Curiosity Killed the Kat (6 page)

“What’s your name?” It was the first question that came into my head.

“Sandra,” she told me.

“Where are you from?”

“Lima. Peru.”

That explained her accent. Her understanding of English was great, but her accent made me take an extra moment to comprehend what she was saying.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her the question although I thought I already knew the answer.

“To model. I came here to be a model.” She said what I thought she would say. The same question, the same response. Both her and Sana here to ‘model,’ and both of them seemingly trapped in Charlie’s home. What was actually happening in this house?

It was obvious she was in a terrible situation. Sana had disappeared mysteriously. Time was ticking
away
. I didn’t know whe
re we were going to go, but I knew I couldn’t count on Steven, at least not until I found out for sure if he knew about what was happening here. I wished I had time think.

“Sandra…” I started to tell her to get her things and come with me, but the sound of the garage door going up made the words freeze in my throat. Charlie was home.

She looked at me, scared. I looked back at her, just as frightened. For a second we stood there, frozen b
y fear. The sound of a car door slamming jolted us back into motion. There was no time for me to get out the front door, we were in the kitchen near the back of the house, if I tried to leave I’d be caught. I had to hide. Sandra pulled me through the door leading to the basement, gesturing for me to stay quiet, she shut the door quietly behind me.

I crouched there in the dark and trembled. Something evil was happening in this house, and while I didn’t know exactly what it was, I knew that I was in real danger as long as I was hiding here.

On the other side of the door I could hear voices coming into the kitchen. Charlie wasn’t alone. Steven was with him.

“Explain to me why she was at the agency this afternoon Steven.” Charlie sounded upset and I knew without a doubt that they were talking about me.

“I don’t know Charlie. Do you think I told her to go there? What do you think?
That
I encouraged her to seek Sana out?” Steven’s arrogant voice
sounded false to me, as if he was a little frightened but was trying to brazen it out.

“I don’t know what to think Steven. All I know are the facts, which state that last night your wife and Sana were talking and today your wife is paying a visit to our client. A client that she has never met, never seen, and never had any reason to visit. And yet, today she is there. And not only is she there, but she is giving Rachel a fake name. ‘Amanda?’ So she’s obviously not there as your wife. She’s there for some other reason. Now tell me the truth so we can fix this situation: what does Katherine know?” Charlie sounded every bit the lawyer as he posed this question to Steven.

“Charlie,” I could hear Steven trying to use his ‘let’s be reasonable voice,’ “Katherine has been my wife for seven years and before she was my wife, she was my very innocent 19-year-old girlfriend. I know her better than she knows herself. She’s like a child. She doesn’t know anything about this, I can assure you of that. Maybe Sana told her to come to the agency and use the name ‘Amanda,’ maybe they were playing some sort of a game, I don’t know.”

“This isn’t a game,” Charlie’s sudden shout made me jump. For a second I froze, scared that they may have heard me, but they were too locked into their discussion to realize they weren’t alone. “Sana wouldn’t have told her to come to the agency. Sana wouldn’t be playing a game, and you fucking well know that. Now what are we going to do about this?”

“I know this isn’t a game Charlie,” Steven shouted back, “that’s why I was shocked to see her with you at the restaurant.
T
his isn’t your personal harem. You don’t get to trot these girls out on the to
wn whenever you want to impress people with your gorgeous date. You don’t get to fuck these girls on their way to the buyers.
We are the
lawyer
s
.
We
facilitate the delivery and that is it. You’re the one acting like this is a game. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t brought her to dinner last night, what the fuck were you thinking?”

Now I knew. Whatever was happening here, Steven was a part of it.

I had barely started to think about the ramifications of that thought when another thought hit me,
where was Sandra?

The men hadn’t mentioned her at all since they’d entered the kitchen. I wondered where she was hiding, or maybe it didn’t matter since they didn’t seem to be worried about her.

Just then, Steven asked Charlie the question that I’d been wondering since I met Sandra, “Where is Sana?”

Charlie didn’t say anything at first. Steven was silent too. I could sense them staring tensely at each other.

“I may have gotten carried away,” Charlie said.

“What does that mean Charlie?” Steven sounded afraid. I’d never heard him sound afraid, and it scared me more than anything else.

“I was angry. She shouldn’t have been talking to Katherine. I told her not to say anything to anybody.” Charlie sounded whiny and defensive, no longer like a powerful lawyer but rather a child who knows he’s done something wrong. “What could I do? I couldn’t just let it go.”

“What does that MEAN Charlie?” Steven asked again.

“Sana’s gone. I’ll work it out with the buyer, but she’s gone. Maybe Sandra will be a good replacement.” Charlie tried to sound confident, but even I could hear the shaking in his voice.

“Sandra is going somewhere else, you know that. Sana was special. How could you do this Charlie. This is not good for us. This is not good for me. You know what that deal would have meant for me. You know I’m planning on running for Congress this year and the senator’s support is crucial!” Steven sounded as if he’d lost all control. He wasn’t trying to be respectful to his boss, he was shouting in frustration.

I wasn’t surprised to hear Steven talk about running for Congress. He’d had political aspirations since I’d first met him, and when he was in law school we used to lie in bed and talk about the day he was President and I was the First Lady. I used to love imagining our future as the new John and Jackie Kennedy. It had been a long time since Steven had brought up his desire to get into politics, but I should have known that Steven would neve
r abandon his goals.

“Don’t talk to me like that Steven. You forget, I’m your boss and the I’m the only reason you have this opportunity. Without me you’d still be a junior lawyer trying to figure out how to get into the game.” Charlie warned him.

Steven didn’t answer. I could hear him pacing around and I could picture him scowling, his mind racing as he tried to think of a response.

I heard the sound of a bottle opening and glasses clinking. After a short while Steven sounded calmer when he said, “Charlie. I’m sorry to blow up at you. You’re right. Of course, you’re right. I just know how close we are to taking this thing where we need it and I’m just concerned about blowing it now.”

“Steven…I know. It was a bad decision to take Sana to dinner last night. I see that now. I thought I had better control over her…and over myself. I was wrong and it won’t happen again. Let’s just concentrate on damage control right now. Can you call Katherine and find out how much she knows?”

At his suggestion, my heart stopped. If Steven called the house and I didn’t answer he would call my cell phone. My cell phone, which was in my purse somewhere
nearby
. I prayed Sandra had hidden it after she’d
pushed me into
the basement, but what if she hadn’t seen it? And, if she did have it safely hidden, was it close enough for the men to be able to hear the ringing of my phone?

“No, I don’t want to call her yet,” Steven answered, “I told her I was out of town for a couple of days and it would be strange to call her now. I’m telling you: she doesn’t know anything and if she did, who cares, she’s loyal to me. I have her under control, don’t worry.”

Steven’s words made my blood boil. How could he think so little of me to suggest that I wouldn’t care if a woman was being beaten by his boss or held captive against her will? Is that who I’ve been since I met him? A woman who would blindly stand by her man even when he was involved in some horrible crime. I was ashamed to admit that the answer was yes, that was exactly how I’d acted since getting involved with him.

“Alright,” Charlie agreed, “then let’s deal wit
h the Senator first. I think a Skype
call would be fine, we don’t need to go there. I’ll do the talking. It’s my mess, I’ll clean it up.”

“Fine,” Steven said, a little too quickly.

“
Get Sandra,” Charlie ordered him, “I want him to see her in case he’s interested. I’d rather deal with
Al Zahrani
than the Senator. You were right, we need him happy right now.”

“Where is she? Still in the basement?”

I froze against the wall. If Steven opened that door I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t hurt me.

“No, she’s probably upstairs,” Charlie answered him.

Thank you God, I prayed silently. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I heard their footsteps retreating and the heavy thud of Steven on the stairs and the sound of a door on the far side of the house slamming. Even though the kitchen was obviously empty I didn’t know what to do. If I left the relative safety of the basement I could be caught, but I couldn’t stay crouched on the basement stairs forever. I had to make a decision: stay or go?

Holding my breath I slowly turned the knob, cringing in anticipation of an angry hand swinging the door open. Nothing happened and the only sounds were coming from the other side of the house. Was I safe? I stepped out into the bright kitchen, the sudden light hurt my eyes and I squinted for a moment, trying to get my bearings. There had to be a back door, please God let it be off the kitchen.

To the right was the entrance to the hallway and the east wing of the house,
which
was where I had followed Sandra into the kitchen. To my left was the entrance into the dining room and more doors beyond that. I couldn’t see the back door. Was I trapped in this room?
Then I saw it, what looked like a
mud
room, between the kitchen pantry and the entrance to the hallway. I must have walked past it when I’d come in, but didn’t notice it because the door had been closed. Now the door was open and I
could just glimpse daylight spilling from the room onto the kitchen floor. I prayed it was from a door and not just a window. From overhead I could hear the sounds of footsteps, probably Steven coming downstairs to join Charlie. I had no choice, I had to run for it.

I sprinted into the kitchen and into the mudroom. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it pounding in my head like the beat of a drum. I was right, there was a door leading out of the mudroom into the backyard – I felt like screaming with relief. Frantically I opened the door and forced myself to slow down and close it quietly. It would do me no good for Steven or Charlie to hear the door slamming. They were already suspicious of me and would probably guess in a second that I had been there. I ran out into the backyard trying to crouch below the windows and run at the same time. It was a miracle that I had my car keys in my hand. I’d been clutching them when I knocked on the door and I’d never had the chance to put them in my purse, everything with Sandra had happened so quickly. I’d been gripping them so hard that my hands were red with key marks.

I ran out of the gate and down the street toward my Rover as fast as I could. For that moment all I could think about was escaping and it wasn’t until I was safely in the car with the door locked that I remembered Sandra.
How could I help her
? I couldn’t leave her there. This wasn’t about just Sana. Steven and Charlie were in the middle of something that sounded bigger than
hitting a girl. T
he way they were talking sounded like
they were actually providing men with girls. Could Steven
really
be involved in human trafficking?

The moment I thought the words I felt a mental stop sign go up. It could not be possible. Despite the fact that I’d just overheard their conversation and actually
seen how afraid two
of the girls
were around Charlie
, I couldn’t make myself believe it. This was my husband, the man that I had been in love with and living every day with for the last eight years.
He said he knew me better than I knew myself? Well I felt the same way about him. It had been in my best interest to know Steven better than anyone. I lived to make him happy and dreaded spending time with him when his mood was dark. I knew he could be harsh and rough, but the way he was in the bedroom was just sex play, right? It couldn’t mean that he was a horrible person – I
didn’t marry a monster, did I?

Still shaking, I drove toward home. I didn’t know if it was safe to go back there, but Steven had told Charlie that he couldn’t call me because he’d told me he was out of town. I assumed that meant he probably wouldn’t take a chance on coming home before he thought I expected him back either. I felt like I might be safe for today and tomorrow at least. Besides, I didn’t have any place else to go.