Problem Child, page 22
“Do you really know how to cover your tracks online?” I ask.
She nods. “It’s no problem.”
“All right, then.” I snap the portfolio closed and slide it to the edge of the table. “We might have ourselves a plan.”
CHAPTER 20
Kayla is settled on the pullout couch in the living room of the suite with blankets and fluffy pillows and, most important of all, the television remote. When I leave her, she’s holding up her newly painted nails and admiring them in the blue light of the TV.
She’s uploaded a very short clip to a password-protected server on the dark web, and she assures me that her face isn’t visible but Roy Morris’s is. I’ve left that decision up to her. Despite what she thinks, I don’t want to be anyone’s mom. More to the point, I’m not capable of it.
We’ve decided to write the IP address and password on a little card and hand it off to the lieutenant governor as entrée into his office. That will give him less time to come up with a counter-scheme to cut us off at the knees. I imagine he’ll be quite interested in seeing me as soon as he spots his brother in flagrante. I chuckle softly at the thought. I can’t wait to see his face.
After shutting the bedroom door behind me, I climb onto my big bed to call Luke. I can manipulate him into accepting Kayla’s relocation, but there’s no urgency, really. If he doesn’t say yes now, he will eventually. I’m more than willing to use intense persuasion and the very shallow well of patience I possess. And honestly, Luke is too kind to say no.
You up? I text to Luke.
When he sends back an excited little smiley face, I hit the call button and listen to barely one full ring before he answers. “Hey there, sexy,” I drawl.
“Hey, yourself. What’s going on? I’ve been dying to talk to you all day. Is Kayla doing okay? Are you?”
“Yes, we’re both great, to be honest. I took her shopping. Got her hair cut. That kind of thing. She was in pretty rough shape.” I mean, she was fine, but let’s face it, her cuticles were a mess.
“Oh, wow. Is she . . . Jeez, Jane. Is she all right?”
“I think she’ll be all right with a lot of care and a little security, but it will take time, you know?”
“Yeah. I do. She needs peace and support. Did you figure out what happened to her? Where she’s been?”
I sigh and stretch out on the huge pile of brocade pillows. They’re a little scratchy, but I still feel like a beautiful princess. “This has all been so crazy, Luke. A whirlwind. Pathologically independent as I am, I almost wish you were here.”
“Aw, that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.” We both laugh at that. He knows I’ll never be a sweet girlfriend, and he doesn’t care. He likes that I don’t demand much. I don’t need anything from him. Not really. I just want.
In some ways, Luke is as damaged as I am, but the jagged edges of our broken parts fit together nicely. He wants icy calm, and I’m incapable of providing much else. Except, of course, when I’m ready to stir things up.
“She’s a lot like me,” I say on a sigh. “Same family, of course. Same issues. And she’s very smart. Very capable.”
“I bet.”
“But no one is looking out for her here.” I toe off my boots and let them thump onto the floor. “She got mixed up with that pimp, an older guy, and he got into trouble, and he basically took off with her. She’s been sitting in an empty house, doing whatever he told her to do.”
“That’s where you found her?”
“Yeah. I tracked down the guy and offered to just . . . buy her back from him.”
“Jesus.”
“It gets worse.”
“Oh no. Is she hurt? Is she pregnant?”
“No.” I hope not. “No, it’s not that. The guy. Her pimp . . .”
“Little Dog?”
“Yeah. He took off after I called. We think he meant to strike a better deal with a third party, sell Kayla out to someone else. These men trade girls like they’re cars. Except he never made it back to Kayla. He was killed. Stabbed to death.”
“Okay, Jane. You need to get the hell out of there right now. I’m serious. This is dangerous. Come home now.”
“I know it’s dangerous. I’m fine, I promise. We left Tulsa this morning. We’re in a hotel in Oklahoma City now. No one knows we’re here. We’re completely safe.”
“Maybe I should come down there, then.”
I smile at his words, because he really does want to take care of me—and he’ll want to take care of Kayla too, because that’s the kind of man he is. That’s good news. Really good news.
“We’re all tucked in for the night,” I say soothingly. “Tomorrow we’re going to the authorities.”
He blows out a long breath, and I can imagine the way he’s rubbing his forehead right now. He did the same thing when he heard that his niece had to be rushed to the emergency room with a high fever.
Luke is a good man. I haven’t known many of those in my life. To be honest, I haven’t known even one before Luke, and I somehow managed to collect him along the way. Lucky me.
“Kayla needs a home,” I say simply.
He draws in a breath on the other end of the connection. “Okay. But what does that mean? You’re staying there?”
“Here?” I nearly screech. “No. No, that’s not what I mean at all! I mean that I’m going to try to get custody and bring Kayla home with me. If I can guide her through the last two years of high school, be a mentor to her, she’ll be in a great place to get into college and make something of her life. If she stays here, she doesn’t have a chance. These people . . .” I growl instead of ranting about them.
“Oh,” Luke says. “I see.”
“These people are eating her alive. She has the same challenges with emotion that I have. I know what that’s like. I can actually help her, and I can’t really say that about too many kids.”
“Yeah.” The word is a little faint, but then he clears his throat and lets go of his shock. “Well, of course you have to.”
“Oh. Of course. I can’t just abandon her. That would be wrong.”
“Whatever you need from me, you only have to ask. This is going to be a huge change for you.”
I explode in a hard laugh. “That’s probably the understatement of the year.”
“Listen.” I can hear him settling in to help already, his voice edging into determination. “She’s practically an adult already. And you’re her aunt.”
“True.”
“All she needs is a little bit of support for a couple of years and a nudge in the right direction. You can do that easily. No problem.”
“Right. I can do it.”
“Absolutely.”
In that moment I really do wish I were home with him. I’d even cuddle right into his arms for a few minutes before turning his attention toward sex.
He treats me like I’m real even if I’m not, and sometimes just being near him feels like intimacy. I’ve always needed sex to access that feeling, and I certainly need it with Luke too, but sometimes, on very special occasions, I feel close to him without it. Right now he wants to make my life less stressful, and even a sociopath can appreciate that.
It’s time for the biggest step, and I have to approach carefully. “I’ll need a bigger place.” I let it sit there for only a moment. “Kayla can’t live on my couch for more than a few weeks. That wouldn’t be fair. She needs to feel like she has a home.”
“Sure,” he says faintly.
“But listen, that’s not your problem. We’ll discuss all those complications when I get home. It’s not something I need to figure out now.”
“You don’t. You have enough on your plate. Don’t spend any time worrying about it at all, okay? You just concentrate on Kayla.”
I feel another surge of anticipation at the thought of this fun new adventure.
“What will you have to go through to get her moved?” Luke asks.
“I looked into it,” I say. “If she were in foster care, it would get complicated. Tons of paperwork and court hearings and agreements between the states. But on first glance it looks like her mom can give me temporary guardianship, especially if Kayla agrees. All I have to do is get everyone to buy into the idea that Kayla belongs with me.”
His chuckle is warm and soothing. “I’m not sure it will be as simple as you make it seem.”
It won’t, but I don’t mention our planned meeting with Bill Morris. “Eh, the approach is always the same with my family. They’ll want to be bought off. We just need to find the right combinations of levers for threats and rewards. Kayla says she can get her mother to agree.”
“Stressful,” he sighs.
“Yes. But I might be home within a few days if it all works perfectly.”
“God, it will be so nice to see you, Jane. My bed is lonely as hell without you.”
“Well,” I drawl, “I won’t be able to spend the night, but I bet I can make a little field trip to your place when I get back. If you don’t mind a quickie.”
He laughs. “You know I don’t.”
“Okay. I’ll check in tomorrow. And I’ll see you soon.”
“You’ll be great at this,” he says.
Yes, I believe I will.
CHAPTER 21
Kayla insists on accompanying me to the lieutenant governor’s office, and I’m quite proud. I told her it would be safer for her to stay hidden, but she brushed me off. “Like I’m gonna let you secretly sell me out to this asshole while I eat french fries at a random diner.”
Good girl.
In this day of digital menace, her presence won’t put her in true jeopardy anyway. The threat she presents won’t vanish even if she does. Not at this point. Not with me involved. Roy Morris and his brother have let this go on too long and it’s gotten very messy.
Bill Morris’s best bet by far is to cut his losses with his loser brother and wash his hands of the whole thing before it gets worse. But privilege comes with a hell of a set of blinders. It’s my job to tear those off and let the full picture shine right into his eyeballs.
A visit to the lieutenant governor sounds important and stately, but the Oklahoma senate isn’t in session, so it really just means a trip to a downtown Oklahoma City office building where Bill Morris runs his drilling company. There are no marble halls or bas-reliefs here, just gray carpeting and an elevator ride to the ninth floor.
The internet says the lieutenant governor earns more than $100,000 a year to serve as president of the state senate and fulfill “other duties assigned by the governor.” The senate meets for only a few months a year, so that’s nice work if you can get it.
Kayla is padding along in her sparkly flip-flops beside me, but she’s not wearing short shorts or a fancy new blouse today. Instead we stopped to buy a new outfit: a frumpy knee-length skirt and a yellow T-shirt with a unicorn on it. She looks frail and young, especially with her edgy new haircut hidden by uneven French braids that cause her ears to stick out from her narrow head.
She smiles shyly when we approach the receptionist’s desk.
“Hello,” I say quietly, “we have an appointment with Lieutenant Governor Morris.”
The white woman with the short gray haircut maintains her polite smile but shakes her head. “I’m afraid I don’t have any appointments on the schedule today, Ms. . . . ?”
“He told us to drop by today, and I rearranged my schedule for this visit. I’m sure he’s just forgotten. If you could give him my card, he’ll remember.”
“I . . . I suppose that would be okay. Please have a seat. I’ll be just a moment.”
I hand over my business card, which identifies me as an attorney with a law firm in Minneapolis. The card on which I’ve written the IP address is tucked just behind it.
Kayla and I take seats on two leather armchairs, and I grab a fancy architecture magazine to flip through.
“He’s on the phone,” the woman says when she returns to her desk, “but I left your card with him.”
“Thank you.”
I take the time to reach out to the partners of my law firm with an ingratiating email answering a few questions about Rob’s cases that I’ve seen floating around in group emails. Kayla plays a game on her phone and swings her feet until one of her sandals flies off and she has to retrieve it. I smile indulgently, then aim a lovingly exasperated eye roll at the receptionist. She laughs quietly.
About ten minutes later she perks up with a start. “Oh! He can see you now. Would you like to wait here, young lady? I can find you a Coke somewhere.”
Kayla gives a quick shake of her head and darts to my side to hold my hand.
“She’ll come with me,” I say, clutching her little hand tightly, and we follow the woman down a long hallway toward a closed maple-wood door.
“Mr. Morris,” she says as she sweeps open the door to let us in. Kayla stays glued to my side as we enter, her pale hand holding tight.
“Hello, Bill,” I say darkly, giving the woman something to gossip about later. I’m on a first-name basis with him and I’m bringing a child along for a mysterious personal appointment? Oh, Bill Morris, what have you done?
The man tries to keep his glower aimed at my face, but his eyes can’t help a few darts toward Kayla.
“It’s okay,” I say softly as I lead her over to one of the chairs. “Sit down. You’ll be fine.”
She makes a show of letting go of me reluctantly before she takes a seat, scooting back too far in the chair so that her sandals dangle above the ground.
I take my own seat and cross my legs as the receptionist draws the door slowly closed behind her.
“What the hell is this filth?” Bill Morris growls, slapping the card down on his desk.
“I wouldn’t know, Mr. Morris,” I answer. “It’s illegal to even view that kind of content, as I’m sure you understand.”
“I had no idea what I was looking at!”
“This is Kayla,” I say, gesturing toward the pale girl with her head bent in shame. “Did your brother explain exactly what he was getting you into when he asked for help further terrorizing my niece after sexually abusing her?”
“Your niece.” He’s still angry, his eyes shaded by a cliff of furious brow, but the words come out as a resigned statement instead of a question.
“Yes. Kayla is my niece, and she was fifteen years old when she . . . encountered your sick brother. Since then she’s been stalked by a bald man in an SUV who I believe is in your employ, and that same man assaulted her childhood friend Brodie. Did you know that Brodie was found murdered two days ago? Because I find that very interesting.”
He blinks hard and sits back a little in his huge leather chair. “Excuse me?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Who didn’t tell me? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Why don’t you call up your brother and ask him about Brodie, then? He might know him as Little Dog.”
“Ms.—”
“Sir, I’ve worked overseas helping victims of sex trafficking, and I never thought I’d come home to find that my own little niece has been victimized by the same type of monster I fought so hard against in other countries. I assure you that I have taken steps to protect this child, and those steps include storing the proof of this assault in several different safe places, both online and in multiple secure locations with instructions on how to proceed if anything happens to us. This problem will not go away no matter the threats of violence. Kayla is not alone anymore. She’s not the helpless child she was a month ago.”
Kayla sighs and reaches out to touch my hand. I grasp her fingers briefly before she slumps back in on herself. This girl is a master actress, and I have to fight not to let my mouth lift in amusement.
Morris crosses his arms on the table and studies me for a long moment. “And yet you’re here in my office. You haven’t gone to the police.” I see his eyes dart down to the phone on his desk. I imagine he’s recording this, hoping I’ll make an extortion attempt.
“To what end?” I ask. “I have no idea how far your tentacles reach. The only guarantee of consequences to your brother would be making this public, and that would further damage a vulnerable child.”
“I see. So you’re not going to the authorities.”
“Not yet.”
“Right. So how much do you want?”
“How dare you?” I snap. “How dare you treat this as some seedy financial matter! I’m an attorney and an aunt and a decent human being. But, considering your family, maybe you’ve never encountered one of those before and have no idea how to interact with one.”
His confidence has finally slipped a notch. I watch his shoulders drop and I pounce.
“Your brother is a pervert and a danger to the community. If I had any hope at all that we’d find justice, I’d see this through. But look at you, still treating my niece as if she’s the cause of this instead of your predatory, rapist, pedophile brother!”
“I didn’t—”
“You most certainly did. We don’t want your tainted rape money, Mr. Morris. I want your brother to get extensive treatment and my niece wants to get the hell out of this state to somewhere safe. A boy is dead! Do you understand that? My niece might have been murdered already if I hadn’t been the one to find her.”
“I don’t know anything about that. And I can’t force my brother to—”
“Oh, you can make your brother do whatever you want. Don’t feed me that bull. Your specialty in life is pulling strings. Chair of the state board of development, head of the council on economic growth, a member of the insurance council. You’ve got more strands to pull than a spider, and you use them to devour everything you can. Try using your power for good just this once.”
When I go quiet, I can hear him swallow even from ten feet away. “I’m not a bad man, and I am certainly not my brother’s keeper. I don’t know anything about this death you mentioned. But I will try to direct Roy into treatment. He has trouble with alcohol and it causes him to . . .” His gaze darts toward Kayla and then back to me. “To act out.”
