“Are my clothes out there?”
Josephs ignored her, spoke to us. “How do you want to do it?”
I could see a bra on the floor. I handed Josephs a name and address. “When you get set in position, you call me or Paul. When everbody’s set, we’ll call and tell you to move in. It’ll be synchronized.”
“Did you find my clothes?” The woman came out from the bedroom with a dingy-gray sheet as a wraparound. She snatched up her clothes from the floor. When Josephs turned her way, she said, “Thanks a lot, asshole. Some gentleman you are.”
Josephs turned back to us and spoke in a voice that didn’t care if she heard. “Don’t mind her, guys. She’s just a roundheels I picked up last night.”
She was gone to the back-I couldn’t tell if she heard him or not.
“I never should’ve brought her home,” Josephs said. “If I didn’t work vice, I would just pay for a pro. Sure it costs some money, but by the time I bought that skank enough drinks to get in her pants, I just about could have paid for a hooker, and then I wouldn’t have to deal with this broad’s attitude.”
A door slammed. Josephs grinned. “Good, she’s gone. Hey, speakin’ of hookers, are you gonna to nab Yashin’s daughter while you’re at it?”
Did I hear that right? “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Yashin’s daughter, I can’t remember her name.”
“Natasha.”
“Yeah, that’s it. Natasha. She’s a high-class hooker and a hot one at that. When I leave vice, I think I’ll look her up. I’ll probably have to save up two months’ pay, but it’d be worth-”
My world turned red. I was on top of him in a flash. I socked him in the face once, twice. Paul grabbed me from behind. “LET ME GO!” I shouted. I fought against the arms holding me back. “LET ME GO!”
I was wrestled to the floor from behind. Paul buried my face into the mildewed rug. My nose tickled uncontrollably. I went into a sneezing fit. Can’t BREATHE. I turned my face to the side and heaved as much air into my lungs as I could with Paul on top of me.
Josephs was yelling at Paul, “Let him go! I’m gonna fuck him up!” Josephs started trying to pull Paul off me. “Let him go!”
Paul managed to stay on top, his hands clasped under my stomach in a bear hug. As Josephs’s rants petered out, Paul’s pythonlike hold began to loosen. Once Paul was sure we’d both calmed, he whispered in my ear, “Are you all right? Can I let you up?”
I nodded, my cheek scraping carpet.
Paul let up superslow. I stayed still. When he let go, I rolled over, sat against the wall, and blew my nose into a dirty napkin.
Josephs was on the couch, nursing a bloody lip.
I said, “Natasha’s not a hooker.”
“She sure as hell is a hooker,” he said. “I arrested her myself. Check the fuckin’ books if you don’t believe me.”
My insides went to jelly. “Tell me about it.”
“Apologize first.”
I gritted my teeth. “You’re right, Josephs. I shouldn’t have come at you like that.”
Josephs thought it over, deciding whether or not I was sincere. I wasn’t. He said, “Okay, Juno. I’ll tell you, but only because we go back a few years.”
“Thanks.”
“Why are you so interested in her? You seein’ her?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have said those things about her if I knew you were pokin’ her. You know I’m not the kind of guy that talks about another guy’s woman.”
“I know. I just lost it, okay? I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You can say that again. You were like some kind of fuckin’ animal, man. You were flashin’ your teeth. I was afraid you were gonna bite me.”
“Sorry, Josephs.”
“Hey, man, that’s okay.” He wiped his lip with a towel.
“Tell me about Natasha.”
“It must have been a year ago. Back then I was all jazzed to arrest an offworlder. I’d only arrested Lagartans up to that point, and I thought it would look good on my record to have a few offworld collars. I got all dressed up, got my clothes ironed and everything. Then I hit some of the nice restaurants near the Town Square, you know, the touristy places. I’d hang out in the bar and wait for an offworlder to proposition a hooker. Didn’t have to wait long.”
Josephs wiped his lip again. This time it came away clean, and he tossed it on the floor. “You ever been in a restaurant called Afrie’s?”
“Yeah.” That’s where I’d met her.
“Your Natasha was there with two other hookers. They didn’t look like hookers though. I thought they were just out partyin’ together. There was also this group of five miners there. The two groups were makin’ eyes at each other, then the miners started sendin’ drinks over. One of the miners went over and sat with Natasha and her friends. You should’ve seen this dude. He had this fish skin-you know, scales and shit. They was all into touchin’ it, seein’ how it felt. He was turnin’ it on and off. One second he’s a fuckin’ fish, and the next, he’s a normal person. Natasha and her friends were oohin’ and ahin’ like schoolgirls. At this point, I wasn’t suspicious at all. I’m thinkin’ it’s just some innocent flirtin’, but then he goes back to his table, and the five of them pool together a bundle of cash. Then the guy goes back over to Natasha’s table and leaves the money with a hotel key. I followed them to the hotel and busted the whole lot. All eight of them.”
“You’re sure we’re talking about the same Natasha?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. When I booked her, she said her name was Yashin. I asked her if she was related to Pavel Yashin, and she said he was her father. I just about shit when I heard that. I asked her why she was hookin’. She’s got all the money she needs. She wouldn’t answer.”
I went for the door-had to get out of there.
Josephs stayed seated. “Sorry to break it to you. You were gonna dump her anyway, weren’t you?”
I stopped, my hand on the doorknob. “Why do you say that?”
“You’re about to arrest her father. Aren’t you gonna sting him? Give him a line like, ‘You’re under arrest, and I’ve been fuckin’ your daughter.’ Shit, that’s cold! That would sting him good, Juno. You could even dress it up a little-”
Paul put his hand on my shoulder and guided me out.
I couldn’t think straight. All this time she’d been with me, she’d been…
Paul yelled over the rattle of rain on the aluminum overhang. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. I have to talk to her.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“No.”
“Can you keep that temper under wraps?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“What good would that do?”
“I can watch while you talk. The second I see your switch go off, I’ll stop you before you hurt her.”
“You think you can stop me?”
“I just did.”
I called Natasha, told her to come down to my place right away. Paul and I sat together wordlessly waiting. My emotions cycled with alarming speed-anger, hatred, disgust, grief, resentment, hostility…They all burned through me-their combined combustion nearing a flash point. A knock on the door launched me from my seat. Paul went in the bedroom, leaving the door cracked.
I opened the front.
Natasha’s gray dress matched the sheeting downpour. The smile on her face didn’t last long. “What’s wrong?”
I let her in and led her into the living room, into Paul’s view. “I talked to Officer Josephs today.”
Her defenses snapped into place. “So?”
“He told me he arrested you a year ago.”
“So what if he did?”
“You’re a prostitute. That’s what you do when you say you’re going out with your friends.”
She looked away.
“How could you do that to me?”
When she turned back, her eyes had ignited. “How could I do what? Open my legs for money?”
My vision started to blur. “Yes. How could you do that?”
“Because they fucking paid me.”
“I don’t pay you.”
“Yes you do. You’ll pay me when you arrest my father-a onetime fee!”
“Is that all I am to you? A means of getting rid of your father?” I was pacing now.