That made Freda feel much better. Shep always had a plan. The sooner Brianna was gone, the better for all of them.
“Okay,” Freda said. “Where do you want me to take her? Should I just drop her off in a parking lot somewhere.”
“Nope. She’s going to the Wyndgate.”
That surprised her. The Wyndgate was The Shepherd’s busiest motel. They should drop her off someplace with no connection to them.
“The Wyndgate?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“You’re having her uncle pick her up there? That’s nuts.”
Shep did not speak, which was a sign that he was angry. She had not meant to disrespect him and she knew Shep had interpreted her comment that way. But what he was suggesting was nuts.
“Do you believe in me, Freda?”
“Yes, of course.”
“How much money would you say I’ve made you?”
“Lots,” she said.
“I’d say at least eighty grand so far this year.”
“Yes.”
“You never made money like that before you met me.”
“No,” she said softly.
“So trust me to know what I’m doing.”
There was another break in the conversation, this one, much longer. Freda knew better than to open her mouth.
“Have Brianna dressed for a date and ready at five.”
Freda lifted the bottle to her lips and took a long gulp. “Okay.”
Shep chuckled. “Brianna’s going to have a little fun before heading back home.”
Freda didn’t understand why Shep didn’t stop playing around and just give the girl back. But she wasn’t about to say that.
“Large will pick her up,” he said. “I’ve already spoken to him. After she’s done with her date, he’s taking her to meet her uncle.”
“Are you setting her up with one of our regulars?”
“Yeah.”
“Her face is all black and blue. I’ll do my best to cover up her bruises.”
“Don’t waste your time,” Shep said with a laugh. “This client’ll like that.”
“Who is it?” Freda asked.
“Little Ms. Brianna’s going to get a real treat this evening. She’s going on a date with Demonic.”
Chapter 73
Day Four: 5:15 p.m.
Dre and Mossy had just pulled out of the parking lot of Dre’s apartment complex and onto LaBrea Boulevard. Despite his agreement with The Shepherd to exchange Brianna for cash later tonight, Dre refused to sit still and wait. He insisted on checking The Shepherd’s houses again to see if anybody was there. Mossy thought it was a bad idea, but relented after Dre agreed to let him drive.
Dre’s smartphone rang. He picked it up from the center console of his Jetta and saw that the call was from Angela.
This was her third call in less than an hour. His energy and his focus had to be completely on the job ahead of him. He would call Angela back later. After he had safely rescued Brianna.
The second he set the smartphone back down, it buzzed, announcing an incoming text.
“That your girl again?” Mossy asked.
“Yeah.”
“You need to call her. She’s worried about you.”
He reached for his smartphone and read the text.
Angela: I know how 2 find b!!! where r u
Dre read the screen twice. Both times, in disbelief. Maybe Angela was just trying to trick him into responding. A second later, another text came in.
Angela: where the hell r u???
He turned to Mossy. “Angela says she knows how to find Bree.”
“What? How?”
“Hell if I know.”
Dre fired off a return text.
Dre: just leaving house
Angela: meet me at Starbucks on Crenshaw
Dre: why
Angela: just call me now!
Dre didn’t know what to make of Angela’s message. He dialed her number, but as soon as she picked up, his smartphone went dead.
He was out of juice.
* * *
Dre and Mossy waited inside the Starbucks, eager for Angela to arrive. When Dre had called her back on Mossy’s smartphone, Angela rushed him off the line, saying she would explain everything when she got there.
Dre was too nervous to sit or stand, so he paced in a tight circle. Mossy had just picked up their coffee orders when Angela sprinted in.
“I know how to find Brianna!” she said, her face flush. “You need to make a date online!”
Dre’s face went blank. “What?”
Angela led them to a small table in a corner of the store. She pulled out her iPad and started tapping the screen as Dre and Mossy stared over her shoulder.
When MyBackPage.com popped up, Angela explained what she was doing.
“This is a site where guys go to buy sex. The Shepherd puts his girls on here.”
She tapped the screen, scanning through girl after girl—all of them wearing next to nothing. “Every time you see the girl’s face blurred out, it probably means she’s under-aged.”
“How could this be legal?” Mossy asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
“Technically, these sites aren’t selling sex, they’re selling dates. Despite the fact that the girls are posing with their legs spread open and their breast exposed, these ads say nothing about sex. So technically they’re not breaking the law.”
Dre grabbed a chair and sat down next to her.
“I’m narrowing our search to the L.A. area and we’re going to look for a girl who meets Brianna’s physical characteristics,” Angela said. “And then you’re going to make a date.”
“How do we know Brianna is on there?” Dre asked.
“We don’t. But even if she’s not, we may find one of The Shepherd’s other girls, which could then lead us to Brianna.”
Dre’s head swirled with excitement. “But wait a minute. How do you know which girls are Shep’s?”
“He brands his girls. Most of them have tattoos of the letters SH followed by a dollar sign.” Angela pointed at a scrawny white girl whose face was blurred. “Look right there, you can see it just below her neck.”
The tattoo looked as if it hadn’t even healed yet.
“How did you learn all this?” Mossy asked.
“I’ll explain later. Give me your credit card,” she said to Dre. “We’re going to make a date with her. Since her face is blurred out, she’s probably a minor.”
Dre eased his wallet from his back pocket, slipped out his Visa and handed it to Angela. She punched in his email address, credit card number and the other requested information.
“Okay,” she said, “somebody’s going to call you on Mossy’s cell and arrange a date.”
“I don’t understand why the cops don’t shut this stuff down,” Mossy said.
“There aren’t enough vice cops in the world to monitor these sites,” Angela said. “Oh, and if you just want a live strip show from the comfort of your home, you can have that too. Angela hit a few keys and a soft female voice purred at them.
Hey, you! Thanks for visiting my website, Any Way You Want It. Would you like to see what I have to offer? Well, how much time do you have and how much are you willing to spend? Just put in your credit card number and I promise to make it worth your while. It’ll cost you five dollars a minute or two-fifty for a whole hour. Whether you want ten minutes of my time or ten hours, I promise to blow your mind!”
The woman took out one of her boobs and licked her nipple.
Angela muted the sound.
“This is unbelievable,” Mossy said.
“Just type in your credit card number and you can watch her masturbate, have sex with a man or another woman or you can make a special request and she’ll do whatever you tell her to do. And it’s all live.”
“Is some pimp behind this too?” Dre asked.
“I doubt it. She’s probably a soccer mom just trying to make some extra money on the side. You’ll
find a lot of married couples on here willing to have sex online to help pay the monthly bills.”
Angela glanced at her watch. “We should get a call to set up a date any minute.”
At that very second, Mossy’s smartphone rang. Dre hit the speakerphone button, then lowered the volume so no one around them could overhear.
“Yeah?”
“Hi, sweetie, I understand you want a date tonight.”
The woman on the phone sounded much too mature to be the girl shown in the picture.
“Yeah,” Dre said.
“You’re not a cop, are you?”
“Naw,” Dre said.
Angela spun her finger in a circular motion, nudging him to embellish. “I saw your picture and I liked…I really liked your body.” He could not stomach talking this way to a stranger.
The woman’s voice changed. “It ain’t my picture. I just schedule the dates. And just so you know, our girls don’t have no sex,” she said sharply. “It’s just a date. If you want sex, you need to call somebody else cuz that’s illegal.”
The woman had obviously been properly coached.
“I know that,” Dre said. “I just want to spend some time with you. Get to know you. When can we get together?”
The woman hesitated. “You sure you’re not a cop.”
Dre realized that he had to assure her that he was on the up-and- up. So he discarded his disdain and played the role that would get him the date he needed.
“I already told you. I ain’t no cop. So when can I meet—” he glanced down at the screen, looking for the girl’s name— “Ms. Prissy 8942? Can we do it today?”
Dre heard a muffled male voice in the background. The woman was obviously being told what to say. Dre just hoped they’d lucked up and this was indeed The Shepherd’s operation.
“As long as you ain’t playin’ no games,” the woman chided him.
“I’m ready right now. Where are you located?”
“In the Valley.”
Dre shook his fist with excitement. This was a good sign. “I can be there in less than an hour. What’s the address?”
Dre wrote it down and shot up from the chair.
“Let’s roll.”
Chapter 74
Day Four: 5:40 p.m.
Dre sat in the passenger seat, pressing his right fist into the palm of his left hand, cracking his knuckles.
“Man, you gotta stop fidgeting,” Mossy said. “You’re making me nervous. We’re going to find her.”
It had only taken them forty-five minutes to get to the address the girl had given him. They’d exited the 101 Freeway at Laurel Canyon and drove another four miles before locating the motel.
“Keep going,” Dre said, quietly. “Park up the street.” He needed to get himself mentally ready for this.
Mossy did as instructed. Unlike Apache, his buddy knew when to ask questions and when to keep quiet. Right now, Dre needed quiet.
They parked half a block away on the opposite side of the street. They still had a clear view of the Vegastown Motel. The two-story building appeared long neglected, with peeling paint, cloudy windows and railings in need of repair. There was a lot adjacent to the motel with parking for a dozen or so cars and a few more parking spaces directly outside the first-floor rooms.
Dre glanced at his watch. “It’s time.”
Just in case he was being watched, Dre decided to arrive alone. Mossy got out of the car and started casing the area on foot.
Dre eased his Jetta into a parking space near the room he’d been given. He told himself not to get his hopes up. It wasn’t like he was going to walk into the room and have some girl tell him exactly where to find Brianna. But then again, maybe God would show him some mercy. He’d been praying so hard, maybe it would be just that easy. He climbed out of the car and walked slowly toward room 5.
He braced himself, then knocked on the door. He looked over his shoulder, but did not see anyone watching him. Within seconds, the door opened and he stepped inside.
The tiny white girl standing before him looked as if she belonged in elementary school.
“Hey, uh…hey, baby,” the girl said. Dre could tell that she was just as nervous as he was. Her tiny hands were actually trembling. “You ready for your date?”
Dre wanted to pick her up and shake her until she started behaving like the child that she was. She should be home playing with a Barbie doll.
Dre swallowed. “What’s your name?”
“Kaylee. So what kind of date do you want?”
Dre wasn’t sure how to answer. “What kind of dates do you have?”
“Uh, blow jobs are fifty. Missionary position is one hundred and doggie style is two hundred. But you have to wear a condom.”
The girl spoke as if she was reading from a script.
Dre felt sick to his stomach. After he got Brianna back, he was going to stay parked at this roach motel and beat down every pervert who showed up to have sex with one of these kids.
He glanced over his shoulder. Though he hadn’t seen anybody, he assumed the girl’s protection was just outside. He had to be careful about how he approached her. He didn’t want her to scream for help.
“I just wanna talk for now.” He sat down on the bed, facing her.
“Okay, that’s good,” the girl said nervously. “But if I don’t get no money, they gonna beat me.”
Dre pulled out his wallet and gave her three twenty-dollar bills.
The girl looked relieved. She turned around and protruded her rear end toward him. “Do you wanna touch me?”
Dre pounced from the bed. With one hand, he grabbed Kaylee from behind, locking her arms at her side, lifting her off the floor. With his other hand, he covered her mouth.
Kaylee twisted and struggled, trying to get away, but was easily restrained.
“Relax,” Dre whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just need you to answer a few questions for me,” he said gently. “When I take my hand from your mouth, you better not scream. Okay?”
Dre felt her tears dampen his fingers. He slowly lifted his hand.
“Please don’t hurt me,” Kaylee cried. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Just don’t hurt me.”
“I just want to talk to you, okay?”
She nodded.
Dre lowered her to the ground, then turned her around so she was facing him.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said firmly. “All I want is information and then I’ll leave. Okay?”
Kaylee stared into his eyes for several seconds, then took off for the door. Dre had his hand back over her mouth before she’d managed to cover two feet.
The girl was sobbing hysterically now.
“I’m trying to find my niece,” Dre said, holding her from behind. He could see her face in the mirror across the room. “Are you one of The Shepherd’s girls?”
He could feel her quaking in his arms.
“Are you?”
When she nodded, Dre removed his hand from her mouth. “Please don’t scream,” he said.
He returned to the bed and swung her around so she was facing him again. Though he was sitting and she was standing, they were practically eye level. It was only then that he spotted The Shepherd’s brand near her collarbone.
“Do you know where I can find The Shepherd?”
Kaylee shook her head.
“Don’t lie to me. I promise I won’t hurt you.”
“The Shepherd don’t never come to the house,” she cried. “I don’t know where he live. I swear.”
“Where does he keep his girls? Where do you stay?”
“I don’t know. They always cover our heads when we leave the house. But it’s not too far from here because it only took us a few minutes to get here. I swear I don’t know where it is.”
The girl’s eyes wandered toward the door. “You takin’ too long. You gonna get me beat. He’s gonna check on me in a minute.”
“Who?”
“Darnell. He drove me h
ere.”
Dre pulled up Brianna’s picture on his smartphone. “Have you seen this girl before?”
“Oh my God!” Kaylee covered her own mouth this time. “That’s Brianna. Are you her Uncle Dre?”
Dre’s mouth fell open.
“How do you know my name?”
“Brianna kept tellin’ everybody you was gonna come rescue her. She wouldn’t do nothin’ they told her to do.”
That news made Dre feel good enough to float right out of the room. Brianna wasn’t only alive, she was giving them hell.
“Do you know where she is?”
“They don’t let us stay in the same room no more. But she was at the house when we left. But I swear I don’t know where it is.”
“Is Darnell taking you back to the house?”
“Yeah, but I have three more dates.”
Three more dates? What the fuck!
He wanted to grab the girl and take her with him.
There was a pounding on the door. “Kaylee, you okay in there?”
Kaylee’s eyes met Dre’s.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” she yelled toward the door. “We almost done.”
She turned back to Dre. “You have to hurry up! He gonna expect me to make a lotta money after all this time.”
Dre took another forty bucks from his wallet and gave it to her.
“Thanks for helping me,” he said, starting for the door.
“So you don’t want no date?” Kaylee asked in surprise. “You already paid me.”
“How old are you?” Dre asked, walking back over to her.
“I’m eighteen,” Kaylee said half-heartedly.
“How old are you for real?”
Kaylee’s eyes fell to the ratty carpet. “Twelve.”
“Why aren’t you in school?”
“I didn’t like school. Everybody made fun of me because I lived in a foster home. Jaden was gonna take me away. But he was just fake.”
Based on all the things Loretha had told them, he knew this girl had a tragic story just like all the others. His eyes bounced around the room until he spotted what he was looking for. He picked up a discarded store receipt from the end table.
Anybody's Daughter (Angela Evans Series No. 2) Page 26
