Heroine: California Dreamin' (23 page)

Irene replenished her tea and started anew to talk about the deal with the prosecutor in Prado.

“Where did we stop? Oh well, yes, at my work for the justice department. I’m sorry that I didn’t keep my promise but after this Lieutenant Gutierrez had raped you my conscience tormented me so much that I told Charles about it. First, I had only asked for the files about the death of this Mr. Apala in order to have something in my hand. But the whole week after that I felt remorse. I couldn’t just keep watching this cop still roaming around freely. Therefore I had told my husband everything I knew about you before I left with Stanley for Sonoma Valley.” Irene took a deep breath. I was tempted to ask her how her lover was but caught myself in time and kept my mouth shut. Otherwise we would be sitting her until tomorrow and talk about our love relations.

“Charles was also shocked and asked me not to do anything; he would take care of it. He implored me not to talk with anybody about it and not to make this crime subject of discussions any longer. The next day he called me to come to his office. And then there was a fellow from the FBI and Charles’ boss from San Francisco. I had to sign some papers that obliged me to keep everything that I would learn now a secret. Since you’ve become somewhat a part of the ongoing matter I entrust this to you as far as it concerns you. But you
must not
talk to anybody about it.” Her voice had become harsher and I moved restlessly back and forth on the yellow pillow. Something was up in the air.

“When you and I searched the apartment of the dead Gutierrez and when that stupid sergeant Jefferson crossed our ways then you noticed that the FBI was already after the lieutenant because they suspected that he was in cahoots with criminals. At the time nothing – absolutely nothing – could be proven. Julie darling, that bastard was involved in human trafficking, in particular girls, as we say in legal terms. You were right in the midst of it. When I told Charles about the rape he saw a possibility to indict this Gutierrez with a crime. He originally thought that would be enough. But they also wanted to get the masterminds. You were supposed to be the decoy. I got enraged because I thought that they wanted you to be at this pig’s mercy. But they convinced me that this would be the best way because they already knew that this Gutierrez was dead already. So he couldn’t rape you any longer. The fellow from the FBI was certain that Gutierrez’ accomplices knew about you – because a prey like you would be the result of hunting together. I apologize, the officer had formulated it that way, not me”, she tried to calm me down. I had winced in shock. ‘Prey’!

“Please keep on talking”, I said with hoarse voice.

“I wasn’t happy with it. I demanded that they do something for you. The main reason why the police man was cocky enough to attack you was the missing visa. Therefore I insisted that you got a permanent visa. In the beginning they made a fuss and blabbered something about ‘patriotic duty’. It was then when I lost my cool and I became a bit loud.” Which means that she had screamed at the guys and showed them who was really wearing the pants. Her assertiveness impressed me again and again.

“It took a while then they started to negotiate. Now I had enough and I packed the social security number and the working contract on top of the negotiating bundle. When they noticed that the price was going up if they acted out much longer - they caved in.” I couldn’t really believe all of it and every detail because they could have managed the observation also without Irene. But in our casual talks in the local café Irene hinted quite often how - at authorities - certain embarrassments were passed by the laws behind the scenes with some clever interpretations. Among those were private misconducts of some high officials which she never mentioned by name but nevertheless she distributed some piquant details with obvious pleasure. I was sure she had simply blackmailed those big shots. I was exceptionally
pleased about that. It was also ascertained that Irene had protected me. She had also stood up for me beyond all means and she put quite a lot on the line to protect me from future attacks. I flung my arms around her neck and squeezed her. Only when I let go of her I saw that my tears had ruined her makeup. But Irene’s eyes were also moist. We cherished our emotions for a while which meant for Irene that she mixed herself a drink. I gratefully declined a drink for said reasons.

“The matter continued as follows.” Irene talked again in her factual way. Her cheeks had blushed so that the skin color together with the smeared rouge had built some strange spotty color combination in her face. Those two colors didn’t really fit together.

“You were supposed to be guarded day and night. Normally this is police business but they were not allowed to learn about those events. After all we didn’t know who was in cahoots with the lieutenant. Therefore the FBI assigned these jobs to a few young officers. These young people imagine, once they have concluded their basic training in Quantico, that they could work on big criminal cases in own responsibility immediately. Some ‘probationary agents’ were therefore not really motivated to watch over you 24/7. And after they had lost eye sight of you twice and then when you resurfaced subsequently – they didn’t take it too seriously when you all of a sudden weren’t in the house any longer last Tuesday. They had gone for a short time buying a pizza as they confessed when interrogated. Well, it brought an end to their trial period. Only the next morning one of them from the day shift went into the house and realized you weren’t there any longer. Ever since then they had looked for you. First they wanted to wait if you’d come back by yourself such as the other two times when they had lost you. Those idiots waited until Thursday without informing their superior and in the meantime they didn’t even ask your husband where you could be. Only when I drove by your house and asked Daniel to tell me where you are I learned that you are in jail. That is when I ran amok.” I saw Irene before my inner eye how she ploughed into the guys from FBI and her husband. I liked that mental picture.

“On Friday I received an appointment with the judge and the female prosecutor in Prado. That only went so fast because I know the prosecutor quite well. We went to Berkeley together during our college years, same college year.” Therefore the intimate welcoming! Now it was clear to me.

“The FBI agent and I told them then that you’ve been working for us as ‘undercover agent’ and that you were supposed to infiltrate a gang as decoy. Or something of that kind. The officer who had thought of the story pleaded with the two for so long until they believed it. Of course there were no documents that could prove it. Until that evening we had negotiated a deal to get you out of there without making it public. Otherwise all results from that case investigation would have run the danger to be published in the media.” A thought came to my mind that sent hot and cold shivers down my spine.

“Irene, if we hadn’t been friends and the officers from the FBI would be solely responsible for that: Would they have gotten me out of there if they had known that I was innocent?” Irene looked at me for a while and I saw that tears sprung up in her eyes. She bit her lips and shook her head in denial.

“They would have let you rot there and only done something if you could have helped them somehow with their case.” Slowly it dawned on me how much of a play ball I was - in a matter I didn’t know the last thing about, until then. I felt terribly helpless.
‘If it hadn’t been for Irene I would probably be dead by now,’
I thought again. Now I felt really cold and I started to tremble.

“But everything turned out alright. We got you out of there and nothing had happened to you. You were probably only bored most of the time. The jail in Prado is not even half as bad as the Valley State Prison that had been built a few miles down the valley. Be glad you didn’t land there”, she tried to console me. It had the opposite effect. All those horrible hours in jail appeared again before my inner eye.

“Irene, jail was sheer hell. First they implied that I was a drug addicted whore, then they put me into a cell with all prostitutes with exactly these problems. But that wasn’t the worst. One of the guards raped me one night when I was in a solitary cell. He was also a pimp and wanted to get me out so I could work for him.”

My friend sat there with her mouth open and didn’t say anything for a while.

“Oh my God, this is awful. What in God’s name do you do? Seems you attract these bastards like a magnet. I think you must urgently learn how to defend yourself. What do we do now?” she blabbered on. I shrugged my shoulders.

“No, you must not take it lying down. We’ll confront that swine. Prado’ sheriff would never tolerate that one of his people abuses his power. I’ll call him now and set fire to his ass. Do you know the name of the guard?” I told her what I knew. With Irene at my side I felt secure. She will get this straightened out. Revenge feelings bubbled up in me. Irene dialed a number on the phone that she had found on the Internet and got connected with the sheriff. She introduced herself as ‘Law Attorney’. The sheriff was not available but would call back as she told me. She had briefed his secretary about the reason for her call.

“That should be plenty for the time being. When she tells him why I had called he will get back to me in no time.” She pondered for a moment. “You said that this Joe was a pimp. Perhaps he is also involved in that human trafficking. We will make it possible that he gets to know the FBI.” Irene’s voice became more and more ferocious. She could probably handle the drill instructors in a boot camp of the Marines, I thought to myself. Then she called yet another number. They were her friends from the FBI who she snarled at energetically while she gave them a summary of my story. Now I also understood why the two special agents in front of the door stood at attention when Irene approached them. She actually didn’t belong to their organization but her appearance alone brought her the necessary respect.

“You anyways need to give a statement before the officers who’ll be working on the case. They want to know all the details. How you were abducted, who the kidnappers were and so forth. Everything you know. And then at the same time you can identify this Joe.” I told her about what had happened to me and we talked way beyond the late lunch we had in a small restaurant downtown. When I informed her that I couldn’t find this strange temple anymore when I drove back with Daniel yesterday she promised me to ask the FBI to go and look for it. That shouldn’t be difficult because the cops in Prado knew the temple.

It was already late afternoon when I came home. The two officers parked in front of the house on the opposite road. Irene had told me that I would still be guarded. The authorities didn’t want to embarrass themselves once more as with my abduction when I practically was kidnapped right before their eyes. I parked my car in the garage.

When I closed and locked the front door behind me I felt that it wasn’t like it was before. To be abducted from my own home without problems had destroyed something in me. It took me a while to understand what went kaput.

It was the feeling of security that I had upheld despite the attacks from Alan and Robert. I could handle those two although I committed bad things. To know that the three kidnappers were roaming around freely scared me. Why did the fat guy know so much about me?

Was I still being observed? Restlessness befell my lower body and angst crept up my spine. It became clear to me that alone I would never feel safe again in this house. With trembling fingers I wrote a message on a piece of paper and put it on the kitchen table. Daniel was supposed to call my cell phone when he came home.

I got into my car and drove to the mall while I took care that the agents could actually follow me. After I had parked the car I approached them and asked if they wanted to come with me so that I wouldn’t be alone. They insisted however to watching me from a distance. For the FBI I was still only the decoy; that became clear to me. They didn’t do their job because they liked me.

Quite frustrated I walked by the various stores. The two agents couldn’t be seen anywhere. In a café I remembered that I hadn’t used my cell phone for almost a week. I dug it out from my purse and switched it on. Nothing happened. The display remained gray. The battery was empty. Upset I kept on walking after I thought about it for a short moment. The friendly Indian sales man who had sold me the device would surely have a spare charger for it. That was the case. He did try flirting with me but I didn’t oblige. It took a while until the battery was charged up enough so I could turn on the cell phone.

The mailbox was filled with calls. Irene had tried to reach me, so did Daniel who had tried to contact me four times; an SMS from my sister and also my father reminded me that I had missed my Sunday obligatory call.

Pete had also called twice, the last time this morning. When I heard his concerned voice I got knots in my belly. Something dragged me to him. To call him was now most important. By this time I was aware that Ron and Pete couldn’t do me any harm anymore but I didn’t want to snub those two.

But what was I’m going to say? Last night it became clear to me that I had to end my relationship with them if I didn’t want to lose Daniel. I thought hard for a best solution. Then I typed an SMS in which I informed Pete that I had problems and that I couldn’t call him. I would call him the next day.

I also sent a short message to my sister and my father. I promised them also to call the next day. The last message triggered quite some emotions in me. The message was from Bruce. He wanted to know how I was. I cried a little bit when I remembered the times that I had spent with him.