, did something happen to Maggie?"

Stride's face was stone.

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry," Sonia said. "I can't believe this. She didn't come back after she was the alpha girl, and I just thought she was freaked-out by the experience."

"You brought it up. Tell me about Maggie and Eric."

Sonia shook her head. "This is just fucking terrible." She reclaimed her cigarette, and it wobbled between her fingers. "Eric was involved from the beginning. The first outside alpha girl was an athlete from the Czech Republic who was in town about her Olympic equipment."

"Was Maggie involved from the beginning, too?"

He realized he was holding his breath, not wanting to hear the answer.

"No, she was only here twice. The first time, she and Eric were behind the wall."

"What does that mean?"

Sonia hesitated. "One wall of the temple is all mirrors. There's a small bedroom behind the middle section where someone can watch. Eric wanted Maggie to see what the club was like."

"So no one knew they were there?"

"Just me. Afterward, Eric persuaded Maggie to be the alpha girl at the next meeting."

"I'd love to know how he did that," Stride said, half to himself.

"Maybe she saw it as payback for all of Eric's affairs. He had to stand there and watch."

"Skip the details, what happened afterward?"

"I did her, too, you know."

"I said, skip the details, " he snapped. His voice was loud.

Sonia looked pleased to have riled him. "Maggie didn't come to the next party, but Eric did. Katrina was the alpha girl. That was the last time for Eric. He told me later he was giving it up for Maggie's sake."

"When is the next party?" he asked.

"Tomorrow."

Tomorrow , Stride thought. They didn't have much time, but they also had a new chance to lure the rapist out of his cave.

"Who's the alpha girl?"

Sonia hesitated again, and Stride said, "Just tell me, and skip the bullshit, Sonia. I have plenty of probable cause for a warrant."

"Her name is Kathy Lassiter. She's a partner with a Twin Cities law firm. She has a house on the North Shore. She's been to several parties before, but not as the alpha girl."

"Have you ever heard of a woman named Helen Danning? Was she in the club, or was she an alpha girl?"

"No, I've never heard of her."

"All right, let's talk about how this information is getting out. How could someone find out that a woman was an alpha girl in the club?"

"I don't see how they could," Sonia protested. "All the alpha girls not only sign a form releasing us from legal liability, they also sign a nondisclosure agreement."

"You're kidding."

"No way. We don't want people having an attack of the guilts and suing us, and we don't want loose lips spreading this around all over the city. Members sign similar documents, too, when they join. Plus a code of conduct."

"Good luck litigating those contracts."

Sonia smiled. "Well, I don't think we'd take anyone to court, but signing the docs makes people realize how serious we are about confidentiality and responsible behavior."

Stride tried not to laugh at the irony. "Even so, everyone who's there on a given night knows who the alpha girl is."

"Not necessarily. We don't give people a name if the alpha girl is an outsider. They'd have to know her or recognize her from outside the club."

"Or follow her."

"I suppose so."

"Do you keep records of members and who attends individual parties?"

Sonia nodded. "Absolutely. I keep that on our home computer upstairs. We don't want any legal hassles over the club, so we're fanatical about records, contracts, nondisclosure agreements, background checks, etcetera. We keep all that stuff. No one has ever challenged us, but we're ready if they do."

"How secure is your computer? Do you have a wireless network?"

"Are you kidding? Not a chance."

"How about an Internet connection?"

"Well, yes, but it's totally secure. I had Byte Patrol install the most sophisticated firewall available. It's about as hacker-proof as you can get. Believe me, no one got the information out of our computer."

"That leaves the members," Stride said.

Sonia frowned. "I told you, we vet them."

"I'm going to need names."

"Oh, shit, there's got to be another way."

"No, we have to interview them all."

"Look, you said two alpha girls were assaulted," Sonia argued. "We don't have the same members at every party. Different people come, depending on their schedules. I can get you the names of men who were at both parties with those women, and that should narrow it down."

Stride nodded. "I'll start there, but give me the whole list. All the members, and all the participants at every party. Include the alpha girls, too. I'll need to talk to all of them, because I need to find out if anyone else was assaulted." When Sonia hesitated, he added, "I'm not kidding. I'll go to court, and I'll splash this all over the papers if I have to."