The Sins of the Father

The Sweet Interview

"So Ms. Anderson. I'm glad you agreed to meet here." The steel legs of the folding chair grates against the cement floor. The kid gloves that I had used on her earlier, had all but melted. In its place, an abrasive, hardened conscience. Fool me twice, never happens.

"Trust me it wasn't out of the goodness of my heart." She sat back in her seat. Her fingertips turned red from the tight grasp she held her blue bag with.

I leaned in, preparing to speak low. "Yes, we both know that saving your own ass outweighed any heart you thought you possessed-" The moaning of the door interrupts any further accusations I was prepared to hurl at her. Billy's long, bouncy strides carries to the seat next.

"So, I'm assuming you will be playing second fiddle Billy?" At his nod, ' I'll start the questioning then." His chair scraped against the bare floor as he sat into the wooden seat, his back faced the door. Eyes sparkled as if he was opening up his first Christmas present.

"In our first interview, you had me under the impression that you were concerned about your friend Sam. Even misdirecting my attention to a priest named father Morgan. The story he painted of Sam and you were complete opposites of what you told me. Now before you answer, I need you to think long and hard about your response. Obstruction of Justice is a pretty serious offense.

I watched her. Her eyes shifting around the room as she contemplated her next move. She remained calm and even managed to paste a small smile on her cheeky face. What I didn't miss, is how quick her lungs grasped for air. Her chest constantly moved up and down like that of a restless wave of the ocean.

She blinked, tilted her head to the side, tongue in cheek," Yeah, I know Father Morgan, we go way back him and I. The first person to really give a damn about me. f****d him once, after that he would just give me money to keep him company. No s*x, no strings attached. I wasn't his exact type." The smile that emerged from her pink glossed covered lips, didn't reach the sadness expressed in her eyes. Her dainty manicured fingers reached up to grasp a ringlet of her brown curls. "He preferred blondes. Not the chemically altered but the natural ones.. He seemed to have a knack in distinguishing the two. Don't know how."

My patience was held on by a shear thread of curiosity. It seemed the kidnapper and Morgan had more in common than expected.

"He mentioned you being a recruiter of some sort, mind telling me the ins and outs of that?"

"You're a smart lady, how about you tell me what a recruiter does?" she snorts.

"Ms. Anderson, either you cooperate, or we'll start the paperwork of charging you with obstruction of justice. Believe me, your record will not be able to take another hit without major consequences of some serious jail time being involved." I could see the muscle below her ear flex. She let out a harsh sigh then proceeded to give the information needed.

"I find runaways, offer them more than what they had. A roof over their heads, meals, income, in exchange for them "working". With one of my top customer being Father Morgan. Who also provides financial support and sometimes housing to the, 'poor sheep' as he likes to call them."

"How did Sam get in the picture?"

"I ran into Sam at a small cafe, a few years ago. Like a fish out of water. I could tell she wasn't your normal nine to fiver. She was too clean a little too crisp around the edges and oblivious to her surroundings. It was like country mouse meeting the city. Her hair was to her waist then. Thick and beautiful and of course blonde, how be it, a little on the darker side of that spectrum. She was so full of life." For the first time in the interview ,Candy came alive, her eyes twinkled when she began talking about Sam. A good detective knows this is the time to not interrupt. Knowing that the interviewee has now, successfully, let their hair down.

Spurts of the conversation is registers as she speaks> " I introduced Sam to her first joint. She didn't know when to stop. You know, always had something to prove.'

She found Sam passed out in alleyways from her being high off of liquid heroin. Made her check into rehab. Her mouth continued to move but I had zoned out.

Until, she mentioned the word boyfriend. "Wait, you said boyfriend? Sam had a boyfriend? At her nod she looked over at Billy in disbelief.

"Yeah, I never met him though." Her hands hold her attention as she jabs at a loose cuticle. "He went by the name McCarty. He loved to put his hands on her on occasion. A few times she would come home all roughed up. She always went back for more though. That was Sam never knowing when to admit defeat."

"Did he by any chance know she was a prostitute?"

"Oh yeah, that's the main reason he began using her for a punching bag. You see, he met her at that nice down home moms and pops restaurant on the corner of twenty third street. She worked second shift. For obvious reasons. That sweet image she portrayed there, was a far cry from the "pretty woman" she became nightly. He fell in love with her, found out from one of her customers, who he just so happened to know. By that time he was already smitten. He started pimping her out."

"And you know this because?"

"She told me that the bastard did. He was setting her up with all types of men. It was humiliating to her. She found escape through drugs. I tried getting her to reconcile with her parents. I found if I pressed the issue too much, she would run off for days.

"Previously, you said you two made a pact and she would text you her "john" info. Now you are saying she would run off. Which is it?"

"Both. The night she went missing I knew she was working the block. So I knew I would receive a text. It was out of character for her to work and not text."

Why didn't you mention this before?"

She smiled leaned forward- "My ass wasn't on the line before."

"If you fail to cough up any other information, no matter how small, your ass won't be the only thing I draw around a chalked line. Hope we have a clear understanding?"

"Very clear," she gulped, "may I go now, its pretty stifling in here."

"Yes you are free to go. Not to far I hope, wouldn't want you to get lost in another county or state Candy."

She gave one last hard look between Billy and me, gathered her things and exited.

"Billy, a favor, make sure she doesn't try to run. Also, find me all the names in the database of a McCarty please."

"Yes ma'am, I'm on it." He began to get up out of the seat and hurriedly reached for the door handle.

I'm not that old.

"Oh and Billy" he turned before his reply could be uttered, I interrupted.

"Don't, yes ma'am me."

He smiled and nodded his head and left. Seems I will be paying good old Father another visit after all. Hopefully, without the foreplay of my hammer and trigger.