A Legal Trap Ch. 11

"The other night you were in a chat room with," Agent Carr paused to look at her notes, "Someone named 'Flowergirl'. Do you remember that?"

"Yes, that wasn't David, I told her that," she nodded her head toward me.

"Who is this person?"

"I don't know. She's someone David said was cool and could help me with stuff. She had different names when we would chat online. She sent me things sometimes. That's all I know," Amber said with a huff.

"And this person was going to get you connected with David next week in Vancouver," Agent Carr asked.

"Yes. I was supposed to already be with David, but that didn't happen. I was supposed to email her to get directions on how I was going to get there, but I couldn't remember her email address."

"What kind of stuff was she going to help you with?"

"Stuff," she looked embarrassed to say but finally spoke after Agent Carr looked to be waiting and not about to speak until she got an answer. "Like getting into making videos and commercials, that kind of thing."

"Did she work for a specific company, a talent agency or something of that nature?"

"David said she knew people," Amber replied.

"And was there a cost for this service she was going to provide," Agent Carr asked.

"Yes, ten-thousand dollars, which I have but you people," Amber was looking at me, "Locked me out of..."

"Besides money," Agent Carr interrupted, "Were there other things this person asked for? Like demo videos or pictures?"

"Of course, I posted things online, I sent her stuff."

"Was it all sexual in nature?"

"Some of it was, yeah. It's how they get things done in the business she told me. David was going to be my manager. It was going to happen until you people got involved." She glared at me again.

Agent Carr asked a few other questions and when she ran into resistance from Amber, she would change her approach, reeling Amber in by appearing to be on her side. Masterful, I was in awe for most of the questioning she was doing. I couldn't get hardly anything from Amber without fighting her every step and Carr was playing her like a concert pianist.

"Okay, well, I think I've got everything I need Amber. Elizabeth is there something I might have missed," Agent Carr asked.

I wasn't prepared to be put on the spot, but judging by the questions asked she had asked about everything they needed to move forward.

"I think that covers it," I answered.

March 13th, 12:46 PM

Agent Carr asked me to stay behind, while she returned Amber to her parents. She was only gone a couple minutes, "The Bureau appreciates your assistance with this investigation Elizabeth; I want you to know that. This could have gone very badly for Amber given her activities online. Statistically we have a three-hour window after the report of a child's abduction. After that, it generally turns into a recovery operation. There are over two-thousand reports of missing children daily, not all are abductions. Some are runaways; some are kids being forgetful about where they are supposed to be. Around here though, being so close to the border, more often immigrant children are abducted and not reported for fear of reprisals by gangs or being deported."

"I had no idea," I replied, shocked.

"We will investigate this fully, but it's likely to end up being filed as a recovery of the victim with no after action. The actors, one deceased, unknown others - will be out there operating until they slip up I'm afraid. With the international implications and Canada needing to investigate the murder of Mr. Lafleur, well there's a lot going against us to actually make an arrest. Nothing Amber told me during this interview is significant enough to put us on the right trail."

I agreed with her last statement. It was certainly eye opening to witness Agent Carr handle Amber with such ease during the interview. Amber certainly opened up more than she had with me. Could have been Agent Carr's approach or maybe I just sucked at getting close to her or I was the 'bad cop' to Carr's 'good cop'.

I understand Amber's naivety though - stardom, fame, and boat loads of money weren't ever going to come her way making a show of her new found sexuality. Sure, short term she could maybe make some money, but long term, I couldn't see it. She was being used and eventually it would end badly. That was the bottom line.

"Oh... It, well, I mean it sounds like a trafficking case, right. I was hoping the emailing we'd done might have given us a lead."

"Yes, likely a sex trafficking case. It was a very good tact, trying to lure whoever was in the chat room into talking via email, but as of this morning, there still has not been a reply. Either that actor has moved on or is leery of the exchange. Could be any number of things has spooked them into going dark. I understand Director Keith has made it clear to everyone they are to stop all attempts to investigate further. You or Mr. Kline continuing to be involved may jeopardize our efforts going forward. Is that understood?"

I'm sure she was being polite, she sounded that way, but the undertone of her message was clear, don't stick your noses where they don't belong.

"I totally understand Agent Carr. I'm actually headed back to Seattle tomorrow and I'm looking forward to resuming my dull and boring life as a paralegal for Mr. Wentz. I'm very much ready for some normalcy."

"Excellent, well I won't keep you any longer Elizabeth. You've done the Carson's a great service and have given the Bureau excellent leads to investigate. Thank you."

Agent Carr extended her hand, which I shook. She was polished, a real 'no shit', straight shooter. I thanked her for her time and was escorted out to a conference room where Jacob, Paul, and Landon were talking about something, baseball I think.

"Director Keith, we're all wrapped up here," Carr said.

"Good... Okay, anyone have any last questions?"

When no one spoke, Landon continued, "I want to thank everyone for your assistance. Jacob, you've got some good eggs here with these two," he said looking at Paul and me, "If we need anything from either of you we'll be in touch."

There were the customary handshakes all around, and then Paul and I were escorted out by Agent Carr. In the outer lobby she thanked us again and shook our hands. Paul and I walked out into eighty-five degree sunshine - free of any more Amber responsibilities.

I had mixed feelings about that. I do not like things left unfinished, but I got the sense from Agent Carr that the odds of getting to the bottom of this were slim no matter the resources thrown at it.

"So, what do you wanna do now," Paul asked.

"Eat... I'm starving!"

March 13th, 1:01 PM

At the car it was decided we'd return to 'our' Mexican restaurant. We laughed about thinking that and virtually saying it at the same time to one another. Paul said he was happy I was feeling better. I explained it was the drugs, but now that we were officially off the case, I did feel a whole lot more relaxed.

I asked about the Carson's and he clued me into the conversation the Carson's had with Landon while they were waiting for Amber to be finished with the interview. Sounded like until she was out of school there were going to be some real restrictions put on her. One of the things he needed to do tomorrow was to set up a permanent monitoring system of the internet traffic at the Carson's. It would include notifications when that traffic involved particular sites or the presence of international VPN traffic or abnormalities in packet trafficking or the sending of certain file types, like webcam usage. It sounded to me like they weren't going to take any more chances with her.

She was eighteen, so technically an adult, but Paul said that Gary had told Jacob, "As long as she is living under our roof, that's just the way it's going to be." - referring to the new restrictions being put on her. Paul mentioned Stephanie didn't have much to say during the exchange.

I commented she needed to be the parent, not the kids friend. I also added, "Of course I'm not a mom, so I can only imagine how this is tearing her apart..."

I wasn't heartless and a good portion of the blame for this altered path Amber went down belonged at her feet, even though she was just a kid. I mentioned all that, but in a less combative tone than I was thinking it.

When we got to the restaurant we were seated right away, it was only about three-quarters seated. We ordered food, Paul ordered a beer - I stuck with a sugar-laden bottle of Mexican Coke. Chips and salsa arrived with our drinks - we 'clinked' bottles together and began plowing through the chips. This salsa was amazing, still!

"You looking forward to getting back," Paul asked.

I finished the chip in my mouth, took a sip of my overly sweetened Coke, "Yeah, wish I felt this was more of a success." I put the bottle down and took a couple sips of water.

"Would have been nice to wrap it up in a pretty bow, but guess it's the nature of this kind of thing. Landon was saying they have over one-hundred unresolved missing children cases so far this year, and those are just the ones that have been reported. All of those are girls, except for twelve boys. That's some scary shit."

"Carr told me something about that also. Makes me sick," I said shaking my head in disgust.

We were silent for nearly a minute, internally processing our own feelings on this mess with Amber. Maybe we were just annoyed we didn't get the ultimate result from our efforts.

"What are ya going to do when you get back," Paul asked after taking a pull from his beer.

That's an interesting question. Do you mean like, do my laundry, go out for a run, and just generally hanging out until I go to bed? Or are you talking about work? Us maybe?

"I'm not sure." Two can play the beat around the bush game.

"Any chance you... You want to continue this back home," he asked shyly.

"Do you think our food will last until I see you again in Seattle?"

He looked really confused, but I began smiling and he caught up, "Yeah, seriously. No more Buffalo wings for you Miss."

"Oh God! No more hugging the toilet for me! I'm so sorry about all that, really sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he paused like he was going to ask something, instead taking another pull from his beer.

OK Mr. Kline, what's on your mind.

"And," I asked.

"And... And what?"

"I don't know, I asked you," I raised an eyebrow for effect.

"I'd like to see you after Phoenix Liz," he finally put it out there.

"I think that's something I'd like to explore also Mr. Kline," I felt a warmth spreading all over my body.

"How do we do that? I mean, you have an end goal, a want to be you, like whole. I don't want you uncomfortable about getting there while being around me. Know what I mean?"

Paul looked worried he'd crossed a line and I'm sure the blank look on my face probably wasn't helping. How do I answer this?

"Well, I guess... I have some things to accomplish yet Paul. And, truth is I'm going to be uncomfortable with you on so many levels it... It's scary to me," I paused to think about where to go next.

"See, that's something I don't want to lay on you. Stress or scary or uncomfortable," he said concerned.

I had no idea where this conversation was going to go or end up. Maybe I should have had a drink? Okay, here goes nothing, "You could be perfect, even flawless in everything you say or do with me and I'm going to be uncomfortable. This," I pointed a finger toward him, then back at myself, "Is new territory. I didn't date when I was younger. Sure I've seen plenty of relationships and I have a pretty good idea what I want from one. I... Jesus, that doesn't... No not what I was trying to..." I tried to not sound frustrated, but I hadn't thought about this in any great depth. Well, I had, but not how to explain it to someone.

"No, I get its new, but it's new for me also."

"Yeah, but until I get 'whole'," I used his word to make the point, "Every day, everything you can imagine you do with your own body, like your male body, resets my, no puts my very core... Not puts," I needed to slow down. "It tips my very core belief in who I am upside down. God, why is this so difficult? Look, bottom line, I was born in the wrong body. I got the wrong chromosome combo, but the right brain. I'm working on fixing that, but being uncomfortable and suffering - that's just the price I have to pay for now."

He took a couple seconds to consider his response, "OK, I am not going to say I totally get it, but I get some of it. I can accept that you get to be uncomfortable and I'll try to not make that worse. But you have to let me in, trust that I'm your friend and want nothing but the best for you."

I couldn't help but tear up and lowered my head.

"Whoa... Hey, that's not," I heard him sliding his chair back, then felt him hugging me, "That's not the reaction I was expecting. Relax, only a couple people looking at us right now," he was chuckling.

Not sure why, but I didn't care that people were staring. I tried to gain some composure by hugging him back. When I eased out of the hug he kissed my forehead and returned to his seat.

"This is new for me," I half croaked.

"I know, you said that," he replied smiling.

"Why? Why are you... Why would you want to be with," I couldn't finish without fear of breaking into a sob and just ended it there. I hoped he knew what I was asking.

"Do I need a reason to want to get to know you better Liz? Come on, I like the person I've gotten to know these past couple days. That's probably the biggest reason, I really don't," he stammered just a little, "You have a quiet confidence I find really, I mean, it's attractive to me," he was smiling. "There's certainly a physical attraction. I don't know who blessed you with those legs, but I have a hard time not wanting to... To admire them, but not like a perv or anything. Come on, I'm a guy for God sakes and you're cute, beautiful."

That was absolutely the nicest things anyone had ever said to me, but I wondered if he knew how debilitating the internal struggles I had could be. I told him I tried to end it all at my lowest point. That wasn't for effect or sympathy it was the truth. Every day was a battle and some days not so much one, but most days there was a chipping away at everything I was trying to build. Did he get that?

"I'm damaged Paul. I..."

He interrupted, "OK, let me help fix what I can, and what we can't we'll deal with. I want to be there Liz."

This wasn't exactly how I thought lunch was going to go. I wanted this, wanted the normalcy, and wanted him and his happy ending. I wanted the help, to love and feel loved. I was worried that I would end up pushing him away.

Did I deserve this? Did he?

::: --- :::