Death of an Escort by Nathan Pennington Page A

and
she seemed fine."
    The girl seemed relieved, but she still kept
the door chained and wouldn't open it all the way.
    "I'm Ray Crusafi, by the way," I said.
    "Okay," she said. "I'm Adrienne."
    "Your sister will be back soon?"
    "Yeah," she said.
    "And you're not supposed to let strangers
in?"
    "Yeah," she said.
    "Do you know where your sister was Saturday
night?" I asked.
    "Yeah," she said.
    I was surprised. "Where was she?"
     
     

Chapter 9
     
     
    "At a motel. She goes often. Meets other
people."
    "Do you know who she was meeting Saturday?" I
asked.
    "Yeah," she said. She looked upset.
    "What's wrong?" I asked.
    "It's nothing," she said. But she looked
upset.
    "You seem angry," I said.
    "Well, I am," she said indignantly. "I mean
it's cool that Carlie lets me stay with her. If she didn't, I'd be
in a foster home. But—"
    "Go on," I prodded.
    "She's got these habits. Spends way too
much."
    "Drug habits?" I asked.
    "No," she said forcefully. "Nothing like
that. She spends money on people."
    "Like Kelly Brandt?" I asked.
    "She was her favorite," Adrienne said
bitterly. "Sometimes I have to eat at my friend's place because
there isn't any food here. The money is all gone."
    Kids nowadays were very educated on sex, and
I figured Adrienne was too. "How old are you?" I asked.
    "Thirteen," she said.
    "And you know about sex?"
    She nodded.
    "Do you think your sister is a sex
addict?"
    She nodded without hesitation. "But don't say
anything, promise? It really is better being here than in a foster
home."
    "Yeah, yeah," I said. "I won't say anything,
but it's not a good environment for you."
    "Trust me," she said. "Foster homes are
worse."
    "So you guys are often short on money?"
    "Yeah," she said. "I never get to do any of
the things I want to."
    "Like what?" I asked.
    "I like rock climbing," she said. "There's
this place off the main highway. It's cool. There's this big rock
wall you can climb."
    "I've seen it," I said. "The rock wall is
visible from the road. It's all windows in front of it."
    "Yeah," she said.
    I heard the squeal of breaks, and I saw
Carlie had pulled up. "I got to go," I said. "I'll keep your secret
if you promise not to say I was here."
    She looked undecided for a moment.
    "Remember what a foster home is like," I
said.
    She nodded. "Okay." She shut the door.
    Carlie was getting out of the car. She'd see
me if I left the normal way. So I didn't.
    I stood on the rickety railing and grabbed a
hold of the edge of the roof. Then I jumped. I got over half of my
body laying on the edge of the roof, and I quickly scrambled up the
rest of the way getting myself out of sight.
    Shortly after that I heard Carlie clomping up
the stairs. I heard her knocking. I heard the chain being slid back
from inside. The door opened. There was muffled conversation as
they said hello to each other.
    The door shut. The chain was slid back into
place. Now I waited for a little bit more. I wanted to give them
time to move into their apartment.
    After about thirty seconds, I slid off the
roof and into a heap on the landing. I thudded louder than I meant
to, and I jumped up and took the stairs down three at a time to get
out of there fast in case Carlie took a look outside.
    Whether she did or not, I don't know. I
didn't look back. Rather I reached the ground level and got around
the corner of the building. Then I wasted no time getting to my car
and getting out of there.
    My phone rang. I looked at it. The number was
the disposable phone I'd given my wife to call me. She was strictly
forbidden to call me on the house phone or her personal cell phone.
For that matter, her personal cell wasn't even programmed into this
phone.
    I didn't want links to her if something, or
someone got me.
    "Yes?" I said answering.
    "Sorry about this, but you need to come
home," she said.
    "What's wrong?" I'd never gotten a phone call
like this and instantly I felt a little panic.
    "Relax," she said. "It's bad, but not that
bad. For some reason, we've had pipes