Chapter 2
Kendrick
“Damn it.”
With it sputtering and knocking, I barely made it off the highway. I’d put off having my baby serviced for far too long. At least I had a mechanic on standby. Thankfully, the gleaming windows of my office building loomed in the near distance.
As soon as I rolled into the parking lot, I smashed my fist against the steering wheel. Up until a few months ago, I’d managed to take care of my aging baby, seeing to every need, whether unexpected or for routine maintenance. I blamed my grueling schedule for shirking my duties.
Snatching the keys, I stepped into the humid air, immediately yanking at my confining tie. Even before I closed the door, I made a call to my on-call mechanic.
“Trouble in paradise again?” Harry laughed even as he answered.
“Very funny.” I struggled to yank my briefcase from behind the seat, leering at the building reflected in the hazy sun. Another grinding day. “Can you squeeze her in?”
“Need a tow?”
“If you can swing it.”
“Yeah, for an officer of the court I can do anything.” Harry was only so amiable since I’d kept his ass out of jail.
“Can you have it back this afternoon? I have a card game tonight.”
“Well, dear God. I wouldn’t want to interrupt your famous card game. I’ll get it done. But you owe me this time.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, slamming the door. “Put it on my tab.”
After shoving my phone in my jacket pocket, I glanced at my watch. Thirty fucking minutes late. That wasn’t like me. I jogged toward the entrance, pushing my way past employees, all rushing toward the elevators.
At least I wasn’t the only one fighting time.
I took a deep breath, trying to remember what I had on my agenda. At least there were no court appearances.
The moment the elevator reached the top floor, I pushed past everyone else, receiving a couple of nasty looks when I did.
As soon as I’d taken two steps into the sprawling office, my legal assistant appeared as if from a puff of smoke.
“Misty. Are you stalking me again?” I didn’t break my stride as I headed for my office. She could barely keep up with my long legs.
“Yes, sir. Whatever it takes. You’re late.” Said while giving me the evil eye.
“Tell me something I don’t know. Do you have news or are you just harassing me for fun?”
She laughed, more so when I threw her a nasty look. “I do love harassing you, but I’ll skip doing so until later. I thought you might want to know you have guests in your office.”
That stopped me short of reaching my door. She knew exactly how I felt about an unannounced visit from anyone. “Who?”
“Detective Jackie Abbott. I believe you know her.” Now Misty’s expression was one heavy duty smirk. The little wench.
Know? Jackie and I had almost come to blows more than once.
She was as hardnosed as they came and didn’t like me very much.
Neither did her boss. The feeling was mutual.
Gee. Maybe I wasn’t a lovable guy. Nah. That wasn’t it.
I just refused to accept bullshit from anyone.
“A social visit or another one of her famous beat downs?”
Misty grinned as if keeping a hot little secret. “She needs your help with a case.” Now she sounded like one of those cats who ruled the roost and every human involved.
I sucked in my breath, almost stating my feelings out loud. When hell froze over. I refrained. With all favors came a return. “Any idea of the case?”
She shook her head. “No, but she has a young woman with her. The girl looks pretty beaten up.”
Huh. It wasn’t typical for a detective to meet with the prosecuting attorney when a case hadn’t been assigned. Jackie must really need a favor. “Okay. I appreciate you letting me know. Hold my calls.”
“You got it, boss. Oh, be nice to the girl. Please. She’s been crying.”
Great. A crier.
“I’m always nice.”
“Um. Your nose is growing, Pinocchio.”
As Misty walked away, I stood where I was, grumbling before taking a few deep breaths.
The moment I entered my office, I had a bad feeling whatever story I was about to hear wasn’t typical on my docket of cases.
The detective stood by the window, staring out at the Miami skyline.
The girl, who couldn’t be more than nineteen or twenty, was sitting in a chair, her head down and her body rocking.
And she was bruised.
That immediately brought outrage to the surface.
Any level of abuse was the lowest form of criminality in my book.
When it involved a woman or child, the perpetrator needed to spend the rest of his or her miserable life behind bars.
My entire career had been based on the determination to put abusive scum in prison.
I’d taken an oath to protect the innocent. As of late, it seemed the bad guys were on a winning streak.
The detective finally turned her head, studying me as she always did, with utter disdain in her eyes. Yet something was different. As if the case she was involved in was personal.
“Detective Abbott. To what do I owe the pleasure?” My greeting was always the same, a curt reflection of her attitude. We both had our reasons for our antagonistic behavior.
Her hesitation to answer caught me off guard. I closed the door, putting my briefcase down. The young girl immediately jumped, although the sound was minimal. Even her lower lip was quivering. She was utterly petrified.
“Mr. Stark, this is Denise Taylor.” Jackie’s tone was entirely different than I was used to hearing. Softer. Comforting. She was also giving me a look I’d grown accustomed to in my line of work. Go forward with kid gloves.
Instead of sitting behind my wooden throne like some bureaucratic asshole, I chose to sit on the corner of my desk. Far enough away I wasn’t crowding Denise’s space, yet close enough to make the moment more personal.
When Denise didn’t lift her head, Jackie gave me a warning look.
“Hi, Denise, I’m Kendrick. It’s great to meet you.” While I wasn’t known to be a patient man, I sensed the girl was already on overload. When she didn’t respond immediately, I was allowed a few seconds to make a generalization about her condition.
Her hair was disheveled yet not dirty. The clothes were nice instead of being torn and filthy, which were subtle signs of a runaway.
While a few of her fingernails were painted a lovely blush pink, others had been ripped off, a sign of a struggle.
She was tapping one foot on the floor, her entire body shaking.
Whatever Denise had been through, she’d managed to place a shield around herself.
“It’s okay, Denise,” Jackie offered. “Kendrick is here to help you. He’s one of the good guys.” In her hands was a file and I couldn’t help but notice her fingers were white knuckled from her firm grip. The case had gotten to her.
I wasn’t certain if the compliment was stroking my ego for the favor or encouragement for the young woman. Whatever the case, it worked, Denise finally lifting her head.
I’d seen a lot of shit in my days of prosecuting some of the worst criminals in the city, but I wasn’t prepared for the sight of anyone being used as a punching bag. One eye was swollen shut, a cut on her cheek. Her bruises were starting to turn yellow. What the hell had the girl been through?
Somehow, Denise was able to offer a smile. “You can’t stop them.”
Them. “Who are you talking about?”
“The Privileged.”
I glanced at Jackie, her nod indicating she had been completely briefed on what Denise was trying to tell me.
If this was an ordinary case of abuse, I’d already have the details in my hands.
I had a feeling Jackie didn’t believe there was enough evidence, yet felt the case was important enough to bring to my attention.
Or that a potential scandal was involved.
“Who are the Privileged?”
“I don’t know their names but they’re powerful. And rich.” Denise had a faraway look in her eyes.
“How were you involved with them?”
She raked her hand though her hair, studying me the same way Jackie had always done. To see if I could be trusted. “Modeling. That’s what I thought. I was chosen. You have no idea how excited I was. I thought it was my big break.”
“And it wasn’t.”
“No. They lured me in like so many others.”
“What do these Privileged people do?” I tried to keep my voice soft and my tone comforting. She was fidgeting, scratching her wrists. They were chafed. Fuck. The bastards had shackled her. My anger was already increasing.
“They steal girls and make them… We had to…” She burst into tears and I took the opportunity to glance at Jackie.
In her eyes was the same level of fury I felt.
“Take your time. Just tell me what you can. That way I can do everything in my power to bring them to condemnation.”
“They’re too powerful. You don’t understand. They have a secret club. Private membership.” Tears slipped past her lashes, her voice barely a whisper. But I heard every word.
“How do you know all this?”
“I listen. I pay attention. I… I was auctioned, bought by some asshole, but I fought them. I couldn’t do it.”
“Do you have any idea where this club is located?”
“No. I was brought there in a van with several other girls. We were all wearing blindfolds.” The poor girl continued rocking back and forth, making it difficult to keep from reacting. The last thing Denise needed was anyone, especially a man acting in any way intimidating.
“Does this club have a name that maybe you overheard or a window you looked out of? Maybe you noticed something outside.”
She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m sorry. It was all black. Every room. There are so many girls there. Even one looking for her sister. God, she volunteered to be a player so she could save her sister.”
I could easily tell Denise was close to succumbing to paralyzing fear, her answers disjointed. Hell, I couldn’t blame her.
Sighing, I realized why Jackie had brought her to me. She knew enough about the organization that she hoped Denise’s testimony would expose the group’s atrocities. Not at this point. “You were trying to help the girls.”
“Yes.”