Free Shards by Allison Moore Page A

then her family would find out. Because she was a user, I had problems keeping her in line. She tended to be erratic, and her information wasn’t right on. But I took care of her, and I paid her well.
    I always paid my CIs well. If they were going to make a buy for me from a target I was interested in, I would pay them at least a hundred bucks. Sometimes two hundred if the department would allow it. When you’re working with addicts, the law says they can’t use. They sign papers when they start working as CIs. We take their photos, and they have numbers that go into the search warrants to protect their identities, but they couldn’t use, and they couldn’t get arrested. The thing is, how are they going to make buys for youif they’re not using? So I always made sure I gave them enough money to keep them in the drug world using. I would be really open with them and say, “Dude, are you using? If so, just tell me. Let’s hit a target that you’re not buying from, and if you want help, we’ll figure out how to get you into rehab afterward.”
    When I was on patrol, I was really vocal about how passionate I was about narcotics work. I got the message through to my captains that I was a great patrolman but I could also do drug work at the same time.
    One day my sergeant, Sergeant Wilkes, came up to me and said, “How would you like to do a little work with vice, Moore?”
    â€œI would love it, sir!” I said. Vice was my dream.
    â€œPatrick needs someone for undercover,” he said, “and I’ll be honest with you. He hasn’t had an easy time getting female officers to do this in the past. But if you’re game . . .”
    â€œTell him I’ll do it,” I said impulsively, knowing full well what he was asking me to do. They needed someone to go undercover as a prostitute, and none of the other girls would do it. I was so dedicated to the job that I didn’t care.
    Prostitution was not a huge problem in Maui—generally MPD only arrested one or two prostitutes in a year, and sometimes none at all. But the chief wanted to do a reverse sting and get the johns in order to send the message that prostitution would no longer be tolerated.
    There was a prostitute lane in Happy Valley where guys knew they could go and pick up. Our first undercover operation went down there early in the spring. My job was to wear Daisy Dukes and high heels and get johns to offer me dope or money for sex.
    We got nine guys that weekend. I wasn’t the one who arrested the johns. There was an arrest team, so I never felt unsafe. Officerswere on the roof, looking down on me to make sure I didn’t get pulled into a car or anything.
    The undercover was so successful we did a second sting the next weekend, this time in Lahaina. We got three johns, but more than that we sent a message to the community.
    MPD videoed the whole operation to use for training purposes, and it wasn’t long before Keawe saw it.
    He was furious.
    â€œI don’t want you doing that again,” he said. We were at work, sitting in his patrol car, pretending to talk about a case.
    I just laughed. “It’s my job.” I said. “And you’re not my boss.”
    â€œNone of the other girls do it. You just have to say no. They can’t make you.”
    â€œIt’s really successful,” I said. “It works.”
    â€œI don’t want my girlfriend dressing up like a whore.”
    When I didn’t say anything, he said, “Don’t you know the vice guys are watching this video of you all miked up and videoed up? Dressed like a slut. You have any idea what kind of comments they’re making about you?”
    â€œI can guess,” I said. “Guys are going to do that.”
    â€œIt’s fucking embarrassing hearing them talk about my girlfriend like that.”
    â€œExcept they don’t know I’m your girlfriend.”
    â€œI