Simon Says_. Walk (Kate Morgan #6)(17)
Author: Dale Mayer
He turned to her. “Are you up for pimps?”
“I’m up for talking to pimps. I am never up for pimps. Utilizing somebody else’s body for gain sucks, as far as I’m concerned. And to do it by force? That’ll never go down on my books as being fair and aboveboard.”
He laughed. “It’s so funny to hear you so angry on behalf of a stranger.”
“Why?” she asked crossly. “What does it matter whether I know them or not? It’s worse if I do know them,” she admitted, twisting in her seat to look at him, as he was driving.
“Why is that?” he asked her.
“Because I’m more invested emotionally,” she shared, with a haunting expression. “Strangers? No big deal. Yet family and friends screw you up every time.”
“I would have just said family.”
“We’ve seen enough betrayal to realize friends aren’t always friends either.”
“Ooh, ouch,” he said, as he headed toward the East Side. “You’re definitely on a roll this morning.”
She slipped back into her seat. “Patricia’s brother was so overwrought, so upset,” she murmured. “They had done so much, especially over the last couple years, to get her off the streets and to get her cleaned up and to get her into a decent life, and then to see this happen?” Kate shook her head. “Was she chosen as a random victim, or was her killer deliberately choosing somebody who had worked hard, and then he pulled the carpet out from under her? It messes up my mind.”
“Oh, now there is an interesting thought,” Rodney noted. “You think we have any helplines or groups for people like this?”
“I’m sure there are one million of them,” Kate replied. “But anybody watching probably would have seen it happen anyway, without having to contact the group to find these people.” She made a lazy gesture. “I hate to say it, but I highly suspect the next victim will show us the pattern that we can’t see yet because we don’t have enough evidence yet.”
“You’re sure there’ll be a next victim?” he asked, his voice low. “Because you know what that means.”
“I know exactly what that means,” she murmured. “Yet no other way for this guy to continue his game, unless it’s already game over. and Simon lost, and I can’t see that happening.”
“You can’t see Simon losing the game, or you can’t see him getting into the game, where he could then eventually lose?”
She shook her head. “Neither. Simon plays poker, but he doesn’t care about the outcome. Something like this though, he’ll be tormented by the outcome,” she shared. “He cares, and, as much as I don’t want to”—she shrugged and shook her head—“I can certainly appreciate that part of him.”
“Oh, no doubt about it,” Rodney concurred. “I’m thoroughly convinced that Simon is one of the good guys. It’s just harder convincing everybody else of that fact. … Still, that’s a whole different story.”
They pulled up and parked off to the side, near the area that Stone worked. Kate hopped out, looked around at the street, and asked, “I suppose they’re working twenty-four hours a day, aren’t they?”
“Yes, although the pimp himself may not be around.” Rodney looked around, then pointed to somebody. “Except, in this case, he is here.”
“I don’t know if that’s good or bad.” Kate watched an argument in progress.
With that inner sense of those who always were on the wrong side of the law, the conversation came to an abrupt halt. One of the men quickly walked away, and the other one, obviously Stone, turned to glare at her.
She laughed with a pointed look at Rodney. “Have to love their instincts, huh?”
“I don’t know about that,” Rodney countered. “Sure makes our job a lot harder.”
“It does, indeed,” she muttered. She walked over and introduced herself and then looked the pimp up and down. “How’s your day, Stone?”
“Not …” His gaze narrowed, as he studied her for a long moment, and then a mock smile broke out. “Well, look at this. A new copper to add to my roster.” Stone rubbed his hands together. “When you leave the station, come work for me.”
“Never going to happen,” she replied immediately. “The pay sucks and the hours? The hours are way worse, but I prefer to walk rather than spend my days on my ass.”
He burst out laughing, with a sense of humor that surprised her. It seemed to really shock Rodney too—or maybe not. The turn of events was certainly not expected though, as Owen had mentioned that Stone didn’t like women, but his response here to Kate was something altogether different.
Stone shifted to the side, keeping the two of them slightly apart, as if he didn’t notice Rodney immediately, but then he turned to look at him. His laughter cut off immediately, as Stone pinned Rodney with a look. “I don’t like you.”
“Doesn’t matter whether you do or not,” Rodney stated calmly. “I don’t know you, and, as long as I don’t know you,” he declared, “we ain’t friends.”
“Damn right, we ain’t friends,” Stone snorted. He turned and looked back at Kate. “You, on the other hand? I like you.”
“But then you like women, don’t you?” she asked calmly, knowing it was completely opposite to what she been told. “At least you like them when they’re working for you.”
“Damn right I do.” He winked. “If you have a woman in your life, she might as well bring in the money, nothing else good about them.”
“And yet you use your own women for your sexual purposes too,” she shared, as a statement of knowledge.
“Of course. I own them anyway. I might as well get my needs taken care of.”
She wanted to punch him for that comment, but, hey, it was the least of her worries. “I want to talk to you about Patricia Blinker.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Damn, woman,” he said, with a playful tone, “she’s not even in my stable anymore.”
“I understand that.” Kate gave him a half smile. “I wondered if you decided you should get her back again now that she’s looking a helluva lot better.”
But immediately Stone shook his head. “Nope.” He shook his head too vehemently. “That one’s trouble. Her brother is the trouble I guess, more of a trouble. The only reason I sold her was to get him off my back. Goddamn family’s a piece of shit. They don’t know when to quit.”