He raised a hand as Sarah started in again.
“Listen, what I said to Ayesha was only partly true. Legally, her father can’t just sell her. But I suspect he could try to make it happen through coercion. Some sects have managed to skirt the laws on this, citing their religious beliefs. So spinoff groups of the Mormons and others have married their girls off at very young ages to men who already have multiple wives. The courts have had trouble dealing with this.” He pulled her close and stared into her eyes. “We’ll do the very best we can for her, okay?”
She nodded, a single tear coming down her face. She gave him a little smile. “If for no other reason, Gar, than because we are never going to get into bed together at this rate.”
34
M
ADAME LIU STOOD AT THE
edge of Lake Micmac and watched as a small steam launch approached from the island. This was an important meeting. She’d met the man she thought of as her boss only once before. Considering he was the CEO of one of the world’s major oil companies, he remained something of a mysterious figure. She wasn’t even sure of his nationality. The man moved about the world on a series of private planes, yachts, trains, and limos, all paid for by humanity’s constant, surging need for energy.
That he was a cautious man, she well knew. Their interactions had gone on for nearly a decade before she’d been allowed to meet him in person. That she had been first vetted extensively and, indeed, been financed in ways that linked her own security to his, were all part of the intricate buildup of their relationship. One thing she clearly understood: he was a man in control of what seemed to be an endless supply of money. She hoped to get as big a chunk of it as she could for her new acquisition.
As the boat pulled close to shore, she waved a hand and the giant got out of her car, unlocked the rear door, and pulled out Kitty Wells. The reporter was completely made up and had on new clothes specially bought for her. She’d been bathed and perfumed and had her hair done. There had been no time for conditioning. When the call came in from Madame Liu’s boss for someone special, there had barely been time to get the woman ready. She was a little nervous about tendering an untried prospect. But … one did what one could.
The two women climbed into the boat and sat in comfortable chairs. The giant handed Liu a manila envelope, then pushed the boat off and drove the car away. Kitty was hardly sad to see him go, but the boat held several more men and she saw no hope of escape.
They motored slowly toward the island. It was a quiet, warm evening with a full moon. She might have enjoyed herself if she didn’t know that whatever was about to happen would very likely determine the rest of her life … whether she would
have
the rest of her life.
“When we get there,” said Madame Liu, “do not speak unless you are spoken to. There will be several men. One of them is the most important. You will do whatever he says. Do you understand?”
Kitty nodded. She was totally helpless and knew it. Still, the one part of her they couldn’t completely control was her mind. She could still use it to try to think of some way to escape.
The little launch puttered into a small cove and a man came out to receive the lines and tie it up. Then he stood to one side and watched the women get out, admiring Kitty in the process. He knew what she was here for.
They crossed a central compound and entered an oversized log cabin that was reminiscent of some of the large Adirondack “great camps” Kitty had seen. Very luxurious.
Inside, four men sat in comfortable chairs around a huge fireplace. They were drinking highballs and looked like members of a middle-agers’ fraternity. Kitty felt all eyes fall on her as they approached. Three of the men appeared to be in their thirties or early forties. Two looked of Arabic descent; one was black. The fourth man, Kitty instantly knew, was the one to be afraid of.
He was probably in his early fifties, tall and stockily built. He looked very powerful. He had thick black hair beginning to fleck gray around the temples and wore brown corduroy trousers with a leather vest over a pale maroon shirt open at the neck to reveal a heavy gold necklace. There was a wedding band on his finger. It was difficult to determine his race or nationality. He had a trim mustache and sharp, almost fierce features. Kitty had never seen eyes so black and cold.
Madame Liu went over to the man and spoke to him quietly. He nodded, never taking his eyes off Kitty. All of the men were watching her.
“Let’s see the video first,” said the man, settling back in his chair.
Madame Liu opened the manila envelope and handed a disc to one of the other men, who put it into a DVD machine and turned on a large flatscreen television. There was a moment of snow and then Kitty took in her breath as she saw herself in her former life.
The video was one of her television broadcasts. It had been taken within the last few weeks. She tried to remember the big news events of that day, but mostly she just stared, feeling totally surreal about her circumstances. The video lasted five minutes, then ended, and the same man got up and turned the machine off.
Now Kitty felt the eyes of the men on her even more intently. The man in charge smiled slightly. “I believe I promised you something special this evening,” he said to the others. “Meet Miss Kitty Wells, lately our local news broadcaster. Come over here, Miss Wells.”
Kitty glanced at Madame Liu, who nodded for her to comply. She moved forward into the circle of sitting men and faced them. She was beginning to feel that strange warmth again, flowing up from her toes.
“Been something of a life change for you, I imagine, Kitty,” said the tall man. “Hard to accept, but it will be easier if you do accept it. You aren’t the first good-looking woman whose looks got her ahead in this world. In your new life, it will take you farther than you could ever have imagined.”
She stared into his eyes, afraid to say anything. Seeing the images of herself on television, so in control, the center of a busy news studio, had brought home like a lead balloon just how rapidly her circumstances had changed. She was terrified and felt a near paralysis of both mind and body. But there was something else, that strange sense of intense warmth beginning to surge through her.
“Let me put your mind at ease,” said the man. “Nothing bad will happen to you here tonight. This is simply …”—he glanced at the other men and smiled a hard smile—“a get-acquainted meeting. Madame Liu said she had someone special and you certainly qualify. Your final disposition has not yet been determined.”
He paused, his eyes taking in her diminutive size. “You look bigger on TV,” he said. “But I suppose we are all smaller in real life. We would like to see just how small you really are. Would you be so kind as to disrobe.” He looked away and picked up his drink.
The warmth had now progressed up Kitty’s legs and into her torso. She knew what was about to happen and the prospect was as distressful as it had been with Lloyd. But there was nothing she could do.
She began to take off her blouse, looking into the eyes of each man in turn. A moment ago they’d been watching a sophisticated, well-known TV reporter read the news to many thousands of people. Now that same woman was about to expose herself to them utterly. It was an added bit of titillation, a stroke of genius for Madame Liu to bring that video.
Kitty undressed slowly. As she had the last time, she felt a sense that if she could only delay a few seconds, something might save her from this humiliation. But there was nothing, and in a moment she stood naked before the men.
Their eyes ran up and down her body like probing lasers. Madame Liu told her to turn around and she did so, allowing the men to examine her backside. She felt like a prize steer in a stockyard. Two of the men spoke to each other conversationally, pointing out one part of her anatomy or another.
Kitty felt totally out of control. The warmth was taking over, sweeping across her body. She tried to resist but it was impossible. She shuddered as her body flushed red from her toes to her face. The men exclaimed at the phenomenon. The older man stood up and went over to her. He stared at the red flush on her body. He reached out a finger and touched her stomach, watching the momentarily white skin quickly return to red again.
“Quite extraordinary,” he said. To Miss Liu, he added, “You were right. She might be a keeper. At least for a while.”
35
A
T THE HOSPITAL, A NURSE
took Ayesha away and Garrett, Sarah, and Lila had to sit in a waiting room.
Lila fidgeted in her chair. “I should be with her,” she said. “Ayesha’s real sensitive about being seen naked. This is like pouring salt on the wound.”
Garrett nodded. “I know. I talked to the admitting nurse and told her the situation. She understands how Muslim women feel about this stuff. A doctor will have to see her to confirm the injuries. But they’ve done this sort of thing before and will be as caring as possible, trust me.”
It took about an hour. When Ayesha finally emerged, she looked completely drained. The doctor brought out some forms and motioned to Garrett, who went over to speak to him alone.
“Normally we have to call in the police,” the doctor said, “but I guess that’s you.” He handed a copy of the report to Garrett. “In my opinion, the girl was quite severely beaten. Whoever did it didn’t bother to conceal the damage. Sometimes, you know, they at least make an effort to put the marks out of sight.”
“Her father has such complete control over her life, I don’t think he ever imagined that anyone might intervene. She doesn’t go to public school, has no friends, and almost never leaves the store.”
The doctor sighed and glanced over at Ayesha. “There could also be psychological damage. She should have an evaluation on that too. I suggested someone in the report for that.” He paused, the sympathy in his face clear. “Does she have someplace to go?”
“We’re working on that,” said Garrett. “Thanks for helping us out, doctor.”
“About the worst thing I see down here in this little rural backwater,” he said, “is what families do to each other. It’s really amazing. Good luck with her.” He turned and walked briskly away.
“Now what?” asked Lila.
“Next stop is to visit Sheila Vogler in Halifax,” said Garrett.
“Not tonight it isn’t,” Sarah said. “It’s late and we’re all tired. Your contact isn’t going to be working at this hour, Garrett. Tomorrow will be soon enough. We’re going to bed. Things will look better in the morning.”
He wasn’t so sure, but Sarah was right about one thing. Ayesha was dead on her feet. All of a sudden, he felt his own eyes grow heavy. “All right,” he said. “I could use some shuteye too. I’ll present this paperwork to Sheila first thing in the morning and figure out where we go from there.”
He made a call to Ayesha’s father to tell him she was all right and wouldn’t be coming home that night. The man was indignant and began yelling at Garrett, who promptly hung up the phone.
He drove home, his car bumping up the dirt lane to the old house. It was a clear, moonless night and the darkness fell over him like a shroud. When he was little and had been playing too late with his friends, he used to hate having to walk up the lane alone in the pitch dark, coyotes yipping somewhere in the black night. Sometimes he would get Lonnie to go home with him and spend the night. He was never scared of the dark when Lonnie was with him.
With the girls safe for the moment, his attention again turned to Kitty. What had she been thinking, going off with Lloyd? Her experience with men had given her a sense of invulnerability. Men melted before her. She was the one with the power.
Which was pretty bizarre when you thought about it. She was so tiny that any man over the age of fifteen could probably overpower her. She’d learned to use her looks as a way to level the playing field … in work as well as play. A pouty lip, a suggestive twitch of her hips, a hand momentarily placed on a man’s arm or thigh. These were the coin of the realm in Kitty Wells’s world.
He stumbled around till he found the light switch inside the door and saw some small creature race across the kitchen floor and disappear into a hole in the foundation. Terrific. Next it will be bats, he thought. Then his cell phone rang.
“Don’t you ever sleep?” Lonnie asked.
“Mounties never sleep.”
“I don’t even think you are a Mountie. You don’t wear a uniform. You don’t drive a marked car. Near as I can tell you pretty much do whatever the hell you want. You’re just like me.”
“There’s no one like you, Lon. You’ll be glad to hear we’ve taken Ayesha out of her house. The evidence that her father was beating her is irrefutable, and I’ve got papers to deliver to Sheila Vogler in the morning that will put the girl in foster care. Sarah has offered to have her stay with her, if that can be worked out.”
He grunted. “Might be better if she got a little farther away from her old man.”
“I know. We’ll see how it goes. Any luck finding Kitty?”
“Big Margaret said she didn’t know anything. I pushed her pretty hard. She gave me Lloyd’s name but then said that if Miss Wells was in the sort of trouble I was suggesting, there was one man she’d heard of who bought special girls for top dollar.”
“Who?”
“She didn’t know his name but said she thought he had something to do with Global Resources.”
“The oil company? As what? A janitor? Chairman of the Board? The major stockholder? CEO? What? How the hell are we supposed to find him?”
“Global has its Canadian headquarters in Halifax. I called pretending I was a reporter and asked for an interview.”
Garrett raised an eyebrow. “That was enterprising of you.”
“The woman said their authorized spokesperson was out of the country but that I was in luck. Their CEO is holding a press conference tomorrow … that’s today already … at two o’clock to answer questions about the effects of the hurricane on their operations.”
“You get his name?”
“Anthony DeMaio.”
Garrett sighed. “All right. It’s a start. I need to get at least a couple hours of sleep. Then I’ll drive into the city. Got to see Sheila with Ayesha’s paperwork. Did you find out where the press conference is being held?”