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  I wondered if it could work. And even if it could work, who was to say that Regina would ever be able to find enough proof to show that this Carl was behind Becky’s murder? It made sense that that he was behind it somehow, because he would have the power and influence to make sure that everybody involved in this case would dance to his tune. But how would we ever prove it? That was the thing.

  I chewed on my bottom lip as I thought about the dilemma that I was in. Regina was telling me something that a part of me already knew. And I did want her to go ahead and go with her plan. I was going to try very hard to find some kind of proof that this Carl was behind murdering Becky. But if I couldn’t, maybe there would be some other way that I could bring him down.

  In fact, I knew that there would be a way to bring him down. The prosecutor’s office was completely dirty, so there would be no way in hell that they would ever move against this guy. The cops were also dirty, so they, too, refused to do anything against him. Even if all that was true, I knew that there was a way that I could bring this bastard to justice. It might not be perfect justice. Perfect justice in this case would mean that Carl would end up in an orange jumpsuit for the rest of his life, and, as a sex offender, specifically a child rapist, he would definitely experience the worst kind of treatment in prison. But I knew that that might not happen.

  However, even if it didn’t happen, there was another way that I could bring him down. It involved the legal system, and it involved Regina doing her job well enough that she could convince at least a few of the girls to turn against Carl. If she could do that, then we would be on our way. I wouldn’t even need the cooperation of the prosecutors or the cops or anybody else.

  “When are you going to go and see this Carl, and how are you going to approach him? I mean, I’m assuming that this Jean person, since she’s now working in a dentist’s office, probably does not have a line to Carl anymore. I would assume that Carl’s activities are underground, to say the very least. I mean, he can’t just trust anybody off the street. I mean, what you gonna do, just go to his house, knock on the door, and ask him for a job? That’ll never work.”

  “Of course that won’t work. Listen, I have contacts everywhere. Not just on the street, but I have other contacts that will help me out in this situation. I’ve got people who will be able to vouch for me to Carl. I’m just going to have to hit up my contacts, and call in a few favors. There are quite a few people who owe me a favor, it’s just a matter of finding the right person who knows Carl and has his ear.”

  “And who are you thinking about?”

  She nodded her head. “Listen, I’ve been doing my homework on this Carl person. And I do know one thing – he doesn’t just hang out with other rich dudes like him. I mean, he hangs out with other rich dudes, but some of those rich dudes who hang out with him aren’t exactly managing hedge funds themselves. Some of the guys who hang out there are CEOs and hedge fund managers and athletes and actors. People who have a respectable job by day, and by night, want to get their freak on with a very young girl. But I also found out that some of the rich dudes who hang out with Carl are guys who are in the industry, just like Carl, but not quite as savory. If you know what I mean.”

  I knew exactly what Regina meant. Organized crime. “Who are you talking about? Russians, Albanians, Armenians, Mexicans?” I knew that the Italian Mafia was not very strong in Southern California. In fact, the Italian Mafia was not that strong west of Las Vegas. But in Southern California, other ethnic groups certainly did run rampant.

  “Let’s just say that I know a guy by the name of Sergei Popov. And I’ve talked to him. He’s a friend of mine. I asked him about Carl’s ring, and he told me that he wants to meet with me tomorrow night. It sounds like he knows something about it, probably knows people who are involved in it. I don’t know, but I’m hoping that he can lead me to somebody who will be able to get me into Carl’s inner circle.”

  When she was talking, I started feeling a sense of hope. I felt like there was a chance that I might finally get some closure on everything that happened, and that I might finally get a measure of justice. It was just a matter of Regina finding out what she needed to find out, and then hopefully, I could maybe put the pieces together.

  “Listen, Regina, you be careful.” I knew that I was speaking to somebody who was going to be careful, to say the very least. She could take care of herself probably better than anybody out there. She was not a naïve person, and that was an understatement. At the same time, I didn’t quite know if she was used to infiltrating such a high-level world as what she was volunteering to do for me. I knew that people, when they go undercover, were taking their lives into their own hands. If anything happened to Regina because she was working for me, I could never forgive myself.

  “Trust me, I got this. I’ve worked with much more dangerous people than Sergei Popov and his entire creepy clan. I’ll be careful, but really, it’s not necessary to say that.”

  I had a wrap in my purse, and I brought it out and wrapped it around my shoulders. I put my feet up on the edge of the fire ring, and leaned back. I had to admit, it was a perfect evening for a glass of wine and relaxation. My big trial was over, Esme Gutierrez was a free woman, and there was the possibility that Regina would be able to bring this whole thing home.

  At that moment, life was good.

  Tomorrow, it might be a different story. But, for tonight, I was content to just listen to the sounds of the ocean rolling in and out while I sat on the patio of a luxury restaurant.

  Chapter 2

  Regina

  Regina knew what she had to do. It wasn’t anything that she looked forward to, yet she knew that if she was going to get into the inner circle of Carl Williams, she was going to have to go back to her sex worker days. She knew that she had the muscle memory for it. She figured that it would be just like riding a bike. Yet, she knew that she didn’t really want to sell her body. And she certainly did not want to do what she was going to have to do, which was to go out on the streets and find young girls. Her plan was to help Avery with what the two of them had talked about at the restaurant the night before – and that was that Regina was to find these girls, and use them to testify against Carl in a court of law.

  Avery’s plan was that she needed Regina to help her find victims in Carl’s circle, talk to them in a way that only she could, and see what they could do as far as suing Carl. Of course, Avery was going to do what she could about going to the prosecutor’s office and to the police and see if they would be interested in actually prosecuting these people. But Regina and Avery both held out little hope that such a move would go anywhere. Carl was just too powerful, and he had too many people in his pocket for the two of them to have any hope at all that these people would do the right thing. So, it was up to Avery to hopefully bring this entire thing down.

  It wouldn’t be just the fact that these girls would be in court suing this bastard, but also the media attention surrounding such a sensational lawsuit would be devastating to Carl. Of course, it was all a matter of finding enough girls who would be willing to go against him. And also to be mindful of the statute of limitations, which was two years for sexual misconduct. The advantage in this case, however, was that the victims were minors. They were going to almost all be under the age of 18, which meant that the statute of limitations did not start running for them.

  At the same time, Regina was not sure that Carl was actually behind Becky’s murder. She only knew that he was behind exploiting her. And she had a good feeling that, no matter what, the fact that Becky was being exploited was, in the end, the cause of her being killed. She also had a strong feeling that Carl had to have been behind the murder in some way, because he would have been powerful enough to have corrupted the prosecutor. She had already gone through the records on what happened with Becky’s case, and she knew exactly the reason why her friend was convicted for her murder.

  The prosecutor in that case was a guy by the name of Paul Sharpton. She alr
eady had Christian hack his bank records for the period of time when he was apparently on the take from Carl. Christian could not find any kind of large transfer from Carl to Paul. Christian combed through all the bank transactions, and came up empty.

  So, Regina had to figure that one out too. Why was Paul so willing to make sure that Avery was convicted for the murder of Becky, if he was not being bribed to do so? Regina figured that it was something else. She knew that when corruption happened, it usually happened for one of two reasons. Either the corrupted person was being bribed, or they were being blackmailed. In her experience, the second scenario was much more powerful. The first scenario was powerful for people who were greedy. But, to be greedy enough to send an innocent girl to prison for the rest of her life, that took a special kind of sociopath. Only a person without a conscience would be able to do such a thing for money.

  But, if it was a blackmail situation, all bets were off. People had a survival instinct. If they were presented with the choice between their life, or exposure of something that they did, or exposure of something that someone they loved did, and the life of another, they were going to choose self-preservation every time.

  Every time.

  So, that was something that Regina was going to have to figure out. Exactly why this Paul Sharpton did what he did. And if she could figure that out, what his big secret was, then she would be able to expose him. And if she could expose him, then that would be another way that Avery could get some justice on what happened to her. Because, in the end, although she could understand the need to self preserve, that did not excuse what he did. Nothing could ever excuse him withholding crucial evidence from the court in the case.

  There was something else that was unusual about Paul Sharpton. After Avery’s murder case, he moved from Kansas City out here to San Diego. He had been in the San Diego County prosecutor’s office for the past 20 years or so. Other than the fact that his presence in the prosecutor’s office made Avery sick every time he was on the other side of one of her case’s, Regina wondered if Paul’s move was significant in some way.

  Regina also suspected that Gloria Flores, Avery’s public defender, was dirty. She had reviewed the file carefully, and, if Gloria was not dirty, then she was spectacularly incompetent. One or the other. She suspected corruption on Gloria’s part as well, however.

  She was going to do what she could to make sure that everybody went down for Avery’s imprisonment. Starting with Carl.

  She made a date with Sergei for that night. Sergei was a very attractive Russian man, a Boyevik in a Russian clan by the name of Ivanov. The Ivanov clan ruled Southern California. They were into trafficking, drug dealing, extortion, gun running, and illegal gambling. As a Boyevik, which was the equivalent of a soldier in the Italian Mafia, Sergei was responsible for trafficking women for the Ivanov clan. He was not involved in Carl’s circle, however, as Carl strictly dealt with underaged girls, and Sergei was only into trafficking women who were not underaged. He concentrated on women between the ages of 21 and 25, recruiting them for an underground high-class nightclub that was in a nondescript building by the Embarcadero, right across from where the cruise ships docked on the waterfront. Regina had visited this club, mainly because she was curious, and, before she got a job as a private investigator for Avery, she thought that she might end up working at just such a club.

  The reason why this club was underground, and not an out and proud strip club, such as the clubs that dotted boulevards all over the San Diego area, from Point Loma to Miramar, was that it was a front for a prostitution ring. Strip clubs generally had neon signs that advertised the wares within. Some of the clubs featured fully nude dancers, and their websites advertise exactly that.

  But the club that the Ivanov family ran was a different beast altogether. This was a very exclusive club, as members paid $1000 and up per month to belong. And the reason for this was simple – the girls were providing not just a show for the gentlemen who frequented the club, but the girls who were on display could also be bought. The club featured a number of various rooms where men could indulge their every fantasy. For instance, for men who were into bondage and discipline, there was a room that was outfitted with an enormous St. Andrew’s cross as well as a whipping post, chains, leather suits, anything that a well-heeled gentleman would desire. There was an orgy room, which was just as it sounded – it was a room where groups of people would get together and have sex. There were a variety of other rooms that attracted men who were just looking to have a good time, but were into a more vanilla variety of a sexual experience.

  The girls would dance for the men in the main part of the building, most them completely nude, and, if a man desired a more intimate encounter with any one woman, he was entitled to that. With his membership, he was entitled to one free encounter every month. After that, he had to pay by the hour. The fees ranged from $500 per hour for a vanilla encounter, all the way up to $2000 per hour for an encounter that involved humiliating and degrading the woman he chose. The girls got a certain percentage of the fees that these men pay, generally 30%, and the house kept the rest. Regina’s feminist instincts were appalled by such an arrangement. As far as she was concerned, if a girl agreed to be humiliated, which sometimes involved literally getting pissed on or being defecated on, she was certainly entitled to more than $600 per hour, which is what she got from the house, while the Ivanovs took the rest of the $1400 per hour. For something like that, Regina would certainly demand more than $600 per hour.

  But she was not going to lecture anybody about their business practices. It was not her affair, after all.

  Sergei was the person who found the women who worked in this particular club. The women who worked in the club ranged from women who were bored housewives who worked the day shift while the kids were in school, to professionals who had been in the business for years, to college students who were working on their master’s degrees. Because every woman in this club was older than 21, Sergei did not try to recruit undergrads, unless they were in their senior year. It was important that the girls were 21 and clean, because this was the understanding that the police had about this club. Regina knew that Yuri Ivanov, the Pakhan of the Ivanov clan, which meant that he was the head of it, had an arrangement with the police force in the San Diego area. For this particular club, the cops got 20% of the club’s gross, in exchange for not raiding the place. But the private agreement between Yuri and the police force was that the girls had to be at least 21. The reason for that was pretty simple, really. Girls who were older than 21 knew what they were getting into, and they were not being exploited.

  On the other hand, if the girls were not of age, then that would be a problem. Younger girls were ripe for being exploited. Regina knew that in order to find younger girls, they could not fish from the same pool as the Ivanov club did. They would not be able to find the bored housewives, the girls working on their PhDs, the long time professionals, the models trying to make it. No. With the younger girls, the trafficking generally involved either kidnapping, nabbing runaways, or, as in Regina’s case, finding girls who had difficult home lives who were looking to get out. In other words, when you go younger, it necessarily involved exploitation. And that, apparently, was a bridge too far for the police force. They did not agree to lay off of the Ivanov club if any of the girls were under the age of 21. Therefore, Sergei was very careful about making sure that every girl was at least 21. He was diligent about checking their IDs, and if anybody did not check out, she was not offered a position there.

  Regina, in a way, did not mind what Sergei did for the Ivanov clan. She was of the mindset that when you are free, white, and 21 - so to speak, as the girls who worked these clubs were from every walk of life and every ethnic background - the girls were free to do as they pleased. They were paid well for what they did, they walked into the club with their eyes opened, nobody was forcing them, and they generally were not vulnerable to exploitation.

  But she could not say the same thing
about Yuri. After all, Yuri was responsible for Carl’s ring as well. Carl’s ring made Regina nauseated. It was one thing to have an underground sex club with girls who were over the age of 21. It was another thing entirely to run a pedophilia sex trafficking ring such as what Carl was responsible for. She wanted to bring him down, and she wanted to bring him down hard. Not just because she had a feeling that Becky’s murder was somehow tied to this ring, but because a disgusting ring like that should not exist. And, if their plan went off without a hitch, this ring would be exposed, at the very least. So, she was itching to get in there and infiltrate it. She was going to do whatever she could to bring the entire thing imploding. And the first step in the plan was to have this meeting with Sergei.

  Of course, Sergei could not know what she was planning. If he did, he would never give her the information that she needed. After all, Carl was paying Yuri a lot of money to procure the girls for this ring. And, Carl was making a lot of money off this ring as well. If the men at the underground Ivanov club paid $1000 per month for the privilege of membership, the men who were involved with Carl’s club paid $50,000 and up per month to have the privilege of exploiting these young girls. If he had any idea what she was up to, he would not help her infiltrate. As it was, he was going to be in trouble once she turned against the Ivanovs in this. As a Boyevik, he was expected to be loyal to the clan. That was his job, in the end – loyalty to the clan, and working for them.