Needs, Wants and Other Weaknesses (The New Pioneers Book 6)

by Nam-Krane,Deborah

  Hannah saw the fear in Mariela's eyes. "Hannah, I haven't always worked at this stand," she whispered.

  "Did you ever go to school?"

  Mariela nodded, looking around. "I went in kindergarten, and stayed until the third grade. Then it was decided I didn't have to go anymore because I could read and write and add." She stood up straighter. "I can do a little more than that, but I don't tell them."

  "Your parents took you out of school?"

  "No," Mariela said, shaking her head. "My mother wanted me to stay. But she didn't have a choice."

  "Your father forced her?"

  "I don't...I don't know my father," Mariela said softly. "Mama does, I think, but she won't tell me. She told me it doesn't matter, and sometimes when I see the way men can be, I think she's right."

  "Josh isn't like that," Hannah said. "He's a good man."

  Mariela nodded, closing her eyes. "He is a good man, and you're a good girl. That's why... Please, never do anything like that again."

  ~~~

  Hannah found out later that Mariela told Josh things she'd never told anyone before. How her mother Maria had been fifteen when she'd gotten pregnant and the man who effectively owned her had tried to force her to have an abortion. The woman she worked for as a maid had stopped him, threatening to call the police if he touched her. She had let Maria stay with her until Mariela was two, but then the man had demanded that Maria come back to him. Mariela never knew where "back" was, but she knew that her mother was terrified of it. The woman had offered to keep Mariela, but that was the one thing Maria would not agree to, so the woman made sure the man knew that she was there.

  Maria hadn't seen her family since she was seven. She had liked school too, but she had needed to work. She'd forgotten by now how long she'd been in Massachusetts, but it was from before Mariela was born.

  Maria had worked in offices at night and restaurants during the day. Hannah thought cleaning offices would be better, but it was almost impossible to get everything done by the time she needed to leave, and it wasn’t safe being all alone, even in the nicest offices of Downtown Boston.

  Maria almost never saw any of her own money. People paid the man for her work, and in exchange, he paid for a room for her and Mariela in a house with ten other people and made sure there was food for them, most of the time. If one of them hadn't worked up to his specifications or lost a job he had gotten for them, he might forget for a few days to make sure the house was stocked with food. Even if they had had money, they wouldn't have had a car to get anything, so all of them learned to work as they were told.

  Mariela had loved her kindergarten teacher, who had thought she was a bright girl and treated her that way. She used to slip her books at the end of the day and if Mariela didn't have a lunch, she would make sure she ate. People were kind to her in school, but Mariela wished she could invite someone over to her house.

  When she was in the third grade, a little girl invited her over for a playdate. Mariela thought the girl lived in a fairytale castle and couldn't believe the toys and dolls she had to play with. Mariela raved about that day for weeks, and finally, the man asked her about it. Later, her mother told her that this was going to be her last year in school, but hopefully she could go back some day. Mariela cried, thinking not only of school but of the friend she'd made.

  Mariela started working with her mother in the restaurant kitchen, peeling garlic and washing vegetables. Her mother never got to stop to eat lunch with her, and the only time they had together was when they were in the car with the others on the way to her mother's job at the office. She would sit in one of the offices and read a book while her mother cleaned, and when she was older, she would help her mother so they could be done more quickly.

  She and her mother slept in the same bed, and every night her mother would whisper, "things will be different when you're grown up," before she drifted off to sleep. Mariela would squeeze her mother's hand even though she couldn't feel it, wishing that things could be different for them now.

  Maria slipped at the restaurant one afternoon when Mariela was ten and couldn't get up. Mariela was going to go to the hospital with her, but Maria told her she couldn't. "They'll take you away," she whispered when the ambulance came. "Go home with Elsa." Maria reached out to one of their housemates who worked in the same kitchen, and she held onto Mariela as her mother was led away.

  That night, the man came and took Mariela to a new house. "They can watch you," he said curtly as he dropped her off.

  "But my mom—"

  "When she's better, she'll come and get you," he said before he turned and left.

  Mariela did not like it in the new house. There were other children, but they weren't related. She said hello to a few, but they wouldn't make eye contact with her. Some of them would leave in the afternoon and not come back until late at night. She would watch them get ready for bed and they would stare off into space, as if they were somewhere else. Sometimes she would hear them cry, but mostly they were silent.

  Mariela didn't know where she was. She left the house one morning to take a walk. The house looked well-maintained from the outside, and they were near a main road. There weren't a lot of cars, so she thought it would be safe to walk around.

  The other houses were nicer; the doors and windows were open, and people were coming in and out of their homes. Some people had gardens filled with flowers. Mariela thought they were the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. She wanted to take a flower, but she worried that she'd get in trouble. Someday I'll have one of my own, she thought.

  She turned around to walk back. She was one house away when she saw two of the other children come out of the house. A boy and a girl. The boy was her age, and the girl was a little bit older. They were both dressed much older though; they were wearing tight clothes, and the girl's top was unbuttoned down to her navel.

  There were two men by the car waiting for them. They walked around the two children as if inspecting them. One nodded to the other, and then they pushed the children into the car. But between their costumes and the manner in which they looked away, it was as if they weren't really there. Where had they gone? Mariela wondered as she saw them drive away. She was terrified.

  She snuck back into the house and found a closet to hide in. She stayed in there for hours until she heard people looking for her. She was terrified of what they would do if they found her hiding, because she knew it wasn't allowed. She opened the door and rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry, I was looking for something to read, and I fell asleep."

  One of the women grabbed her roughly and sent her to the bathroom to clean it. Mariela was grateful when they closed the door so she could weep in peace.

  Her mother came to get her four days later. She and Mariela walked for miles until they got to a bus stop and changed buses three times. She told her mother what she had seen as they traveled. Her mother swallowed, and there were tears in her eyes.

  "But no one hurt you?" she whispered.

  Mariela shook her head somberly. "No, Mom. I stayed away."

  Maria kissed her daughter's forehead. "I'll never get hurt again," she said. "I will never leave you alone like that again."

  "It wasn't your fault," Mariela said as she rested her head on her mother's arm.

  "But they will punish us again if I do."

  "Why do we have to go back?" Mariela asked. "Let's find a new house."

  Maria intertwined her fingers into her daughter's. "Everything costs money, and I don't have any. I owe these people whatever I'll make for a long time. We have to stay for a while more."

  The last thing Mariela thought before she fell asleep was that she was going to help make money so they could leave.

  She told her mother the next morning that she wanted to earn her own money. Maria grabbed her by the shoulders, more roughly than she'd ever touched her. "No!" she said ferociously. "Your job is to learn, not make money."

  "But I don't go to school anymore."

  "You read then!
You practice your math problems. You do anything so you can to make sure this won't be your life when you're grown up."

  "I don't want this to be our life now! If we have more money, we can leave this." Maria looked away. "Don't you want something else?"

  Maria stroked her daughter's face. "I want so much, Mariela, for the both of us. But there's no way out for me, not anymore. I'm dreaming for you now."

  Chapter Ten

  Robert had been leaning against the wall of Hannah's apartment while she told her story. She stopped abruptly. "That's enough," she said.

  "What happened then?"

  Hannah stared at him. "They all lived happily ever after. Morris Winston moved into the YMCA, found religion, and confessed his sins to an ex-priest who lived in the room next door. And he never hurt another child again before he died.

  "Mariela's mother moved away and found a nice job where she only had to work thirty hours a week and still got health benefits. They moved to a lovely place in California and send me postcards all the time." Hannah wiped her eyes. "And Josh and Mariela got married, had a bunch of kids, and moved to be with Maria." Her lip quivered. "What's the matter, Robert? Isn't that what you want to hear?"

  "I want the truth."

  "No," she whispered. "No one wants the truth. No one wants to watch that video or think about all of the girls in Morris' apartment. No one wants to think about those kids who lived in the house with Mariela. No one wants to look at the people who clean your houses or offices or train stations and think that maybe they have a life too."

  "Was Mariela's mother an undocumented immigrant?"

  Hannah looked at Robert like she wanted to be sick. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Because then you could find her and ship her off and it's out of your hair and off your conscience. But no, sorry, she wasn't. She was born in Arizona, and from the best I could figure, her family sold her when she was seven. The best I could figure is that she was a maid who had to moonlight as a prostitute and someone took pity on her when she got pregnant with Mariela. When she was fifteen. But sorry, Detective, you can't chase her down to check."

  "What happened to Mariela's mother?"

  "Her name was Maria."

  "Was?"

  "I already told you. She's...dead."

  "When did she die?"

  "Nine years ago."

  "After you bought this house."

  Hannah clapped her hands loudly. "Bravo, Detective. You followed all the bread crumbs and now you know everything."

  "How did you know she died?"

  Hannah turned around and buried her face in her hands, sobbing. "It was in the papers," she choked out. "They dumped her body here in Boston. That was my first...clue...that they got around. But it was just her. Mariela wasn't with her. And I checked reports for a year up and down the east coast. They didn't find anyone like her, not even the bodies they defaced."

  Robert gently pulled her to him while she cried. She resisted for a moment, then collapsed into him. "I should have gotten them out. Then Maria would be alive, and Mariela and Josh would be together."

  "You were just a kid," he said softly. "There is nothing you could have done."

  She shook her head frantically. "No, there was! And I did a lot. But then we needed help and no one believed me."

  "You went to the police?"

  She nodded and wiped her face. "After Mariela was taken. I told them where she lived and where she worked, but they only made one phone call. To the person who rented the kiosk at the mall." Hannah's face steadied for a moment. "That was something."

  "You found out who owned her stall," Robert said. "And then you followed them."

  "They didn't know. That's not what made them terrible. It was that they didn't care."

  Robert sat down as nonchalantly as he could, worried that any sudden movements might upset her. "So what did you do to them?"

  Hannah shrugged. "A few slashed tires and some inventory that didn't make it over to them. I think the statute is up on that, but feel free to take me in for questioning…if anyone filed a complaint."

  "You wanted their attention," he said calmly.

  "I wanted...information."

  "Where they got Mariela from."

  "Yes." Hannah ran her hands over her table, then touched her mouth. "Sometimes they're in houses, sometimes they're in warehouses. Like furniture, just waiting to be picked up by someone and put in a home." She smiled shyly. "But I let them out after Mariela. No one ever waited again if I knew."

  "Then where did they go?"

  Hannah's smile faded. "Well, that was a problem, wasn't it? The first time...people didn't do so well. Some of them were out on the streets, some of them were picked up and put in jail even if they hadn't done anything wrong. So now I... There are places I make sure people can go."

  "You're not working alone?"

  "I always work alone," Hannah said firmly. "But it's good to have people you know you can call."

  "As long as it's not the police," Robert said pointedly.

  Hannah pulled out a chair and sat down. "What would you do?" she asked sincerely. "You would need a warrant before you could go into anyone's private property even if you saw a revolving group of people going in and out of the same house for three years. And you would put those people into a jail or a prison or a holding facility or whatever the kids are calling it now."

  "Your way is better? Because our way we can put traffickers down and make sure they don't hurt anyone else again."

  "Unless you want to trade up," she hissed. "Or unless up the food chain are people like Hope and White."

  "Do you have proof of that?" Robert asked, just barely maintaining his facade of detachment.

  "Do you think that guy represented me because I agreed to pay his retainer?"

  "Of course not. But I don't think you need him; I think you've got a guy on call who you either did a big favor for or you're blackmailing."

  "Think what you want."

  "Why did that guy represent you then?" Robert asked.

  "Because he was told to."

  "One of the partners...told him to?"

  "That's my assumption."

  "And, uh, what did you say to one of the partners to get that little favor?"

  Hannah shook her head. "Sorry, Detective. All questions will be answered, but not tonight."

  "Then how about I guess and you tell me when I'm wrong."

  "I don't like games, Robert."

  "No, you don't, do you?" Robert said. This wasn't a game. This was a ruse. Well, he could do that too. "But amuse me, if you don't mind?"

  "Sure," she said acidly. "Let's play."

  Robert winked. "My move. Alberto Ramon was represented by Hope and White, as were half of the other pimps he turned in. Pro bono might explain one or two clients like that, but not seven or eight. And all of them combined couldn't have paid for four hours with one of their law school interns. Conclusion: someone else was paying their bill."

  Hannah waited a moment. "What, it's my turn? Why is that even on the table? Shouldn't that have been obvious to the idiots in the AG's office?"

  Robert frowned. "So then we have two questions: why did you care so much about Alberto Ramon in the first place, and who was paying his bill? If every cop in the country is as stupid as you think we are, we're going to think that you stumbled onto Ramon while reading the news one day and were so outraged by how badly everyone had botched this up that you decided to pull out your red cape and take him out yourself."

  "I think I look better in blue."

  "But let's pretend that you really are smarter than the rest of us. Ramon might have been as much of an afterthought to you as he was to us, but the person he folds up into would have been on your radar screen for a while. All you needed was a lucky break, and boom, there was Maria Gomez."

  "A lucky break?" Hannah repeated, sickened. "Screw you, Robert. You know how I found out about her at all? Because she caught an STD from one of the scumbags Alberto made her do. When she told h
im she didn't want to do it anymore—for the millionth time—he beat her so badly her family had to call the ER, no matter how scared they were of him. Her mother was crying when she was brought in and finally—finally!—someone did their job and called it in. Yeah, right, there's your lucky break."

  Robert felt himself turning red. "It exposed Hope and White," he said a moment later. "And you saw a way to get to them."

  "Whatever."

  "So the question is, who's the real client you're after?"

  Hannah leaned her elbows on the table and smiled. "Why don't you get their client list and figure it out?"

  Robert smiled back. "Believe me, I thought about it, but you know very well there's no way to do that without breaking into their accounting files, because no way in hell would a judge in this state order that to be released just so you and I could go fishing." Hannah sat up a little straighter. "And besides, you already know who you're looking for. Someone who likes to...trade in human flesh? In all its different permutations?"

  "You might be right," Hannah said diffidently.

  "I think you went to all the trouble of befriending Maria Gomez and blackmailing Alberto Ramon so you could get two things: the name of Ramon's boss, or his boss's boss, and that person's attention." Robert bit his top lip briefly. "But why would you do that in such a way that over a dozen people would be willing to name names to save themselves?" His eyes widened and he stood up. She stood up too and didn't move as he started circling her. "You don't care if people find out who it is."

  "Justice at last," Hannah murmured, following Robert with her eyes until he came to a stop three inches away from her.

  "No," he said slowly, looking her up and down. "This is an embarrassment; an inconvenience. I bet you could have done that years ago with a doctored photograph if that's all you wanted to do. You're doing something else." She looked up but didn't say a word. "And this is all a distraction."

  "Am I supposed to tell you that you won?" Hannah whispered, stepping an inch closer.

  Robert swallowed. "Only if it's true."

  "And what's your prize supposed to be?" she said, smiling.