Free Black Widow by Victor Methos Page A

and said, “Good.”
    The women huddled around and began taking the food. A few of the healthier ones waited until the sick and old got their share first.
    “What’re we doing here, Dad?”
    “Some of these girls work for forty-eight hours straight without any food or water. I bring them little things when I can.” He looked to Eden. “Eden, how did you get started in this business?”
    She took a bite of sandwich. “Just a young girl, baby. Got involved with some bad people.”
    “But what triggered it?”
    She shrugged. “Sex. What else. Started when I was twelve and then got mixed up with this pimp bastard who brought me out here. Been on the streets since.”
    Eden got distracted by one of the other girls. Stanton waited until he was reasonably certain she wasn’t paying attention to him. “She’s dying, Mathew. She has a type of hepatitis that will soon shut down her liver. She’s only twenty-six.”
    Mathew was silent a long time. “Why’d you bring me here, Dad?”
    “Because all these girls have the same story. They started young in sex and it escalated. I’m not saying that would ever happen to you, obviously, but I just wanted to show you that every action has repercussions. Forget diseases that can kill you, Matt, what if you get a girl pregnant? Are you ready to be a father? To have a baby that has no one but you to rely on?”
    He swallowed. “What’s wrong with her?”
    Stanton saw where he was looking. It was toward an older prostitute. Her face was massively scarred with burns. Part of her hair had been singed away.
    “She was burned with acid by a john. That’s what they call the men that visit prostitutes, johns. He sprayed her face with it and ran off.”
    “I wanna go.”
    Stanton put his arm around him and led him back to the jeep.

18
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Most precincts were broken down in the chain of command with a CO, watch commander, detective commander, and then a captain or lieutenant overseeing each detail. Honolulu PD wasn’t much different.
    Stanton arrived for morning roll call as the detective commander, a man named Tally—Stanton couldn’t figure out if this was his last name or first—sat at a conference table and went through last night’s reports. Then they discussed any complaints the homicide detail had garnered, which was exactly one. An old woman claimed a young detective had hit on her when he interviewed her about the death of her husband.
    But mostly, it was a chance for detectives to drink coffee, eat bagels, and gossip.
    They were about to break when Stanton spoke up.
    “I have something,” he said.
    Kai was sitting in one of the seats and hadn’t paid attention the entire meeting. When Stanton spoke, he put his bagel down and watched him.
    Tally said, “Go ahead, Detective.”
    “I have a suspect in the Black Widow deaths.” No one spoke. They stared at him in silence and he cleared his throat. “Heidi Rousseau. She’s… an escort, as well as a doctor.”
    “Why is she a suspect?” Tally said.
    “I have information that she was with the victims on the night of their deaths. In the hotel rooms. So unless someone is following her around killing her clients, it was likely her.”
    Stanton could have heard a pin drop in the room. He stayed silent as long as they did before Tally said, “Okay, it’s your show. You call it.”
    Stanton glanced to Kai before saying, “This person is extremely violent. She enjoys the suffering she imposes. I think her grasp of what’s real and what’s in her fantasies is slipping. She’ll defend herself with deadly force if confronted.”
    “SWAT?” Tally said.
    “No,” he said, shaking his head, “definitely not. I’ve found the more SWAT goes in, the more deaths occur. This woman might be married, might even have children. I don’t want to risk them getting hurt. Just a precision strike. Take her quick and easy as she’s leaving her house.”
    Tally looked to Kai, who nodded.
    “Okay,” Tally