Selling Satisfaction (2 page)

"You see," she continues, "you're my family. I can't turn my back on you. However, this means that business will be slow. Almost obsolete. I contacted an old friend who runs her operation out of Tampa. She is willing to hire whomever wants to make the travel down that way. If you want to stick around, we'll get business up and going before too long, but I can't make many promises."

Kandy polishes off her drink while we all sit and ponder. I look around to my fellow ladies and wonder what they're thinking. Which route they'd rather take. Loving Kandy and the work I do, as well as the town I live in, I step forward first. "I'm sticking around."

It may be a mistake, but I believe in Kandy. I trust and love her like she were my own mother, and I have to have faith in my gut instinct.

Only three others stand with me. Two of the girls decide Tampa is the better choice, but they also haven't been around as long as some of us. The other remaining five girls withdraw from any of it, claiming it isn't worth the trouble. Which I do understand, but I still feel bad for Kandy all around.

When everyone clears out almost forty minutes later, Kandy asks me to wait behind.

"I have a couple clients I didn't inform the FBI of," she enlightens me.

"Does that mean...?"

She nods her head, already knowing what I'm asking. "You're the best, Brenna. Only two are your regulars. You can have your pick of the remaining, and I'll give the rest to Mona, Honey, and Bella."

I wrap my arms around Kandy's neck. "Thank you. You've already been so good to me.”

"Burke, get in here... now!"

Fuck
. I ruined that last assignment. Chief is going to have my ass. I knew that, but hearing him yell my name across the station, I know it's worse than I had originally anticipated. I might even have to put in for a transfer at this rate.

Walking into his office, I stand tall in front of the Chief of Police's desk. He stares down at the pile of paper in his hands, shaking his head in disbelief. "What is this shit?"

"I'm sorry, Chief. Parsons and I couldn't agree on a tactic. I strongly felt by bringing Mason in that'd we get him to snitch. I see now that I should have listened to Parsons."

"You think?" He tosses down the paperwork on the desk before standing up, shoving his chair back with an echoing screech. "Now Mason is being threatened. There is an entire gang out there ready to kill our only mole. Parsons is in the hospital with a gunshot wound to his shoulder. You didn't just fuck things up, Burke, you destroyed this entire investigation."

"I'm sorry sir. I'll do anything to make things right."

"Too late now." Stepping around the desk, he leans against it, debating with himself on how to deal with the situation I completely screwed up. I can tell he wants to fire me, so I won't be surprised if I'm applying for new jobs tomorrow. With a sigh he tells me, "This is the first time you've really disappointed me."

"And I won't do it again, sir, I promise."

He waves his hand in dismissal. "I know, because you're no longer going to be my problem."

"So... should I start packing my things?" I can't dispute this with him as much as I can feel myself wanting to. I deserve this… and more. It was my duty to protect Parsons, and now he's lying injured in the hospital due to my negligence.

I don't have a fucking clue what I'm going to do now. This has been my career for the last five years. It's been the only thing I've wanted to do since I was a kid. My childhood dream of being a detective never died... well, not until this moment that is.

"Yeah, but I'm not firing you."

"You're not?" I ask, both confused and completely relieved.

"You're being transferred to the Detective Bureau in Pensacola, Florida. They're trying to bring down a growing escort service in the town and need a new, fresh face. You'll be perfect for the job."

Florida? That is a long haul from Richmond, Virginia.

"Oh." It's the only word I can bring myself to murmur while I register the idea of moving away from my home state. My parents are both deceased, so I won't have that baggage to worry about, but I do have a little sister I'd rather not leave behind. She may have a husband as well as a child on the way to worry about, but for the last three years I've taken care of her every chance I could.

After a few minutes of debating with myself, I ask, "Why Florida?"

"Junior Detective Johnson was my first choice but when I got this report in, I knew it was either terminating you or transferring you down there. Honestly, Burke, you're one of the best detectives I have, but something like this would damn near destroy this department if I kept you around. I can't risk it. Your choice; Florida or food stamps."

"I'll accept the transfer, Chief."

"Good choice. I'll send in the paperwork. You'll need to be there by Friday."

"But it's Wednesday."

The way Chief looks at me, I know this isn't up for debate. I give him a nod, thank him, and walk out of the room with as much dignity as I can muster. I don't know how I'm going to break this to Emily. She is going to be devastated that I'm leaving her, especially with my nephew on his way in less than four months.

Once I get home, I put in a call for a moving company to help get my place packed up. Before leaving the station, Chief Biggins gave me the information to my new condo, which will be paid for by the new station for up to six months. Then I'll be forced to have my own place or take over payments. Maybe by then I'll feel settled in the new neighborhood.

My place is always neat and tidy, it's a habit with my job. Everything needs to have a place. I pack up a few essentials I don't want the movers to touch, then I leave my apartment to head over to Emily's, surprising her with dinner from Jaleo.

"What are you doing here?" She asks when answering the door. Her smile is only making it harder to tell her the truth.

I hold up the paper bag with a smile. "Hope you're hungry."

With a rub of her belly, she assures me she is always starving.

Walking into the kitchen her husband, Sebastian, is pulling out a couple pans for dinner. "Everett has it," Emily tells him.

"Sweet, thanks man," he says, while placing the pans back under the counter. "I'm exhausted. I didn't feel like cooking tonight."

Emily pulls out the take out containers while Sebastian gets out a few dishes. "So what's with the wonderful surprise?" Emily asks. She knows I don't typically do surprises- and I know she won't stop asking until I give her the news.

"Well, it's kind of a good-bye," I admit. May as well rip the damn bandage off. Unfortunately, there isn't much time for useless chit chat.

I swear she almost drops the container in her hand. "Wait, what?"

"I got in some trouble at work," I tell her. "So I don't have much choice. I’m moving to Florida."

When we were kids, Emily always said she wanted to live somewhere a little warmer and sunnier than Virginia. I never understood why, because to me living here is perfect. It never gets too hot nor too cold, and the sun is plenty. She, however, had dreams of living somewhere extremely south. I should have thought of that before I said I was moving to Florida, because her eyes light up with excitement. I can only imagine she'll try to convince Sebastian to move down there with her eventually.

"Which part? Tampa, Orlando, Naples?"

"Uh. Pensacola. I don't even know where that is."

"Dude, I'm pretty sure it's a retirement community," Sebastian chimes in.

"Ew," Emily adds. Her excitement quickly fading as her dreams slightly shatter.

An escort service in a retirement community? Sounds... disgusting. The thought of escorts, spreading their legs and their diseases, already makes me feel unsettled. I'm sure it's filled with old, retired CEOs, which would explain how the service is growing the way Chief described.

I can't tell them about any of my assignments- even though this particular one isn't necessarily dangerous, it’s still never safe to involve family in any way- so I don't mention how spot on Emily is with her disgust. "Well, you two are welcomed to visit any time, especially once my nephew is born." I have to reach over to get one last touch of her ever protruding stomach, which is housing the little man I've been waiting five months to meet.

"You know we will," she tells me.

We enjoy our food together, with conversations mainly on nursery room colors and whether or not painting while pregnant is okay for Em's health- but unfortunately I have to start my first day in thirty some-odd hours, which means everything ends faster than I'd have liked. It's harder than I imagined to say good-bye to her.

She assures me with good faith on the way out that its not in any way a good-bye, but rather a
until next time.
She's always been the one to find the bright side of any and all situations. Such as when our parents passed away, I was sitting there balling my eyes out like a weak, little child, and Emily comes rushing over to console me, whispering, "
It's supposed to be this way. Parents are supposed to go first."
I've never understood how she could smile down at me that day- or many days in our long history together- but she is a golden egg.

She may be a few years younger than me, but she's many generations smarter and kinder than I could ever imagine being. My mom used to say she had an old soul, and the older I get, the more understanding of that statement I become.

It hurts to separate our hug, but at least I got a good-bye.

*~*~*

The following morning the moving
company gets everything packed up and ready to go by seven. After grabbing a cup of coffee, I head south to my new home. With the several stops in between for food, gas, and the restroom, I don't get there until almost eleven at night. I hadn't realize sitting that long would cause me to be so damn sore all over.

I know I'm not going to be able to unpack until tomorrow at some point, so I get a hotel for my first night here. Thankfully I have clothes to change into for tomorrow, along with everything I need for my first day.

Waking up Friday morning, I head straight in for the police station. The town is beautiful- a coastal escape. A mixture of modern homes and rich beach houses and small cottages line the streets. Not at all a city like Richmond, but definitely not a small town either. It doesn't look all that much like a retirement community like Sebastian had assumed, but I haven't actually had a chance to check the place out. I'm sure I'll have it all figured out soon enough.

My new chief is at his desk, waiting my arrival. He's younger than I expected, and I'm a definitely taken aback by his long, curled mustache accompanied with a shiny, bald head. "Morning, come in," he says when I knock on the door frame.

I sit in the hard wooden chair across from his oversized desk. His name plate reads Chief of Police: Thomas O'Riley. "Morning, sir. I'm detective Burke from the Crimes Unit in Richmond," I tell him. Although I'm sure that much is obvious.

"Of course. I was going over your file once more." He looks over different forms in my file, nodding his head once in a while but not saying much of anything. I try my best not to be nervous. I'm not normally on the frits about what people think of me or my abilities to do my job, but after my most recent fuck up, I can't help but to feel criticized by it, no matter how large it ended up being.

After several minutes, he organizes the papers and places it into the folder, closing it on his desk. "Were you briefed on your current case?"

"Only that it's to bring down an escort service."

"Ginger Bedford, who goes by the name Kandy Shores, has owned and operated her own escort service for several years’ right here in Pensacola. We've known about it but truth be told, she's paid a wealthy chunk of change to our department to keep our focus elsewhere in the community. I know, I know, I don't need to hear how corrupt that is. It wasn't my choice. Anyway, we got note that several of her clients are politicians in town. With elections around the corner, a few names got leaked, and we had no choice but to get ahold of her list and publically out all the clients."

"So... you've done that, or you need it done?"

"We've done that," he answers me. My confusion only expands. "We didn't want just the list, but we made a deal with Kandy. If she willingly gave up the names to all her Johns, we'd leave her
employees
out of it. However, it's come to our attention that she didn't give up her list in full, and with that, she has also expanded to new clients. We need someone to pose as a new client to help bring down the entire service, Kandy included."

"Okay." Nodding along with everything he said, I have to wonder one thing in particular. "So I have to have sex with a prostitute?" The mere thought of it revolts me.

Chief O'Riley laughs at my concern, although the laughter doesn't seem suited to someone of his size and structure. "We'd rather you not actually. By placing payment, they're only required to give you the time, not any sexual activities. Hence the fact it's an escort service, they can escort you on dates, business meetings, be your trophy wife at a big party or be your fake fiancé at a Christmas gathering. Each client is different, from what I hear, although truth is more Johns than none use Kandy's services for far more than to have an attractive female on their arm at a dinner. Regardless, for you we'll figure out the details. For now, your first and only assignment is to set up a meeting with Kandy. She runs a pretty thorough background check on every potential client before setting them up with one of her girls. We have your new identity here, which you'll need to study in its entirety. Try to get in with Kandy within the next week."

"Will do, sir. You can count on me." I stand up to shake hands with him.

"Great. Check in tomorrow. You're no longer needed here. Monday you can set up your desk, until then I'm sure you have some unpacking to do."

I shake Chief O'Riley's hand before walking out of his office, heading straight for my condo. I call the moving company on the way to let them know I'm ready to get things moved in.

The condo is much nicer than I had assumed. It's twice the size of the apartment I had in Richmond. I don't think I have nearly enough stuff to fill this place up. I'm not big on shopping either, so it'll probably remain empty. It's kind of depressing actually, even though I am right on the beach. Looking out my large kitchen window, I can see several people lying out on the beach. It seems to be either younger couples or older folks, not much for kids. That could have to do with the fact it's a work day and I'm sure many of them are in their daycares or something.

Not that I'm exactly a beachgoer, I think I've been maybe five times in my life, it'd be nice to go out and relax once in a while, since it is in fact technically my backyard. Especially when I have tough assignments that take up more energy than not.