She was surprised the evening Ed knocked on her bedroom door and told her to get dressed. “Wear something nice,” he said. “Something cute.”
So in her best second- or third-hand dress and sandals, she followed him out to his car. Although he’d told her not to pack a bag or bring anything along, she took a small leather pocketbook with a few papers and one-dollar bills-her savings. She knew Mary Ann was out for the evening-Thursday was her bingo night-and when she reached for the handle of the back door, Ed had said, “What’re you doing? You can sit up front with me.”
She thought she knew what would come next. She was wrong. But it turned out to be worse.
They drove through downtown Chicago and out the other side in Ed’s rattletrap station wagon. They crossed the river to the west side, and she saw a battered street sign that read DIVISION and she thought about that. She turned around in her seat and watched out the back window as the sun dropped and the buildings downtown burst with color, the glass and steel towers lighting up fire orange and magenta. The vibrancy of the colors reminded her of sunset in the mountain west and how long it had been since she’d seen one like that. Then, as suddenly as it started, the light and colors doused as if a curtain had been pulled and the buildings became buildings again. Dark, metal, and cold.
Ed was saying, “This is all for the best, all for the best.”
“Are you taking me back to the agency?”
“Something like that,” Ed said.
She was scared but resigned to whatever would happen next. She wished her foster sister were with her. But, as always, she was alone.
He parked on a street of old buildings. There were women in revealing clothes on the corners and knots of young black and Hispanic men on stoops and playing basketball on a cracked court with chain nets that sang when a ball passed through them. When she and Ed got out of the car, a couple of the boys saw her, stopped playing, and hooted like those friends of her “brother” outside the window well.
“Follow me,” Ed said, taking her hand.
They went through a heavy door and up narrow stairs. At the top of the landing was a single bare bulb. She detected a new smell on Ed to go along with the cigarettes, motor oil, and bacon: whiskey. He held her hand too tightly, and she tried to jerk away.
He turned on her, his eyes blazing. “Follow me,” he said.
“You hurt me.”
“Don’t try to run,” he said.
“Where would I run?”
“And cheer up. Try to look cute, like I told you. Wet your lips.”
She licked her lips.
“Okay,” he said.
At the top of the stairs Ed rapped out a series of taps on a door that could only have been some kind of code. She heard locks being thrown and the door opened.
“I’m Eddie V,” Ed said. “I’ve got her with me.”
A tall man in a suit with shallow, badly pockmarked cheeks ignored Ed and peered around him to look at her. But he didn’t so much look at as size her up, the way a man looks at a car he might buy. His eyes narrowed and he nodded to himself, humming. Then, “Come in.”
The tall man shut the door behind them. The room was nothing like what the building and the hallway suggested it might be like. There were soft lights and empty chairs and couches upholstered in buttery leather. There was a desk with a green shade. Music played in the background from invisible speakers. A bar in the corner had dozens of bottles on it and the liquid in them looked warm and delicious.
The tall man continued to look her over. He walked around her, appraising.
“We can do business,” the man said to Ed.
Ed let out his breath, obviously relieved. He turned to her and bent forward, lightly grasping her arms, and stared into her eyes.
“You’re going to be staying here for a little while, do you understand?”
She nodded.
“We’re doing this to protect you,” Ed lied. “Mary Ann was going to send you back to the agency anyway. She feels threatened by you-she told me that a bunch of times. She doesn’t like the way you look at her. This is for you. Do you understand? This way you can make some money and go on with your life.”
She nodded.
“If anyone asks, you ran away,” Ed said. “That’s what we’ll say, too. Do you understand? We’ll even file a report with the agency people and the police to make it official.”
She nodded.
“So don’t even think of turning yourself in,” Ed said, showing his yellow teeth. “Don’t forget, we still have that special ‘sister’ of yours. You wouldn’t want any harm to come to her, would you? Like sending her back so you’d never find her again? You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
“No.
“Well, neither would I, kiddo.”
Ed left her standing there in her dress and sandals while he and the tall man went through a door behind the desk. In a few moments, Ed came back out patting his breast through his jacket, as if he’d just put something there. She saw the corner of a thick white envelope as he passed by her. He said, “Take care of yourself, kid,” and left.
“What’s your name?” the tall man asked after the door closed and Ed went home with his pile of money.
She couldn’t bring herself to speak. Her legs felt weak and her mouth was dry.
“Can’t you talk?” the man asked her.
“Yes.”
“Then what’s your name? Don’t worry, we can always change it.”
She refused to say the name Voricek, or use the name they’d called her.
“April Keeley,” she said.
“Nice,” the tall man said. “And you’re what, eighteen?”
She was confused. “No, I’m…”
The man stepped forward shaking his head. “You’re eighteen,” he said with finality. “You just look younger. You have nice legs for your age, you know. And a good face. You need a manicure, though. We’ll take care of that, don’t worry.”
She quickly hid her hands behind her back.
“That’s a good look,” the tall man said, “it makes your breasts stand out and makes you look all innocent.” Then he chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders.
“We’ll take good care of you here,” he said. “We take good care of our girls. Ask them if you don’t believe me. You’ll be part of the family. And we take care of our family.”
A door on the far wall opened and a man came out, adjusting his tie. He was heavy and his face was flushed. When he saw her, he stopped and looked her over.