Wild Dirty Secret(60)
“Yeah.” I tried to sound sympathetic. “I know how that goes. Listen, about that girl who was taken—”
“Fuck, what are you doing here?” she cried.
I gestured lamely at the door. “My boyfriend told me to come here.”
She rolled her eyes, her most lucid expression yet. “Not here, in the bathroom. Here with a guy like that. In Chicago. You don’t belong in this life.”
Oh, the irony—she didn’t believe I was a prostitute. “Listen, I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
“Then you need to get out,” she demanded. “Some crazy shit is going on. It’s not just the girl that was here. There was some kind of fucking massacre, and two of the rich-bitch escorts were killed.”
Rich bitch? Ouch. “Yeah,” I agreed. “Crazy shit. But I’m really curious about that girl.”
She continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “It’s like a fucking sinking ship around here. You need to get out while you can. I mean, I can understand why you stay. I’ve seen your boyfriend. It’s the eyes, right? Fucking green eyes.”
Yeah. Fucking green eyes. “Pretty much, but here’s the thing. He’s bent on running this little scheme here in the club, so unless I can convince him otherwise…”
“Nah, that’ll bring trouble to all of us. He said it himself.”
“I just want to show that it really happened. I mean, were you there?”
“I was there that night. I thought I saw her earlier, because some of the boys were roughing her up, and I thought it was sad. I mean, kind of funny but also sad. And then I found out later she was dead. You can check the news. They said she was at large, but that really means they didn’t know shit. If they haven’t found her after all this time, and if Henri didn’t find her either, then she’s got to be dead, right?”
My heart started to pound at the mention. “Henri? Who’s that?”
Her eyes glazed over. She stared at the brown leak stains on the wall as if hypnotized.
“Hey,” I said. “Don’t do this. Henri, remember? The girl.”
She snapped out of it again. I wasn’t sure if she was high like I thought or whether she had some sort of condition. I wondered idly if she needed medical attention. It wouldn’t matter either way.
“Henri’s a scary guy,” she said. “Some advice, woman to woman? Stay away from him.”
It was good advice. Unfortunately I couldn’t take it. “My boyfriend really wants to talk to him. From there…” She shrugged. “He’s cool once he gets an audience.”
She frowned. “You should ditch him.”
Even when we were in disguise, no one wanted us to be together. “I’m just trying to help him out.” I took a deep breath. “The truth is, he’s been really focused on breaking into Chicago’s business. It’s like his life goal, and if I could help him do that, I’d be in, you know?”
She nodded, her expression sad. “Yeah, I know.”
“So you’ll help me?”
She shook her head but not in refusal. “I think you’re going to regret this.”
I thought so too. “Tell me anyway.”
She told me what she remembered about that night, naming the guys who had cornered Claire and likely brought her outside to Henri. I recognized the names but hadn’t met them before. She said she hadn’t heard any commotion the rest of the night, only that she saw Claire’s picture on the news the next day. They had considered shutting down the club but decided that would look more suspicious. Plus, it would be a major interruption to their service business.
“Did anyone talk to Henri about what happened?”
She wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Why should we? It doesn’t have nothing to do with him.”
“But you said the hit was put out by him.”
“Correction. It doesn’t have nothing to do with us. Look, sister, no one gets in Henri’s business. Not my boss, and sure as hell not your boyfriend.” She looked me up and down. “You don’t want to get on his radar, if you get my drift. You’re pretty, and you want to stay that way.”
Actually, Henri was very careful to preserve prettiness. There were many ways to hurt someone without leaving permanent damage. The worst hurt came on the inside anyway.
“Tell me where to find him. I’ll just tell my boyfriend, and he’ll be so happy with me. Please.”
She deliberated for a few quiet moments. “He’s been taking plenty of heat lately, so he’s gone to ground. No one knows where he is. But I happened to overhear someone saying he had a new location. The Barracks.”