Michael Connelly - Chasing the Dime

"Yeah. At the studios."

"So you got the job through L.A. Darlings and Mr. Wentz, right?"

He saw her eyes flare at the mention of the name but she didn't respond.

"What's his first name?"

"I'm not talking to you about him. You can't tell him you got any information from me, you understand?"

He thought he now saw a flash of fear in her eyes.

"I told you, everything you tell me here is private. I promise you that. What's his name?"

"Look, he's got connections and people who work for him who are very mean. He's mean. I don't want to talk about him."

"Just tell me his name and I'll leave it at that, okay?"

"It's Billy. Billy Wentz. Most people call him Billy Wince because he hurts people, okay?"

"Thank you."

He stood up and looked around the apartment. He walked over to the corner of the living room and looked into a hallway that he guessed led to the bedroom. He was surprised to learn there were two bedrooms with a bathroom in between.

"Why do you have two bedrooms?"

"I share the place with another girl. We each have our own."

"From the website?"

"Yes."

"What's her name?"

"Cleo."

"Billy Wentz put you with her, too."

"No. Grady did."

"Who is Grady?"

"He works with Billy. He really runs the place."

"So why don't you do doubles with Cleo? It'd be more convenient."

"I probably will. But I told you, I was getting a lot of business with Lilly. There aren't many girls that look like her."

Pierce nodded.

"You don't live here, do you?"

"No. I work here."

"Where do you live?"

"I'm not telling you that."

"You keep any clothes here?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have any clothes besides those? And where are your shoes?"

He gestured to what she was wearing.

"Yes, I changed when I got here. I don't go out like this."

"Good. Change back and let's go."

"What are you talking about? Where?"

"I want you to show me where Lilly's place is. Or was."

"Uh-uh, man. You got your information, that's it."

Pierce looked at his watch.

"Look, you said four hundred an hour. I've been here twenty minutes, tops. That means I get forty more minutes, or you give me two-thirds of my cash back."

"That's not how it works."

"That's how it works today."

She stared at him angrily for a long moment and then walked silently past him toward the bedroom to change. Pierce walked over to the balcony doors and looked out across Lincoln.

He saw a man standing at the pay phone in front of Smooth Moves, holding a smoothie and looking up at the windows of the building Pierce was in. Another smoothie, another client. He wondered how many women were working in the building. Did they all work for Wentz? Did he own the place? Maybe he even had a piece of the smoothie shop.

He turned around to ask Robin about Wentz and from the angle he was at was able to look down the hallway and through the open bedroom door. Robin was naked and pulling a tight pair of faded blue jeans up over her hips. Her perfectly tanned breasts hung down heavily as she bent over in the process.

When she straightened up to pull the zipper closed over her flat stomach and the small triangle of golden hair below, she looked directly at him through the door. She didn't flinch. Instead, there was a defiant look on her face. She reached over to the bed and picked up a white T-shirt, which she pulled over her head without making any move to turn or hide her nakedness from him.

She came out of the bedroom and slipped her feet into a pair of sandals she pulled from under the coffee table.

"Did you enjoy that?" she asked.

"Yes. I did. I guess I don't have to tell you, you have a beautiful body."

She walked past him and into the kitchenette. She opened a cabinet over the sink and took out a small black purse.

"Let's go. You've got thirty-five minutes."

She went to the front door, opened it and stepped out into the hallway. He followed.

"You want your smoothie?"

It was sitting untouched on the breakfast bar.

"No, I hate smoothies. Too fattening. My vice is pizza. Next time bring me a pizza."

"Then why'd you ask for the smoothie?"

"It was just a way of checking you out, seeing what you would do for me."

And establishing some control, Pierce thought but didn't say. Control that didn't always last long once the money was paid and the clothes were off.

Pierce stepped into the hallway and looked back into the place where Robin made her living. He felt an uneasiness. A sadness even. He thought about her web page. What was an absolutely positive girlfriend experience and how could it come out of a place like that?

He closed the door, made sure it was locked, and then followed Robin to the elevator.

Pierce drove and Robin directed. It was a short trip from the Marina to Speedway in Venice. He tried to make the best use of his time on the way over. But he knew Robin was reluctant to talk.

"So, you're not an independent, are you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You work for Wentz -the guy who runs the website. He's what I guess you'd call a digital pimp. He sets you girls up in that place, runs your web page. How much does he get? I saw on the site he charges four hundred a month to run your picture but I have a feeling he gets a lot more than that. Guy like that, he probably owns the apartment building and the smoothie shop."

She didn't say anything.

"He gets a share of that first four hundred I gave you, doesn't he?"

"Look, I'm not talking to you about him. You'll get me killed, too. When we get to her place, that's it. We're done. I'll take a cab."

"Too?"

She was silent.

"What do you know about what happened to Lilly?"

"Nothing."

"Then why did you say 'too' just then?"

"Look, man, if you knew what was smart for you, you'd leave this thing alone, too. Go back to the square world, where it's nice and safe. You don't know these people or what they can do."

"I have an idea."

"Yeah? How would you have any fucking idea?"

"I had a sister once…"

"And?"

"And you could say she was in your line of work."

He looked away from the road to Robin. She kept her eyes straight ahead.

"One morning a school bus driver up on Mulholland spotted her body down past the guardrail. I was away at Stanford at the time."

He looked back at the road.

"It's a funny thing about this city," he continued after a while. "She was lying out there in the open like that, naked… and the cops said they could tell by the… evidence that she had been there at least a couple days. And I always wondered how many people saw her, you know? Saw her and didn't do anything about it. Didn't call anybody. This city can be pretty cold sometimes."

"Any city can."

He glanced back at her. He could see the distress in her eyes, like she was looking at a chapter from her own life. A possible final chapter.

"Did they ever catch the guy?" she asked.

"Eventually. But not until after he killed four more."

She shook her head.

"What are you doing here, Henry? That story has got nothing to do with any of this."

"I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just… following something."

"Good way to get yourself hurt."

"Look, nobody's going to know you talked to me. Just tell me, what did you hear about Lilly?"

Silence.

"She wanted to get out, didn't she? She made enough money, she was going to go to school. She wanted to get out of the life."

"Everybody wants to get out. You think we enjoy it?"

Pierce felt ashamed of the way he was pushing her. The way he had used her hadn't been too different from the rest of her paying customers.

"I'm sorry," he said.