Across State Lines

by C. J. Johnson

  “Everything okay?” Frankie asked.

  Craven flipped the phone around.

  “HELP – they got me.”

  “Is that…”

  “Yeah. How did they know she talked to us?”

  “They have eyes everywhere,” Frankie answered.

  “Fitz, we should…”

  “Go to her house. Call and see if we can get up on her phone. Sorry, Frankie.”

  As the men turned to jog back to their SUVs Frankie said, “Be safe and let me know what happens!”

  Both men nodded and waved.

  “I appreciate the shorthand, but can you fill me in on what just happened?” Sam asked.

  “Sorry. The text was from a girl named Candi. Looks like Alexandre may have gotten to her too.”

  “I thought Alexandre was in here.”

  “He is, but his reach is farther than we realized.”

  Frankie went on to explain about his parties and his connections to all the other women.

  “Based on what you are telling me, there is a good chance Candi may already be dead.”

  “Yes.”

  Chapter 99

  “You shouldn’t have called me. If you keep your mouth shut, they cannot connect us to the business.”

  “That detective is sniffing around.”

  “Send her a different direction or play dumb. Either way, don’t say anything.”

  “Where are the new girls?”

  “Safe.”

  “What does that mean Alexandre? Have they figured out the deal yet?” Tessa asked.

  “They are in the safehouse. We are going through the routine with them,” Alexandre laughed. “They all think they are going to be models or dancers or movie stars. Stupid girls.”

  “How long before they are broken in and ready to go?”

  “Not long. This group has been pretty easy.”

  Tessa and Alexandre discussed the enterprise they had built and, in code, who was handling business while they were inside.

  “What are you going to do about the problems?” Tessa asked, referring to the women who had spoken to police.

  “It’s being handled. And if that detective doesn’t stop snooping around, she will be handled too.”

  Tessa began to laugh.

  Frankie and Sam told the guards they had heard enough. Frankie was surprised, although she wasn’t sure why, but Tessa and Alexandre had both called the same person who merged the calls together. The third party did not speak but Frankie suspected when they got the jail phone records they would learn that it was Luka Petrov.

  Chapter 100

  “I’ve already told you all that I know,” Tessa said. “I was locked up in here. How in the hell do you think I still know what’s going on out there?”

  Frankie resisted the urge to immediately ask where Candi was or who might have her. She had dealt with Tessa enough to know if she went too hard up-front Tessa would shut down, and she wouldn’t get all the information she needed.

  “Tessa, do you realize all of your jail calls are recorded? Do you realize the only ones we cannot legally listen to are the ones where you are speaking with your attorney?”

  Frankie let the information sink in.

  “Before we pulled you out of the cell, we listened to your and Alexandre’s phone calls. It seems the two of you had quite the enterprise going. We’ve put together most of the puzzle, but I’d recommend you fill in the missing pieces.”

  Tessa leaned back in her chair; her face had gone pale. She appeared to be sizing Frankie up as she considered her options. Stay silent and take the heat for everything or talk and likely end up dead. Midori’s reach was long, and once his trust was broken it was almost a guaranteed death sentence.

  “I want full immunity and to be put into the witness protection program.”

  Sam, who had been listening quietly, said, “I cannot offer full immunity or WITSEC without any basis. What I can offer is consideration for both.”

  “This goes much deeper than you can imagine. The people involved are not going to go down easily, and even if you get some of them, you won’t get them all. And their reach is far. Just talking to you will put my life in danger. Even inside here, I’ll be a sitting duck.”

  Tessa’s voice trembled as she talked. Frankie would feel sorry for her if she didn’t know all this woman had done.

  Sam said, “Tell us what you know, and we will see what we can do to help you.”

  Tessa looked at Frankie and asked, “Are you recording this?”

  Frankie nodded.

  “As you know, I work at The Shady Lady. I’ve been there for a long time.

  That place was a dump when I got there. I started recruiting good talent and built up a following. I earned the Boss’ trust pretty quickly. I met Alexandre there, and he and I worked together to build a solid team. I would find the girls and Alexandre would break them in. By the time the girls were going on dates or doing parties we owned them.”

  “What do you mean you owned them?” Frankie asked.

  Tessa didn’t initially respond. She seemed to be mulling over her response. When Sam opened her mouth to say something, Tessa let out a sigh.

  “Some of them have a little cocaine addiction while the illegals are dependent on our silence to stay in the country. A few are just afraid of what we will do to them if they try to leave.

  “Eventually, I convinced the Boss if he tattooed the girls, it would promote loyalty. We sold it to the girls by making it sound like an incentive. We told them getting a tattoo signifies that they are part of a special club. And they are. The girls we found all want to be part of a family; be part of something bigger than themselves. All the girls get the stem tattoo when they started working at the club. As they build up regulars and venture into private parties, they have the potential to earn the rosebud. The girls don’t realize we are marking them as our property. Most of them aren’t exactly smart. Most of them. They all know the boundaries too.”

  Frankie noted Tessa’s language. “Know” not “knew.” She did not think it was a mistake.

  “What are the boundaries?”

  “Stay away from the DiCapoli family, turn in all your earnings, only use what you are given, and don’t talk to the police. Kat was the first one to mess up. She skimmed a little off the top here and there and got a little extra blow on the side from time to time. Then I heard she was talking to Jeremy DiCapoli. I knew she’d be in trouble but was surprised she ended up in the trunk of that car.”

  “Why were you surprised?”

  “She was one of Alexandre’s favorites; he had a real soft spot for her. He and

  Luka thought of her as family. They were all from the same small village and bonded over that. When Midori found out she was skimming cash and getting extra blow Alexandre protected her. I really don’t think Alexandre knew about the hit, or he would have stopped Midori.”

  “Do you know what she and DiCapoli were doing? Were they dating, or was it more of a business arrangement?” Frankie asked.

  “It started off as business. He was offering her more money for less work, but I think eventually they started hooking up. Andi and Nicki started following Kat’s example. I warned Andi after Kat disappeared, but she didn’t want to hear it. She told me something bad had happened to Nicki at Alexandre’s. She told me she would do whatever she had to do to protect her. Andi was fierce when it came to that girl. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were sisters. Or lovers.”

  “Did she tell you what happened to Nicki?” Frankie asked.

  “She didn’t give a lot of details but said she found some cameras. I didn’t ask anymore. I knew about the cameras. It was all part of the business expansion.”

  “Business expansion?”

  Tessa smiled and said, “Detective, surely you don’t think private parties offer the diversity and longevity to make any real money?”

  Frankie did not answer but instead waited for Tessa to expound. Frankie was stunned at how callous
Tessa sounded as she discussed growing a business built on the buying and selling of human beings.

  “Video streaming and adult films is where the money is. It does not take a lot of money to make a film these days. The patrons of what we create are not interested in CGI or HD. It’s more about content.

  “Actually, it all started as an accident. As you know, Alexandre has cameras set up in various places throughout his house. I stumbled upon them, shall we say, accidentally. The footage I found was pretty hot and I told him we could make some real money if he edited them together. Alexandre was the one that came up with the idea of putting some of the clips online. He has some video editing software for his marketing business, so it was a no-cost experiment. He played around with it, took out the less desirable footage, and loaded a few samples onto the website he created.

  “When we started recruiting new talent, Alexandre suggested we put cameras in the rooms of the loft. At first, I thought it was odd, but we have a couple of guys that break the girls in, so it ended up being an added safety measure. Luka gets a little rough, so he needs to be watched. I think Alexandre watches the young girls’ rooms pretty carefully.”

  “What did Alexandre use to help facilitate the filming at his house?” Frankie asked.

  “What exactly do you mean, detective?”

  “Did he ever use drugs to facilitate the sexual encounters?”

  Tessa smirked as she said, “He may have used a little Liquid X on occasion.”

  Frankie had a million questions but kept it simple.

  “Do the girls know they are being taped or put online?”

  “The ones who are filmed in the studio do. Did you find the studio detective?”

  Chapter 101

  Frankie looked at Sam before asking Tessa, “Is the studio in the building where ARK is located?”

  “It is well-disguised, but yes.”

  “How is the building laid out?

  “The first floor is strictly business. The remaining floors are secured, and only a

  limited number of people are allowed onto them. Midori runs the third floor, and we keep the girls on the fourth.”

  “So the studio must be on the second.”

  “Very good detective,” Frankie noted an air of superiority in Tessa’s tone. “As I mentioned, we do some filming in the loft but that is mostly with the younger girls. Of course, the profits there are significant. On the second floor, we have a formal film studio with props, lights and the works. You’d be surprised at what people want to see…but I digress. There is also a large party room and we can often get some good footage from there.”

  “Tell me more about the filming that occurs in the loft.”

  Frankie wasn’t sure she really wanted to know, but the details would help with the search warrant.

  “As I said, we initially started filming in there to monitor Luka. Some of these girls needed to be broken in slowly, and well, Luka does not have a lot of patience. Alexandre is the one who said we could make a lot of money by adding those films to the site. He decided it would be profitable to put a separate subscription for the live feed in the room where the youngest stay. It is actually our most profitable subscription.”

  Frankie felt physically ill. Emma was only 10 years old and had already been through so much. God only knows what else they were going to find. She looked at her watch and wondered if she was still at Synergy. And if it was too late to talk to her again.

  “How old is the youngest girl you have brought to the loft?” asked Sam, who up until that moment had been listening in silence.

  “I think Emma might have been the youngest. What is she, 9 or 10? We carefully vetted the girls before we brought them here. Trust me when I tell you we were actually saving them from worse situations.”

  “Previously, you said you didn’t really know them. Are you now telling us that you do?” Sam asked.

  Tessa smirked and said, “We did a little background on them before we brought them here. We met most of the girls at the mall or a similar location. Rarely did we take the girls the same night. We would arrange for them to meet us the following day and then follow them to see where they went. There were a few girls we did not accept after we saw where they came from.”

  “What do you mean?” Frankie asked.

  “Well, there were a couple of girls in Illinois who lived in nicer neighborhoods, and one who’s parent was a cop. Those were girls people would look for. They would be missed. Those weren’t the girls we wanted. We tried to rescue girls from homes full of poverty and abuse.”

  Frankie thought to herself, “Oh yeah, you rescued them, alright.”

  Chapter 102

  Frankie laid the photograph of the letter in front of Tessa.

  Tessa leaned forward in her chair and rested her hands on the table. She scanned the document then leaned back in the chair.

  “What is this detective?”

  “Why don’t you tell us?”

  Tessa did not immediately answer. When she did speak, she asked, “Who received this note?”

  Frankie laid a photograph of Keeley in front of Tessa and asked, “Do you know this woman?”

  “That’s Alexandre’s teacher-girlfriend. Keeley-something. Did she find the note?”

  “Who would be doing Alexandre’s footwork on the outside? Luka?”

  Tessa laughed, “Luka is too much of a coward to do anything to a woman. Detective, he might be a little rough with the young girls during their break-in period, but he would back down the second an adult woman raised her voice.”

  “Then who?”

  “I’d probably look at Craig Midori. If you recall, he rather enjoys intimidating women.”

  Frankie grabbed her phone and texted Craven.

  “Craig Midori.”

  Frankie looked back to Tessa and asked, “Where would they keep someone they snatched?”

  Tessa began picking at the strings on her jail-issued pants.

  “Who do you think was snatched Detective?”

  Irritation, exhaustion, and frustration were setting in and Frankie’s patience was wearing thin. Tessa was playing with them and she had enough.

  “We believe Candi may be in harm’s way.”

  Tessa seemed to be giving her response serious thought.

  “Tessa…”

  “How much of the loft did you actually search Detective?”

  Suddenly it made sense. Katarina and the two men were found in the trunk of a car in the west bottoms. The car was the dumpsite, but they had not located where they were murdered. The loft was close and offered privacy. Frankie realized they needed to get a warrant for the entire building unless they could articulate exigent circumstances.

  “Is that where he would take Candi?”

  “Honestly, I’m surprised it has taken them this long to snatch her. She always seemed like a weak link to me.”

  Frankie gathered some additional information from Tessa. As she was preparing to leave, Frankie asked, “How many other girls are we going to find there?”

  Tessa looked at Sam, then back at Frankie, “Dead or alive?”

  Chapter 103

  Once Frankie got outside the jail, she took long, deep breaths. She had already sent Craven a text telling him to meet her and Sam in the parking lot adjacent to the loft.

  “You sure you want to ride along? It’s likely to be an all-nighter.”

  “Are you kidding? I want to be there when you find these girls,” Sam said.

  Frankie grabbed her cell phone and called Sergeant Baker, followed by dispatch. They needed a supervisor on the scene and a couple of cars to help them clear the building.

  “Send canine, too if they’re working.”

  The walk back to police headquarters was quick. Frankie and Sam went to the squad room, grabbed vests, radios, and Frankie’s go-bag.

  “I’m glad Mia’s vest was at her desk. Put it on,” instructed Frankie as she thrust it towards Sam.

  Frankie demonstrated by putting
her own vest over her t-shirt. She threw the radio in the bag after explaining to Sam how to use it in the case of an emergency.

  “And you are sure we shouldn’t be typing up a warrant?” Frankie asked.

  “We have exigent circumstances to go into the space to locate the missing woman and possible children based on Tessa’s statement and the text Craven received from Candi. You can search anywhere a person is capable of hiding, and if you find any contraband, it is able to be seized. However, you cannot search anywhere a person cannot be hidden. For that, we will need to get a warrant,” Sam explained.

  “How many girls do you think we will find?”

  “She was pretty cagey on that question, wasn’t she?”

  “Jared said he’d continue monitoring the calls and text me if he hears anything that will help.” Frankie threw her bag in the backseat of the car, looked at Sam, and said, “Let’s go get these girls!”

  En route to the meeting spot, Frankie called Mia and updated her on the case.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to come in? I can be there in 30,” Mia said.

  “No, you enjoy your night off. I’ll text you with updates when I can.”

  “You two are pretty close,” Sam observed.

  “Yeah. Mia is one of the first detectives I trained. We have been through hell together. She’s more than a friend or partner. She’s family.”

  Sam nodded but didn’t say anything more. She seemed intent on listening to the traffic on the radio, occasionally asking Frankie questions during the brief ride.

  “My father was a cop until he died. My brother is on the job now.”

  “Really?” Frankie asked. “Where at?”

  “A small town in Pennsylvania.”

  “Was it hard to leave and move here?”

  “Yes and no,” Sam said. “I still talk to my mom twice a day, and I videochat with my nieces and nephews every weekend. It’s not ideal but the opportunity was too good to pass up.”

  Just as Frankie began to say something her phone rang.

  “Where ya at Frankie?” Craven asked.