Pink looked at Flynn, and then back to her captured audience.
“I used my tip money to buy information about Jasmyn, that’s my sister’s stripper name. I paid a lot of money for zero information. I showed up on time and did a good job and Andre, the manager, started giving me better shifts and tables. When I went to him directly and asked about Jasmyn, he told me only Boris had that information. But if I wanted it bad enough he would ask Boris on my behalf. If, I would make a video. I refused but then he told me the last girl to make a video was Jasmyn. Andre made it sound like Jasmyn made the video, handed it over to Boris who then paid her a large sum of money and she walked out the door never to be heard from again. I don’t believe Boris gave her a dime and I don’t believe she walked out of there either. Someone took her.”
“Explain the process in detail, please,” Justin asked levelly.
“Andre came to me in my dressing room this past Saturday night, saying there was a bunch of cops in for a private party. He wanted me to cut one from the herd, slip him the mickey Andre provided me, and once he was drugged, take him somewhere and make a compromising video of the two of us. I give the video to Andre, he then gives it to Boris and return he would get me the information I wanted. What Boris was going to do with it, I don’t know.” She looked at Flynn and had the decency to blush. “But I can guess.”
“And did you cut one from the herd, drug him, and make a video?” Justin prompted.
“Well, yes and no. I did cut one from the herd, and I did slip him the mickey, but he was on to me and, well, the night didn’t go as I had planned.”
“How did it go?” Price asked.
“None of your business, Price,” Flynn barked.
“If it’s relevant—” He tried to defend himself.
“It’s not. So leave it alone,” Flynn bit out. He looked at Justin for some help.
“I don’t understand what all of this has to do with you helping me find Alex,” Pink stated. “I’ve been working at that dump for over three months because of her. The only reason I’m here is because Flynn said you might be able to help me.”
“Settle down, Wild Style,” Price said.
Flynn stood so fast his chair fell back against the wall. “You’re being a disrespectful asshole, Price.”
“Knock it off, Maddox,” Justin commanded. As Flynn stared down the younger man, he had the common sense to nod.
“My apologies, Miss Fuentes.”
“I’ve been called a lot worse than my working name, Mr. Price. I doubt anything that comes out of your mouth can hurt me.”
Pride swelled in Flynn’s chest. He loved that she never made excuses for who she was or what she did. She’d more than held her own in here. She was an amazing woman who had put herself in a vulnerable position where people like Jackson and, Flynn cringed, himself, thought less of her because she took her clothes off. It shouldn’t matter why she did it; she chose to. Seeing the ugliness of it all made Flynn ashamed of himself. He should take a page out of her lesson book.
“I would never intentionally cause you harm, Miss Fuentes,” Price said, properly put in his place. The other men around the table shook their heads like he was the village idiot.
“Miss Fuentes,” Justin said, “We’ve had our eyes on the club for some time now. Unfortunately we don’t have the manpower to have eyes on the club twenty-four seven, so your intel is invaluable. Thank you. While I can’t speak to anything specific regarding your sister at the moment, I promise to look into her disappearance immediately. In so doing, I would caution you, not to make any contact with your father or his wife, or anyone associated with Surf’s Up except as it pertains to your job there.” Justin looked at Flynn. Message received. He’d back off.
He typed in notes, then looked back at Pink and smiled. Flynn knew that smile. The Trust-me-I’m-the-hero-I-won’t-lie-to-you-smile. “But while you’re here, I’d like as much information as you’re willing to provide us.”
Pink nodded. “I’ll tell you what I know.”
Justin went straight to the heart of the matter. “How many times have you drugged a Surf’s Up patron and videoed them in a compromising position?”
Pink’s eyes popped open. “That was my first time!” She glanced at Flynn, then back to Justin. Then said under her breath, “I had a lot of firsts that night.”
Flynn wanted to pull her into his arms and assure her this was almost over.
“I’m assuming you’re going to be in trouble with Andre if you don’t deliver the goods?” Justin asked.
Pink shivered. “Yes, he’s not the kind of man who gives you a pep talk and tells you to try again.”
“Is he under the impression you have a video?”
“I told him I had one, but that it was on my phone and the phone was stolen at my gym.”
“Is that true?”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
“Um,” she looked at Flynn, who nodded, urging her to tell the truth, as much as it might embarrass them both. “There was a video, but it was destroyed. The stolen phone part was a lie to buy time.”
“What was Andre’s reaction to your story?”
Biting her bottom lip, she looked at Flynn, then back at Justin. “He told me to make another one and that if I didn’t he would hurt me.”
“Jesus Christ, Pink, why the hell am I just hearing about it now?” Flynn ejaculated.
“It’s been a pretty eventful day, it slipped my mind.”
“How would you like us to help you out of your jam, Miss Fuentes?” Justin asked, calmly bypassing the storm.
“I don’t know exactly,” Pink said. “What did you have in mind?”
Justin’s eyes glittered with excitement. He looked at Flynn, then to Pink. Flynn had the distinct feeling he wasn’t going to like what Justin was about to propose.
“Using you and Flynn, we’ll create what appears to be a compromising video, which you can deliver to Andre.”
“Hold the fuck up,” Flynn said, standing. “No sex video.”
Justin’s jaw tightened. “We’re not in the porn business, Ryker.”
“Good, because that isn’t going to happen.” Hell if he was he going to have Pink strip down and make it look like he was fucking her while the task force recorded it.
Flynn grasped Pink’s hand and pulled her up. The agreement when he’d called Justin this morning was for information trading. Nothing more. Now they wanted her to make another video and in effect work as a UC in the club? No fucking way. “It’s too dangerous for Miss Fuentes to go back to the club. Find another way to get what you need.”
Yanking her hand from Flynn’s, she said to Justin, “I’m open to suggestions.”
“No, damn it,” Flynn said, seething.
When she turned and pressed her small hand to his chest, Flynn’s heart leapt against it. “I appreciate your concern, Flynn, but I’m going to see this through, even if it means I go back to the club.”
Not if he had his way she wasn’t.
“Miss Fuentes,” Justin said. “Right now, this meeting is all we’ll require of you, and of course if you see any of those men in the photographs, you will notify us when you do.”
Chapter Nineteen
Izzy sat back thoughtfully in the seat of the Corvette and tried to put together exactly what just happened. She got the distinct impression that the crew at the Federal Building wanted more from her than they were willing to give in return.
“What if your people can’t find Alex?” she asked Flynn, who had said less than two words since they’d gotten back into the car.
“If there’s something to find, they’ll find it,” he said curtly.
“Even though she hasn’t been reported missing?”
He glanced over at her, then back to the road ahead. “I gave you my promise I’d help you find her. If you say she’s missing, then she’s missing.”