Free Black Widow by Victor Methos

served their remains at corporate functions. He had seen what people were really capable of when they thought no one would ever find out. He told himself that nothing should surprise him. But for some reason, a brilliant woman with this background prostituting herself and killing johns stunned him.
    The clock on the computer said it was nearly seven. He rose and went out to his jeep.
     
     
    Suzanne was there early and she and Johnny were playing on the beach. Stanton waved to her and she waved back. Mathew was sitting on the porch. He rose with a sigh and walked to his father.
    “I got stuff to do tonight, Dad.”
    “Well, you’re with me tonight. Let’s go.”
    They climbed into the jeep, and Stanton pulled out. He drove on the interstate with the top down, the wind howling in their ears.
    Once off the interstate, Stanton stopped at a grocery store.
    “Come on,” he said, getting out of the jeep.
    “Where we going?”
    “You’ll see.”
    They filled a shopping cart with sandwiches, soups, plastic spoons, individual milk bottles, and string cheese. They paid and left. Stanton loaded the groceries into the backseat as Matt played on his phone.
    “No phone tonight, pal.”
    “Dad, I need my phone.”
    “You’d be surprised how little you actually need and how much you really want . No phone.”
    Mathew grunted and put the phone away. Stanton got in and they drove to downtown Honolulu. It was almost eight and darkness had fallen. That’s when the girls came out.
    Prostitution had always been big business in Hawaii due to the number of male military personnel. But it had reached a level decades earlier that no one could have anticipated. Even in tourist-friendly Waikiki, dozens of prostitutes would be out mingling. Many of them could have easily been on the cover of fashion magazines.
    Honolulu soon developed a reputation as having some of the most beautiful prostitutes in the country. And with that reputation, came the pimps.
    They flocked in from the big cities where District Attorney Offices were cracking down on the sex trade. Prostitution busts were easy and didn’t consume a lot of time. It was a simple way to get crime numbers down before elections, and maybe have a story or two run through a newspaper.
    But the pimps were something that the sweet island girls weren’t ready for. They ruled with violence learned from a lifetime in and out of prisons. There was an epidemic in the late sixties where bodies of young girls would drift to shore from the Pacific.
    The industry had tamed a bit after that, with the police focusing on arresting the pimps and getting them off the islands. Now, prostitution itself was largely ignored and allowed to flourish.
    Stanton pulled in between two buildings.
    “What’re we doing here?” Mathew asked.
    “See that group of women over there.” Stanton hopped out of the jeep and grabbed the groceries. “We’re going to help them.”
    Mathew grabbed one of the bags and they walked over. The women ranged in age from fifteen or sixteen all the way to the later sixties. Every fetish was made available to the johns. There were plump girls, disabled, brunettes, blondes, transvestites, dwarves, elderly, and even a few pregnant ones. Every race on the planet was represented there. And the girls, by and large, were more attractive than the prostitutes found in the bigger cities on the mainland.
    “Is that Johnny baby?” one of the women said.
    She was Asian in appearance with a dark tan and silky black hair that came down to her lower back.
    “How are you, Eden?”
    “Good, baby. How are you? Haven’t seen you in a minute.”
    “I’ve been busy.” Stanton hesitated. “I joined the HPD.”
    She laughed. “I thought I smelled bacon.”
    “Funny. You know I don’t have to bring these sandwiches.”
    “You know I love you, baby. Now who’s this handsome boy?”
    “This is my son, Mathew.”
    “Howya doin’, baby?” she said.
    He looked to his father before answering