The Assignment 4 (7 page)

“Oh, and by the way,” Lacey said, “don’t think I didn’t notice that you totally have the hots for Alex.”

Chloe blushed again. It was so adorable it made Lacey smile. Chloe was a real pro when it came to being a call girl. Lacey had seen her handle such intense situations so calmly and confidently that she would have thought nothing could possibly embarrass her. Now she saw that even the mention of her liking Alex caused Chloe to turn bright red.

“Alex,” Lacey said, “will you take care of my friend. I’ll be right back.”

Chloe shot her a look like she wanted to kill her. Lacey left them and went directly to Claire’s table. From up close she could see just how attractive Claire Lally was. She looked nothing at all like her father. She had shoulder length hair that shined beautifully and every detail of her clothing and jewelry was perfect.

“Excuse me,” Lacey said to her, “you’re Claire Lally, right?”

Claire looked up at her. She seemed friendly enough, but a little surprised at being approached by a complete stranger.

“Yes,” Claire said.

“Do you mind if I take a seat?” Lacey said.

Claire shook her head.

“You don’t know me,” Lacey said, “but I really need to talk to you.”

“Okay.”

“Not right now. I need to talk to you in private.”

“What about?”

“Your father.”

“You know my father?” Claire said. She sounded troubled when she said it. Lacey wasn’t surprised. With a father like that, there weren’t very many positive things that someone would want to talk about.

Lacey nodded.

“Look,” Claire said, “whatever he did to you, I’m really sorry. I honestly am. But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Lacey wasn’t sure what to say to Claire. She’d been determined to talk to her but now that she was here she didn’t know if Claire could help her. It had been her instinct that had told her to find Claire. She still remembered the way Lally spoke about her. That first night she’d seen him, when they had her on the bar at the mansion, Lally had spoken about his daughter as if she was worse than an animal. Lacey’s instinct told her that Claire could help her, somehow. She decided that the best approach was to be honest.

“I’m trying to bring your father down,” Lacey said in a hushed tone.

“Excuse me?”

Lacey nodded. “I think he’s a bad man. I know he’s cruel. And I want to get even with him.”

“You’re crazy,” Claire Lally said.

“I know.”

“Do you know how dangerous my father is? Do you know how much power and influence he has in this city?”

“Yes, I do.”

“You have to leave, right now,” Claire said. “Get away from me. If he found out about this he’d have you killed. Just like that. He wouldn’t even think twice about it.”

“I know,” Lacey said.

“Then why the hell do you want to have anything to do with him? You should be terrified of him.”

“Claire, believe me, I am terrified. I know what a man like that is capable of.”

“Do you? Do you really? You didn’t grow up in his house.”

“You’re right. I didn’t. But I grew up in a bad place too.”

Lacey looked at Claire. She knew her instincts had been right. She knew Claire had no love for her father. The only thing that was preventing Claire from cooperating with her was that she was terrified of her father.

“What do you mean?” Claire said.

“I don’t want to presume anything about your life,” Lacey said. “I don’t know you. I don’t know what your life has been like, but I can say that I grew up in a place where there were a lot of cruel men. I know what that’s like. I know what can happen when things get ugly, when things get humiliating and abusive.”

“What do you know about my father?”

“I met him at The Club.”

“You’re a hooker?”

“Yes.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“Let’s just say he wasn’t exactly Prince Charming.”

Claire nodded.

“And you want to get back at him?”

“Yes I do.”

“And how the hell do you propose to do that?”

“I’m working on something,” Lacey said.

She prayed she was doing the right thing. She was taking a big risk going to Claire. All it would take was for Claire to go to her father and the whole thing would be over. Her cover would be blown, she and Chloe would be fired, and Lally might even come after them. It was a huge risk she was taking. It was crazy. But something told her to go with her gut, to trust her instinct and seek help from Claire.

“Look,” Claire said, “I know things can be hard for you girls. I can only imagine how my father treats you. But there’s really nothing I can do about it. I’m terrified of my father. If you’ve got some information on him then you go ahead and do what you’ve got to do. But I would advise you against it. He’ll kill you.”

Lacey nodded. She knew that what Claire was saying was true.

“If I was you,” Claire continued, “I’d forget about it. I’d stay quiet, do my job, and take whatever money he gives you. You don’t want to go up against a man like that. He’s a monster. He’s an absolute monster.”

Claire’s eyes began to tear up as she spoke about her father. Lacey could only imagine what kind of life she’d had as a child. Growing up with a man like Lally might even be worse than the childhood Lacey had herself. She felt bad for Claire. She pitied her.

“If he finds out what you’re up to,” Claire said, “he’ll hurt you. He’ll hurt you and hurt you and hurt you. And if he finds out that I’m helping you, he’ll hurt me.”

“I understand,” Lacey said.

“I’m sorry that I can’t be of any help,” Claire said, “but there’s no way I’m going up against my father. I know enough about the way the world works to know not to go up against men like him. All the cards are stacked in his favor. He and his friends own everything in this city. They’re the ones with the power. We live in their world, and if we want to survive, we stay out of their way and we do what they say.”

Lacey knew where Claire was coming from. The way she and her mother had grown up, their life in the motel in Las Cruces, hadn’t been very different to the life that Claire seemed to be speaking of. Lacey realized that life could be like that for all sorts of women, no matter where they grew up and what their world looked like. On the surface, a girl like Lacey couldn’t have come from a more different world than the one Claire was from. They were about the same age, they were both pretty girls, but apart from that, they’d grown up on opposite sides of the tracks. Lacey was from a dirt poor motel, the daughter of a cheap whore, and Claire was from the wealthiest of New York society. While Lacey had grown up watching TV in motel rooms, Claire had been getting private piano lessons in Manhattan penthouses. And yet, if you scratched beneath the surface, it seemed their lives were more similar than anyone would ever have guessed.

“That’s my husband,” Claire said. There was fear in Claire’s voice, bordering on panic.

Lacey looked around and saw Mark Wolf across the restaurant. Chloe was saying something to him, no doubt stalling him as long as possible.

“I’m sorry I put you in this position,” Lacey said. She grabbed a napkin and wrote her number on it. She wasn’t sure why but she wanted Claire to have a way of contacting her.

“Please leave,” Claire said. “I don’t want to have to explain who you are.”

There was so much fear in Claire’s face, in her voice, that Lacey didn’t delay. She handed the napkin the Claire, who shoved it into her purse and walked away.

She had to walk past Mark Wolf on the way out. He’d seen her speaking to Claire. As she approached him he looked at her.

“Should I know you, miss?” he said as Lacey reached him.

He was good-looking for his age. He had the look of wealth, with smooth, tanned skin, rich white hair and a beautifully tailored suit.

“I don’t think so,” Lacey said.

“You were just speaking to my wife.”

“Oh,” Lacey said. She didn’t know what to say. She was breathless.

“Do you know her?”

Lacey looked over at Claire Lally. The poor woman was watching them. Lacey knew that she was afraid. She knew now what Claire’s life must have been like. She was treated as a possession. At least, she would have been treated as a possession by her father. Lacey had seen enough of Lally to know that was how he viewed women. She couldn’t imagine anything worse than growing up under the oppressive thumb of a man like that. She knew just how similar Claire’s life must have been to the life she herself had escaped in Las Cruces.

“Claire and I grew up in the same place,” she said and kept walking.

IX

L
ACEY GRABBED CHLOE ON THE
way out of the restaurant.

“We’ve got to leave,” she said. “Thanks for stalling the husband.”

“Just let me say bye to Alex,” Chloe said.

While Chloe was saying bye, Lacey took a notepad from Alex’s desk and wrote Chloe’s phone number on it.

“What are you doing?” Chloe said.

Lacey smiled wickedly at her as she handed the note to Alex. “That’s her number,” she said to him, “you should call her some time.”

Chloe blushed bright red. She was so embarrassed, but on the other hand, Alex couldn’t have looked happier.

“Thank you,” he said to Lacey. Then to Chloe, “I’ll call.”

Chloe shrugged. “Whatever,” she said.

*

I
N THE CAB, CHLOE PUNCHED
Lacey hard on the arm.

“What the hell were you thinking?” she said.

“He said he’d call, didn’t he?”

“But that was
so
embarrassing, Lacey.”

“You’ll be thanking me when that gorgeous man takes you out for dinner.”

Chloe sat back in the seat. She seemed to be thinking about what a date with Alex would be like. “Do you think he’ll call?”

“I know he will.”

Lacey directed the cab to the restaurant Jason had taken her too. Jason wasn’t going to be there, she’d called him and he told her she was working, but she felt like going there anyway. The place was so warm and welcoming and she felt at home there. She wanted to see Luis.

Chloe went with her. Lacey offered to buy her dinner to make up for wasting her entire afternoon.

“You’re going to love this place,” she told Chloe.

*

W
HEN THEY GOT THERE, CHLOE
really did love it. They sat at the bar and Luis was as charming as ever. He poured them both wine that was made on the same mountain slopes he’d grown up on.

“I wish I grew up on mountains covered with vineyards,” Chloe said.

“Life is hard there too,” Luis said.

He left them to go prepare their food and Lacey told Chloe about the date she’d had there with Jason.

“There’s a garden on the roof,” she said. “That’s where we kissed.”

“I would love if Alex took me to a roof and kissed me,” Chloe said.

“You’re smitten!”

Chloe said nothing. Lacey laughed. I can’t believe how shy you’re being about this.

“You’re shy about Jason,” Chloe said.

“No I’m not.”

Lacey thought about it. She really wasn’t shy around Jason. Everything felt so natural, so comfortable. She’d gotten to know him so well, so fast. The only thing that scared her was the thought of that handgun she’d found, and the strange photos of soldiers on the streets. Why did he have a gun? What was he up to?

“I’ll be right back,” she said to Chloe and got up and went back to the kitchen. She wanted to speak to Luis about what she’d seen.

“I hope you haven’t come to steal my recipes,” Luis said when he saw her coming in.

Lacey smiled. “Never,” she said. “I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Anything,” he said.

“Is Jason involved in anything dangerous?”

Luis thought for a minute before answering her. “All young men are involved in dangerous things,” he said. “It’s in their nature. It’s their passions. If they’re passionate, if they’re worth anything, they’re involved in something dangerous. Even being involved with a beautiful woman like you is a danger, Lacey.”

“I know,” she said, “but I meant something more specific.”

Luis looked up at her. His eyes were kind but there was a seriousness to the way he looked at her. “What’s troubling you, child?” he said.

“It’s nothing.”

“Lacey.”

“Well, this morning, I was looking in his desk, I shouldn’t have been, but he left me at his house by myself and I was being curious.”

“You were snooping.”

“I was.”

“Women snoop,” Luis said. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of, you can’t help it.”

“Well, I was
snooping
, and I found a handgun in his drawer.”

“Ah, yes.”

“So?”

“So you want to know if Jason is a drug dealer or a jewel thief or something.”

“Well, is he?”

“Lacey, God as my witness, he’s nothing of the sort.”

“Then why does he have the gun?”

“That’s something I’ll let him explain to you himself, when the time comes.”

“When the time comes?”

“Yes, when the time comes.”

“And in the meantime?”

“In the meantime, all I can say is that young men have always been involved in dangerous things. It’s the passions, Lacey.”

“The passions?”

“Sí.”

“Sí?”

“And I might also remind you,” Luis said, “young women are also very passionate.”

Lacey nodded.

Luis continued, “They also get involved in dangerous things.”

Lacey looked at him for a minute before leaving the kitchen.

*

L
ACEY AND CHLOE ENJOYED A
delicious meal. Luis told them stories of his youth while they ate. It seemed he’d been involved in his share of dangerous things as a young man also. There had been all sorts of political troubles in Spain and he’d always managed to be at the center of them, or so it seemed from his stories.

Just as Luis was offering them some dessert Lacey’s phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?” she said.

“This is Claire Lally.”

“Claire! You called. I was afraid you wouldn’t.”

“Then why did you give me your number?”

“I had a sense,” Lacey said, searching for the right word.