Cultured, page 19
The hope was that Lorie would openly talk with both of them, but if Nicole sensed she was shutting down or hesitating, they had devised a signal so she could let Jake know to excuse himself and leave the two of them alone. That might not be necessary, but just in case.
When Nicole outlined the plan to Jake, he had said that with all this pre-planning she’d have made a good Boy Scout.
“I was a Brownie,” she had said. “That’s as high up the totem pole as I went.”
“Did you earn a bunch of merit badges?”
“I did.”
“Was one for conducting interrogations?” Jake asked.
“This isn’t an interrogation. We simply need to hear what she has to say.”
“And ask questions,” Jake said.
“Which is not the same as an interrogation.”
“It isn’t?”
“Look, consider this a spy game with a secret signal.”
Now, Nicole touched Lorie’s arm. An almost imperceptible recoil. “Are you OK?”
Lorie took a deep breath and let it leak slowly, as if attempting to calm herself. “I don’t know.”
“You’re safe here,” Jake said. “Anything said here stays here.”
“I know,” Lorie said. “But they have a way of finding things out.”
“You mean Jonathon and Rhea?” Nicole asked.
Lorie nodded.
“Where do they think you are now?” Jake asked.
“I told them I was coming down to visit a friend. Just in case someone saw me, I also told Rhea I’d swing by, and if you guys were here, I’d see how you were doing.”
“What’d she say to that?”
“She thought it was a great idea. Good marketing was how she put it.”
“Smart move on your part,” Nicole said. “Let’s eat something. I think that’ll help.”
“Maybe that’ll unknot my stomach.”
“Perhaps a margarita too,” Jake said.
“I could use that,” Lorie said.
Jake waved to Carla who came their way. He introduced her to Lorie. They ordered fish tacos and margaritas. Small talk about the party and how much they loved the farm and how pleasant everyone was followed. Nicole was buying time, waiting for their drinks to arrive, and for Lorie to calm down. The margaritas showed up and after Lorie took a couple of quick sips, Nicole jumped in.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“You said that if I ever felt uncomfortable or had any issues that I should call. That you might be able to help.”
“That’s true. What’s going on? You’re wound up tight.”
Lorie’s eyes glistened. She picked up her napkin and dabbed them. “What we talked about the other night. All that sugar baby stuff and how TLM might simply be an ungraded version.”
“I remember,” Nicole said.
“Well, that’s exactly what it is.” She looked at Jake and then back to Nicole. “We’re expected to take care of members and guests.”
“Take care of their personal needs?” Jake asked.
Lorie nodded. “The weekend parties, the trips, the retreats down near Tampa all involve us sleeping with guys. Some we know and some we don’t.”
“Know as in Gordon Buchanan?” Jake asked.
“Especially Gordon. He’s very close with Jonathon and Rhea. He likes me, so I have the pleasure of sleeping with him every time he’s at the farm. I’ve been down to his place in Tampa several times. Usually a weekend, but once for over a week. He has parties and I take care of things.”
“What things?” Nicole asked.
“I fuck whoever he tells me to.” Her eyes screwed down tight, fighting back tears. Then a burst of laughter escaped. “Wow. I can’t believe I finally said that out loud.” She exhaled a heavy breath. “It actually feels good. Like a weight’s been lifted off my chest.”
“Venting does help,” Nicole said. “Say whatever you have to say. We’re here to listen and to help.”
“Can you really help?”
“Maybe,” Jake said. “Whatever you need, we’ll sure give it a try.”
The food arrived and they began to eat. Lorie only nibbled but did devour her margarita.
“What do you want?” Nicole asked.
Lorie forked her fingers through her hair. “I don’t know. I think I just want out.”
“Then leave,” Jake said.
“And do what?”
“Whatever you want.”
Lorie nodded. “I know I could simply walk away, but if I’m being honest, the money they pay me, the benefits of being in that world, the amazing travel, the wealth, the powerful people, and the possibility of meeting some rich guy and being set for life make it hard to walk away.”
Nicole waited her out, letting Lorie gather her thoughts.
“I feel dirty. I feel ashamed. I feel lost as if I’m no longer me. And I feel scared.”
“Scared?” Nicole said. “Of what?”
“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.”
“Based on what?” Jake asked.
Lori’s gaze dropped to her lap, then she looked back up. “Maybe six months ago, I went down to Gordon’s place with a girl named Mia Santos. She worked at TLM too. There was a party with lots of alcohol and sex. Mia and I both ended up in Gordon’s bed for the night. A first for me. I think for Mia too. Anyway, the next day we went over to St. Pete for a weekend cruise party on Andrew’s boat. Three days of insanity on the high seas.” She took a breath and let it out slowly. “Anyway, in the end, Mia stayed with Andrew and I came back to the farm.” A more ragged breath. “I never saw or heard from her again.”
“Did you think something happened to her?”
“I was told that Andrew introduced her to some guy from Saudi Arabia and she left with him.”
“Who’d you hear that from?” Jake asked.
“Rhea.”
Nicole shared a look with Jake.
“But you don’t believe that’s true?” Nicole asked.
“I don’t know. I mean, it’s possible and it’s happened before. I remember a girl going off with a Saudi guy right after I went to work at TLM. I never really met her, so I don’t remember her name. I heard that another girl went off to Switzerland with some jet setter and another to Singapore with a businessman from there. So, I guess that girl going off to Saudi Arabia could’ve happened.”
“Isn’t that part of the TLM program?” Nicole asked. “We were told a lot of the girls ended up finding love and happiness. Isn’t that the party line?”
“It is and, like I said before, that’s one of the things they dangle as perks. They have a track record to lean on. I mean, Stephanie DeLuca met her husband through TLM, and I know they’re happy.”
“So maybe that’s what happened with your friend Mia and the other girls.”
“Maybe.”
“But?” Nicole asked, sensing there was more to come.
“April. Her disappearance doesn’t feel right.”
“In what way?” Jake asked.
“I can’t remember if I told you this before or not … my brain’s scrambled … but she, Robin, and I went down to Gordon’s place for a weekend of the usual craziness. We partied on his estate and took a day trip on Andrew’s boat. April decided to stay and hang out with Andrew. Robin and I came back. I haven’t heard one word from April since.”
“Do you think something’s wrong?” Jake asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m making too much of it. I mean, she could be anywhere and having a great time with Andrew.” She exhaled a deep breath. “But it’s exactly what happened with Mia. Off with Andrew and then never heard from again.” She gazed toward the beach. “Maybe I’m just being squirrelly about all this.”
“Are you?” Nicole asked.
Lorie looked at her. “My head says yes, but my gut says no.”
Nicole gave Jake another look and he returned a slight nod, knowing exactly what she was thinking.
“Can we trust you?” Nicole asked her.
“What does that mean?”
“Can we trust you to not say anything about what I’m going to tell you?”
Her eyes narrowed, brow wrinkled. “What’s going on?”
“First, can we trust you?”
“Yes.”
“We aren’t looking to join TLM,” Nicole said. She now had Lorie’s full attention. “We’re private investigators. We work for Ray, Jake’s dad. He’s a P.I. and very good at it. He was hired by April’s mother to find her. She hasn’t heard from her in over three weeks either.”
“Don’t say that.” Lorie’s eyes welled with tears. “Did something happen to her?”
“We don’t know,” Jake said. “But, like you, and her mother, we’re concerned.”
Lorie’s chin raised, crinkled, trembled. “If something did happen, Andrew Heche is behind it. I feel that in my bones.”
“Why him?” Nicole asked.
“He’s creepy. I know April liked him, but I think he’s an arrogant prick. He has dark clouds behind his eyes. I was never comfortable with him.”
“Anything specific?”
She shook her head. “It’s more a feeling. But he gave me looks and found ways to get close, to touch me all the time. He knew I was with Gordon, but he seemed to always fish for an opportunity. Plus, he was the last person I saw Mia with.”
“We’ll check him out,” Jake said.
A good move on Jake’s part, Nicole thought. Lorie had no need to know that Heche was already on their radar, or better, Pancake’s radar. Making his name seem casual, no big deal, wouldn’t pile any more anxiety on Lorie’s already stress-filled plate. She had more than enough going on in her head, and right now she needed to be as cool and calm as possible.
“In the meantime, don’t tell anyone about this conversation,” Nicole added.
“Don’t worry. If Jonathon and Rhea knew about this they’d have a fit.” She looked at Nicole. “Be careful with your snooping. Jonathon and Rhea have a long reach and a lot of power.”
“Based on?” Jake asked.
Lorie fell silent for a full half a minute then sighed, as if making a decision. “They have videos.”
“What kind of videos?” Nicole asked, knowing the answer.
“Compromising videos. Of people who stay at the lodge.”
“Which they can use for leverage,” Jake said.
“I assume so.”
“Were you aware of that? When you were entertaining members at the farm?”
“No.” She shook her head for emphasis. “I had no idea until I discovered those videos.”
“How did find them?” Nicole asked.
“One day Jonathon and Rhea were over in Fairhope for lunch with a member. I had to do some paperwork and was in Jonathon’s office. He had left a cabinet drawer open. One that he always locked up. I was curious so I looked inside. There was a metal box filled with I’d guess a hundred DVDs. I looked at a few of them. I was on two of them that I saw. Robin and April too. And several other girls. Including Stephanie DeLuca.”
“Having sex?” Nicole asked.
Tears welled in her eyes and slid down her cheeks. She used her napkin to wipe them away, sniffed. “Yes. With a lot of very powerful people.”
“Such as?” Jake asked.
“Each of the DVDs was labeled in Jonathon’s handwriting. The name of the guy and the girl, and the date—I guess so he’d know who was with who and what video they were on. The guys were all members and prospective members. I had met most of them, so I knew who they were. A couple of the ones I saw included Gordon Buchanan and Andrew Heche.”
“I thought those three were close friends?” Nicole asked.
“They are.” She gave a snorting laugh. “I guess Jonathon wanted leverage over his friends.”
“Plus, they’re each in business with him,” Jake said. “That would give him negotiating power and perhaps protection if they ever got in a legal dispute.”
“Did you tell anyone about this?” Nicole asked. “Any of the other girls?”
“No. I didn’t want to risk that sort of gossip getting back to Jonathon and Rhea. If it did, they’d know it was me. I do a lot of business work for them. They trust me, so I have access to the office much more than any of the other girls.”
Nicole liked Lorie and now realized she was a clever girl. Even under the circumstances, she kept her head screwed on straight and kept what she knew buried. “What did you do after you found the videos?”
“My first reaction was to take them and destroy them, but I knew I couldn’t. Few people have access to Jonathon’s office and he knew I was in there that day, so I was too scared to do that. Besides, the DVDs had to be burned from somewhere, so he must have all the videos on his computer or somewhere else.” She finished her margarita. “It was hard to leave the office without taking at least my discs with me. I didn’t want him to have them. But, since the videos were for sure stored elsewhere, that would do little good, and if mine were the only ones missing and he discovered that, he’d know what I had done.”
“So you left them?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Another smart move,” Nicole said. “It’s best if he doesn’t know that the three of us know about the videos.”
CHAPTER 36
IT WAS NEAR noon before Victor Mendoza finished with April. He was indeed insatiable. She sat on the edge of the bed, too tired and too humiliated to cry. What she felt was anger, and fear, and a sense that she was completely isolated and trapped. She was in the hands of a man who showed no mercy and little feeling except for his own needs. Victor had used her in ways she had never experienced. Nothing was off the table and she had no choice but to comply. She tried to bargain, which got her nowhere, and she tried to resist, to which he slapped her, hard, across the face, saying, “Do what I say, bitch.” She did. The worst was that when he left, he stopped at the door and looked at her. “You’re special. Great body.” He laughed. “You’re going to make me a wad of cash.”
He left no doubt what was what. She was going to be trafficked. The questions were where, to who, and why. The why was easy, but the where was a question. Victor had mentioned they had to make a stop and then they would head south. Did he mean some Caribbean island, or South America, or someplace she’d never heard of? Did it matter? She was sure none held a pleasant future for her. But it was the who that left her mind racing. Would it be someone who was actually worse than Victor? Was that even possible? Victor was a predator, but something inside her told her she just might be headed toward an apex predator. Someone who could buy women and do with them as he pleased. Maybe in some country that possessed few rules and was controlled by thugs and drug cartels. The scenarios that rumbled through her brain were ugly, and uglier.
She had to do something or she would die. Not here and now, but soon. Once her usefulness or novelty wore off, she would be expendable. She had few doubts about that. If someone buys and uses women, what happens when he grows tired of her and needs a new supply? There were four girls on the yacht now, including her, and each was a consumable item. What was it Andrew had said? That he needed to sell some equipment he no longer needed. No doubt the man buying her would feel the same way. Then what? Would she be killed, placed in some hellhole brothel until she was completely consumed, or both?
First order of business would be to explore the boat. Could she? Was she allowed to leave her cabin? If not, what would happen if she were caught? Could it be worse than the last three hours? Did it matter? The one thing she couldn’t do was nothing.
She stepped into the hallway and turned right. She came to a set of stairs and slowly climbed them. Near the top, she saw they led to the bridge. Two men sat in chairs, facing forward, the instrument that steered the vessel before them. They talked with each other in Spanish.
She retreated back down the corridor to another, narrower flight of steps. She quietly ascended them and found that they led to the rear deck. She stepped into the bright sunlight and cool open air. It felt almost cleansing, calming, even as her heart thumped against her chest.
She shaded her eyes with one hand and scanned forward and aft, but saw no one. Then she caught a flash of blonde hair. She stepped farther on to the deck and saw a girl leaning on the aft railing, gazing over the yacht’s wake. She wore cutoff jeans and a lime green halter top. She held a cigarette in one hand. April moved toward her.
“Hello,” April said.
The girl turned, her startled look quickly evaporating when she saw April. “You must be the new girl,” she said.
“I’m April.”
She hung the cigarette on her lip. “Chloe.”
April walked to where she stood. “Is it okay for us to be out here?”
“Where are we going to go?”
“I just didn’t want to make Victor angry.”
“Oh, you’ve met Victor,” Chloe said, more a statement than a question.
April nodded.
Chloe took a drag and exhaled the smoke skyward. “I figured that’s where he was going when he left my cabin this morning. Pleasant, isn’t he?”
“Not the word I’d use.”
“Me either.” She flicked the cigarette into the churn of the ship’s wake.
April examined the girl before her. She had to be five-nine with long, slender legs, a beautiful face with high cheekbones, a pert nose, very pale blonde hair that glistened in the sunlight, and intense blue eyes. She could have been in movies, or a model.
Chloe tugged a pack of Marlboros and a lighter from her hip pocket. She shook one up and offered it to April. April declined, so Chloe lipped it from the pack and lit it. Again, she exhaled the smoke up and away from April where the ocean breeze carried it out over the water. “Roberta said they picked you up down near Tampa?”
“I think so,” April said. “At least that’s what I was told.”
“Where were you?”
April looked back toward the bow of the yacht. It rose and fell over the waves. To think that just yesterday she was onboard After Hours, sunning on the deck, enjoying the best life had to offer. It would be lunchtime now. Paulo would have prepared something lavish. Lobster salad, or shrimp scampi, or some other amazing dish that was as good as you could find in the classiest restaurants. She would be at the shaded deck table eating with Andrew. The son of a bitch. How did she miss what he really was? When did he decide to do this? Was this his plan all along? It had to be. This kind of operation didn’t simply happen. It had to be orchestrated.
