Hooked

Cooper.”
    “Why not get one of them to do your dirty work? I’ve retired, remember?”
    “Because we don’t have serious enough bargaining chips with any of them, and we do with you. Drugs would be our only possibility. Cooper’s girls don’t use.”
    Linc cut into his meat, but he didn’t eat it. He was having a hard time with this conversation. He liked Tawny. She was smart, at least IQ-wise, and didn’t make excuses about the path she took. He’d always tried to get girls out of the business, and here he was forcing one who’d quit to go back to work. Putting the squeeze on her made him uncomfort able.
    “We could pull them in for prostitution, but they’d be out on a misdemeanor charge before the ink was dry on the fingerprint cards. Pros like you―like you used to be―have everything covered. Fake jobs and a client list who couldn’t get involved witho ut dirtying their reputations or their marriages. Besides, word would get out, killing our chances of getting him on the bigger charges we think he deserves.”
    Tawny speared a roasted red pepper, chewed slowly, and swallowed. “I could throw myself on the mercy of the court, pay the taxes and penalties. Maybe they’d be lenient and give me a pass.”
    “Maybe. Maybe not. Your past profession wouldn’t help your case. Judges frown on prostitution.” He watched as reality dawned on her, and she nodded in agreement.
    Her fork hovered in midair. “I’m still not sure what you want me to do.”
    “We’ve heard rumblings that Cooper’s filming his clients to blackmail them. We’d like you to go to work for him, get us proof.”
    “If you don’t have proof, what makes you think he’s doing that?”
    Linc swallowed hard. “One of his girls, at least that’s what we assume, called me about something that scared her silly. She didn’t say what but mentioned Cooper’s name. Either he’s into major kink, or he’s doing something even more illegal than ru nning a sex club.”
    “Could be another Benny Cooper. I’m sure he’s not the only one.”
    “He isn’t.”
    “Then what’s the prob―” She stopped and let out a long breath. After pushing aside her plate, she leaned back in her chair. “Oh, I see now.”
    “Right. She’s the o ne we pulled out of the harbor. Sarah Marshall, working name, Serena. She called about a week before she washed up. I checked out all the Benjamins and Bennys, but finally zeroed in on this particular Cooper because of his wife, Eileen.”
    “A former call girl. I get it. And now you think he’s involved in murder? That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”
    “That’s what we want you to find out. The Marshall woman could have been killed by a john, a jealous boyfriend. Lots of possibilities. One thing she didn’t do is commit suicide. Women don’t jump into the harbor to end their lives. Off a bridge, maybe, but they rarely drown themselves. They either take pills or,” Linc hesitated, “take a bath with a razor blade.”
    Tawny’s gaze lingered on him for a long moment before responding. “You’re probably right.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And Benny Cooper would hire me, why?”
    Linc closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, expelling a quiet snicker. “An establishment like his would kill to have you. Any pimp dealing in high-priced call girls would.”
    Tawny didn’t flinch. Why would she? That’s what she was.

Chapter Five
    Three Stupid Words

    T awny picked at her grilled vegetables. She should have insisted Walsh wait until after dinner to tell her what he wanted her to do. Her hunger pangs gave way to nausea after hearing about the strangled girl, thrown into the harbor like chum.
    Tawny recalled the murders of other prostitutes over the years. Some were reckless in their choice of customers; others became targets of some psycho bent on ridding the world of immorality as he saw it. Jealous rage by an obsessed john or boyfriend accounted for a few more. Instinct guided Tawny to refuse second appointments with clients who possessed obsessive tendencies. Sometimes it was a tricky call.
    Walsh sat quietly. He didn’t eat either. “You know Benny Cooper more than as the husband of an ex-call girl, don’t you?”
    She moved a chunk of zucchini around on her plate. “Yes, I know him, but I told the truth when I said I never worked for anyone. If I had, it wouldn’t have been for Benny. It’s not that he skimps on money. He doesn’t like to think of