A New Profession

We sat down at the little greasy spoon he favored, and after we ordered he told me to spill whatever was bothering me or he was going to send me home. I really needed to talk to somebody, so I told him about the money and her general attitude.

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"I'm going to the motel tomorrow night and see what's happening."

"And if you see something you don't like?"

"Then I figure I'll go to somebody's ass."

Bobby sighed. "Remember Jefferson George?"

Of course I did. He was THE rich kid in school; his father had more money than half the town combined. I'd caught him with a fourteen-year-old he'd given some liquor to and he was trying to get her in his car. She was pretty drunk, but she was fighting him as best she could. He finally got tired of it and slapped the hell out of her. "Get in the car, bitch, and shut the fuck up."

He didn't know anyone else was around so I tapped him on the shoulder. He looked around, told me to fuck off and started to get in his car. The girl was my cousin. I beat the hell out of him. Broke teeth, two black eyes, and a sprained left arm. I was fixin' to stomp him in the balls when they pulled me off him.

His dad pretty much owned the police department, and someone had called 911. I've often thought I was luckier than I was smart and this was never truer, because a state trooper had a car pulled over within sight and had just finished the ticket when the call came in. He took one look at the girl and Jefferson and called for an ambulance. Then he got statements from all the witnesses and they were afraid to lie to him because he wasn't local.

The local cops showed up and wanted to take over but the Trooper stopped them. "Sorry boys. I've already started the paperwork, so it's mine. I'll drop him off at the station for questioning when I finish up so you can do your own investigation."

They didn't like it much, but they had no choice. He asked around, found out who my friends were, and told Bobby to find a phone and call my folks. "Tell them to get down to the station as quick as possible. They might want to call a lawyer."

He took his time, but finally had to put me in his car. There was no love lost between the State and the locals. I found out later they were investigating the Police Department for corruption and abuse of power. He talked to me as he drove. "Listen kid, there are things going on here you don't know about. I'm going to drop you at the station. Do not say anything to anybody! We clear here? Good. Your parents will hopefully be there before we are, but just in case, refuse to be interviewed until they get there."

We got there before my parents, so the Trooper took his own sweet time releasing me to the locals. He pulled an instamatic camera out and took some pictures. The cop waiting to book me asked him why. "Because there are no bruises or contusions on the boy. If any show up later I'll be forced to investigate. You undertand what I'm saying?"

The cop didn't like it, but there was nothing he could say. My parents and Uncle Pete came through the door. The Trooper asked for ID and released me to them. "I'm not filing charges pending the investigation. My advice is keep the kid close to home for a few days."

We were about to go out the door when two cops stopped us. "Not so fast. We're taking him into custody. You can bail him out Monday."

"What's he charged with? The state has started an investigation and released him to his parents. I believe State supersedes City, if I remember my law right. Since I'm a lawyer I'm pretty confident that that's the case."

They changed tactic. "He's not under arrest. We just want to question him."

"For two days? Not gonna happen. I'll have him down for an interview Monday morning. I will be present when you question him. All questions will go through me. Clear?"

"I have orders to..."

"Then get me the man who issued the orders. If you can't in a reasonable time, we're going home."

There was a lot of whispers and phone calls, but an hour later we were home. Dad wrote a check and handed it to his brother-in-law. "Here. A retainer."

He laughed and tore it up. "Write me one for five bucks. I'm tired of losing cases because of crooked cops. Maybe this case will change things."

When the smoke cleared, no one was charged. Mr. Moneybags gave up when he read the report of the alcohol level in his son, the girl, and what the witnesses said. Jefferson wasn't really well liked, and a lot of witnesses said he threw the first punch. He got his revenge. They had to expel both of us, and he sent his son to a boarding school to finish his senior year. I didn't get to walk across the stage and had to go to summer school to get my diploma.

Bobby brought me back to the present and I nodded. "Then you remember what it cost you to fuck him up. I know you. There isn't a lot of planning where you're concerned. You just charge in, damn the torpedoes. You need to stop and think when you find out what's going on. Don't do anything stupid. Remember Chad? You have to make sure nothing happens to him."

He was right, damn it! "You're right, but I have to do something."

"WE are going to go to this motel tomorrow and check it out. If we see anything hinky, we will think it through before we react. Tell me you understand."

It seemed the best plan possible so I agreed.

*****

Friday night at eleven found us parked in an empty lot across from the motel. It was the first time I'd seen it. It wasn't a dump, but it wasn't top tier, either. I was surprised at how full the lot was. We had binoculars, and I could see Honey behind the counter, but there was no sign of Gail.

At eleven-thirty, a woman who looked a lot like Gail walked out of the motel and across the parking lot to a strip club. I was halfway out of the car when Bobby pulled me back in. "You sit still. She hasn't seen me more than a few times, so I'm gonna put this ball-cap on and go see what's going on. Do not get out of the car."

Ninety minutes later he was back, looking a little pale and damned uncomfortable. He just sat there for a minute before he spoke. "She's stripping, Mack. Her stage name is Desire, and she's pretty good at it. I saw her do a routine, then she circulated and took three guys into the back for lap dances. The bouncer told me that's all they'd allow inside, but the women had an agreement with the motel and as long as they took their trade off company property, they didn't say anything. I asked for Desire and he laughed. "She's booked full tonight and doesn't work weekends. I think she has a kid she sees then. She works Tuesday and Thursdays next week, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the next. She and a girl named Honey rotate. I think she works at the motel the nights she doesn't work here. Want me to set you up?"

I gave him a fifty. "I would like a Wednesday, but I don't know if I can make it. If I'm not here by midnight I won't be coming."

"She's pretty expensive, man. A quarter for an interview, half a buck for full service, and a dollar for any 'extra' services you may want. I think he talked like that because he thought I might be a cop. I gave him another fifty. "Here. if I'm not here on time it's free money for her."

While we were talking, Gail came out of the club with a man on her arm and went straight to the motel, waving at Honey when she went by. By three, she'd made two more trips. I was numb when Bobby put his truck in drive. "We've seen enough. You need to calm down and think about what you want to do. Let's go fishin'.

"What?"

"We're supposed to be fishin', remember. Besides, what better place to make plans than at a deserted lake in the middle of the night."

So we fished. Even caught a few. Mostly, though, we talked.

"What you gonna do?"

"Divorce her. I don't see any other way out. I need to keep Chad. I DO NOT want him exposed to what she's doing."

"All right, we need to gather evidence and catch her in the act, so to speak. Any ideas? I need to tell you I think the local cops are in on it. We saw then cruise through the parking lot three times, remember? They have to know what's going on."

That's when I thought about the Trooper. He was instrumental in taking down the local cops and it got him a promotion to the S.B.I. He mostly worked corruption cases now. I'd see him in the papers every now and then. "I think I know someone who might help."

I managed to make it through the weekend. Even had sex with her once, acting like I was in pain the whole time. She settled on snuggling and paid a little more attention to Chad than usual. He ate it up. He'd really been missing his mother lately. That made what I was going to do even harder.

I called first thing Monday, explaining who I was and telling them I had information I thought he needed to have. They put me through after about twenty minutes. He remembered me and we talked about the past for a few minutes before he asked what he could do for me. I told him the whole story, including the fact that one of the stripper/hookers was my wife, and that we thought the local cops were involved.

He listened and I could tell he was making notes. "Can you meet me and my partner there tonight?"

I had to drop Chad off with my folks, telling them it was an emergency. We met at a waffle house and talked. He introduced his partner, an attractive redhead, and suggested we ride together in their undercover car. I figured it would be a boxy four door that screamed 'Undercover Cop', but it was really nice three-year-old T-bird. They grinned when they saw my face. "We confiscated it in a drug bust a couple of years back. That's how we get most of our undercover cars. We switch every month. We get the Firebird next!"

Lt. Brown, the man I knew, laughed. "Yeah, and when we do, I'm driving. Detective Walters has a lead foot."

They shared good natured banter while we got into position. I identified Gail and Honey. They watched Honey go into the club. First Brown got out. "I'm going in, see how much I can learn. Then Tabby will be up." We talked as we waited.

"Won't it be awkward going into a place like that?"

She laughed. "I stripped for three years while I worked my way through college. That's all I did, though. I never even gave lap dances. I saw too many relationships dissolve while I worked to ever be tempted. I'll go in, try to get an interview with the manager, tell him I'll be moving to the area in a few weeks and I'm trying to line up a job. I got a few shots of me left over from my stripping days to satisfy any questions he might have."

She'd just finished telling me about her lawyer husband and her two daughters. She smiled when she saw my face. "My husband knows. We met at the club. He worked his way through law school as a bartender and bouncer. He knows I never went with any guys and I know he never touched any of the working girls, even though they saw him as a challenge and tried pretty hard. I finally had to claim him to get them to back off. We decided to go on a few dates to prove it and never looked back. Seven years now, and we're still as happy as the day we married."

She looked at me sadly. "Don't judge your wife just yet. She may have been forced into this. I've seen it happen. If that's the case I urge you to get counseling and try to save your marriage. If she's doing it of her own free will, well, how it ends is up to you."

Brown came back and he wasn't smiling. "I got the same information your buddy got. There's about half a dozen girls in on it. This is shaping up to be a pretty big prostitution ring. There's a picture of your wife up along with all the other strippers on the wall. If there's a red X with a circle around it at the bottom, it means she's available for extra services. Tabby, you're up."

She was gone for about thirty minutes. She did not look happy when she got back in the car. "The place is just above a brothel. I got to see the manager, showed him my old photos and told him I was relocating and would be available in five weeks. The sleazebag admitted that a lot of his girls hooked, but he turned a blind eye to it. He also tried to get me to give him head as a gesture of good faith. I just grinned and told him we'd take that up as soon as I got a job. I need a shower pretty bad right now."

They took me back to the diner. "This is where your involvement ends. I'm really sorry, man. It pretty plain you loved her."

"So what's gonna happen now?"

"We'll get a small team on this. It'll take about a month or so before we move. Watch for it in the paper. The strip-club, the local cops in on it, and the motel will all go down. We'll shut the strip club down for solicitation, the motel for operating a brothel, and the cops will lose their jobs and face criminal charges. I need to tell you, all the women involved will be charged with multiple counts of prostitution and it will be a matter of public record. The only silver lining is you've got a good reputation and a steady job, and judges don't like to award custody of children to prostitutes if there's a viable alternative. You are going for divorce, right?"

"I have to. I couldn't forgive her and I can't expose a six-year-old to that lifestyle."

Tabby reached out and touched my hand. "We usually try not to get involved with divorce cases to keep our face out of the news, but if you need us, we're sure your lawyer can arrange an in chambers deposition."

It hit me. "Shit! There's no way I can act normal for that amount of time. I'm just not that good at it. What can I do?"

Brown grinned at me. "This is going to be a pretty big case. We won't want it coming apart too early. You said you worked construction? Let me see what we can do. Try to hang on for a few days and we'll get back to you."

True to his word, two days later we were offered a short-term contract to help build a new jail halfway across the state. Aside from what was going on, they were offering damn good money and it would have been hard to pass up even under normal circumstances.

Bobby knew what was going on. He knew why we got the contract but he didn't care.

I told Gail that night. "Good news! You know how we're trying to figure out how to make more money? Bobby got an offer of work from an old friend. His project is running behind and he's facing penalties if he doesn't finish in time. We'll be making half again what we're making now. It'll be seven days a week for about a month, but with the overtime, it would be about what I'd make in four. I have to do this, honey. It may lead to more opportunities down the road."

Surprisingly, she was not happy and tried to talk me out of it. I threw up every argument she'd ever given me about improving our lot and it seemed to stall her justifications for me staying home.

"It's only for a month, honey. I'd hate to go that long without loving on you, but think of the reunion sex when I get home. A whole month without! We'll be sore as hell the first few days."

Gail went quiet, knowing she wouldn't be going without. I made arrangements with her parents and mine to help her out, gave her and Chad a big kiss, and left.

I wasn't lying about the overtime. They were so far behind they were happy to let us work seven days a week. It was a new minimum-security prison and the cells were built to look more like dormitories. The only difference was there was no kitchen and the cells were eight-by-eight and each had a sink and toilet. It was a plumbing nightmare. Our responsibility was siding and roofing. They were the biggest buildings I'd ever sided, and we managed to get two sided and roofed a week. There was only six left to do when we got there, so by the last week we were looking for something to do. Bobby ran a sheetrock crew while I helped the plumbers. It was irritating crawling around under those buildings, but the plumbing contractor paid me extra for running a crew. Four-and-half weeks later, all that needed to be done was to run the fence around the property. It didn't look like a prison without the fence, and the general contractor told me that it was deliberate to make the inmates less likely to try to escape. I asked him if it worked.

"Reports indicate that escape attempts in places built like this are down 44%. There are still enough dumbasses that they have to put up the fence and have guards, but the state is happy with the results."

I called home from a pay phone twice a week and we usually talked for about thirty minutes. Chad would update me on everything that happened to him since we'd talked last, and asked when I was coming home. Gail talked about general things and asked when I was coming home. I told her the next week was my last and I'd be home the following Tuesday. Every once in a while, I'd ask a question about her job and she'd brush it off. The last time we talked she surprised me. "I'm thinking about quitting, honey. I'm tired of not sleeping beside you every night. Plus, I can feel us drifting apart. I don't want that honey. I still love you."

Well that was new. I called Brown. "I glad you called. I was just about to call you. Watch the news Friday night. It'll happen then."

I stayed silent for a minute and he keyed on it. "Having second thoughts?"

"Yeah. I loved her for a long time, you know? This is going to be hard on our child."

"It is. But if want to guarantee custody, this is the only way to do it. We don't charge her, she doesn't have a record, if she finds a sympathetic judge, you're a part-time father. You really don't want her to have custody. I'll brief you on it later, but things have changed."

Friday night I called, just to hear her voice one last time. "I've been thinking. Maybe you ought to stay home tonight. I'll come home, we can grab Chad, and be at the beach in three hours. Think how happy he'd be. Think how happy we'd be."

Ther was a moment of silence before she spoke. "It's too late to get someone to cover and I don't want Honey to be there by herself. I'll come home Saturday and take a nap while you get everything ready. We can leave by one, be checked in and on the beach by five. Let's try to spend a week, honey. It'll do us good."

I sighed. I'd tried. "All right. See you tomorrow."

"I'm looking forward to it. We have a lot of loving to catch up on. Gotta go. I love you."

"I loved you, too."

I wondered if she'd caught what I said.

*****

Bobby and I watched the evening news at eleven that night. We were in another market, but it came up in the statewide section.

"The S.B.I. Prostitution Task Force carried out a major raid tonight at the Dreamland Motel in Charlotte, N.C., breaking up a major prostitution ring. Fourteen people were arrested, including the owner of the motel and the two night-managers. The owner for providing a place for the prostitution to take place, the managers, it seemed, were part of the prostitution ring. The manager of the Fantastic Ladies Erotic Entertainment Lounge, located beside the motel, was also arrested in the sting, though his charges have not been made public. There is also an unsubstantiated rumor he was involved in human trafficking."

While the reporter was talking, you could see people being led out of the motel towards a police van. Honey was the first, wearing what looked like just a tee shirt. Gail was right behind her, dressed in an extremely short skirt and a top that left most of her breasts exposed. I think Brown might have had something to do with it, because the camera zoomed in on Gail, showing a closeup of her face. She was crying. It was evident neither had on panties when they were loaded into the van.

Bobby looked at me. "Sorry, dude. I know how much you loved her. You know you had to do it this way, for Chad."

"You know, when everybody tells you that you did the right thing and you know you did the right thing, why does it feel like shit to do it?"