A Trace of Vice

“Yes, Detective. Ed and I have been looking at the photos you sent. We’ve never seen that young man. But Sarah mentioned to me that Lanie said her boyfriend looked like he should be in a rock band. I wonder if this might be him?”

“It’s quite possible,” Keri said. “Did Sarah ever mention a name of this boyfriend?”

“She did. I’m pretty sure it was Dean. I don’t recall a last name. I don’t think she knew it either.”

“Okay, thanks very much, Mrs. Caldwell.”

“Is that helpful?” the woman asked in a hopeful, almost pleading voice.

“It may very well be. I don’t have any new information for you yet. But I promise you, we’re focused hard on finding Sarah. I’ll try to update you as much as I can.”

“Thank you, Detective. You know, I only realized after you left that you’re the same detective who found that missing surfer girl a few months ago. And I know that, well…with your daughter…” Her voice cracked and she stopped, clearly overcome with emotion.

“It’s okay, Mrs. Caldwell,” Keri said, steeling herself so that she wouldn’t lose it.

“I’m just so sorry about your little girl…”

“Don’t worry about that right now. My focus is on finding your daughter. And I promise I’m going to put every ounce of energy I have into that. You just try to stay calm. Watch a crappy TV show, take a nap, do anything you can to stay sane. Meanwhile, we’re on this.”

“Thank you, Detective,” Mariela Caldwell whispered, her voice barely audible.

Keri hung up and looked at Ray, who wore a worried expression.

“Don’t worry, partner,” she assured him. “I’m not going to lose it just yet. Now let’s find this girl.”

“How do you propose we do that?”

“I think it’s time we check in with Edgerton. He’s had long enough to review the data from the girls’ phones. And now we have a name for the guy in the food court – Dean. Maybe Lanie mentions him in one of her posts. Her mom may not know anything about him but I think that may be more due to lack of interest than Lanie hiding him.”

As they walked through the mall toward the parking lot and Ray’s car, Keri called Edgerton and put him on speaker so Ray could hear too. Edgerton picked up after one ring.

“Dean Chisolm,” he said, dispensing with any greeting.

“What?”

“The guy in the screen grabs you had sent to me is named Dean Chisolm. I didn’t even have to use facial recognition. He’s tagged in a bunch of the Joseph girl’s Facebook photos. He’s always wearing a cap pulled down or sunglasses like he’s trying to hide his identity. But he’s not very good at it. He always wears the same kind of black shirt and the tattoos are pretty distinctive.”

“Good job, Kevin,” Keri said, once again impressed by their unit’s resident tech savant. “So what do you have on him?”

“A decent amount. He’s got several drug arrests. Some are for possession, a couple for distribution, and one for being a courier. He did four months for that one.”

“Sounds like a real solid citizen,” Ray muttered.

“That’s not all. He’s also suspected of being involved in operating a sex ring using underage girls. But no one’s ever been able to pull him in on that.”

Keri looked at Ray and saw something change in his expression. Until now, he’d clearly thought there was a more than solid chance that these girls were just out joyriding. But with the news about Dean, it was obvious that he had gone from mildly uneasy to full-on concerned.

“What do we know about this sex ring?” Keri asked.

“It’s run by a charming-looking guy named Ernesto ‘Chiqy’ Ramirez.”

“Chiqy?” Ray asked.

“I think it might be a nickname – short for chiquito. It means tiny. And since this guy looks to be well over three hundred pounds, I’m guessing it’s a joke.”

“Do you know where we can find Chiqy?” Keri asked, not amused.

“Unfortunately, no. He has no known address. He mostly seems to bounce around abandoned warehouses, where he sets up pop-up brothels until they get raided. But I do have some good news.”

“We’ll take anything we can get,” Ray said as they got into his car.

“I have an address on Dean Chisolm. And it just so happens that it’s the exact location where the GPS on both girls’ phones shut off. I’m sending it to you now, along with a photo of Chiqy.”

“Thanks, Kevin,” Keri said. “By the way, we may have found a mini-Kevin working as a security guard at the mall; very tech-savvy. He wants to be a cop. I might put him in touch with you if that’s cool.”

“Sure. Like I always say, nerds of the world unite!”

“Is that what you always say?” Keri teased.

“I mostly think it,” he admitted, then hung up before they could give him any more crap.

“You seem awfully centered for someone who just learned that the girls we’re looking for may be caught up in a sex trafficking ring,” Ray noted with surprise in his voice.

“I’m trying to keep it light as long as I can,” Keri said. “I don’t think I’m going to have the chance for much longer. But don’t worry. When we find Chisolm, there’s a decent chance I may do some amateur tattoo removal using my Swiss Army knife. It’s nice and dull.”

“Good to know you haven’t lost your edge,” Ray said.

“Never.”

CHAPTER SIX

Keri tried to keep her heart from beating out of her chest as she crouched behind a bush on the side of Dean Chisolm’s house. She forced herself to breathe slow and quiet, gripping her weapon in her hands as she waited for the uniformed officers to knock on the front door. Ray was in about the same spot as her on the other side of the house. There were two more officers in the back alley.

Despite the cool weather, Keri felt a trickle of sweat running down her spine, just under her bulletproof vest, and tried to ignore it. It was after 7 p.m. and the temperature was in the high forties now, but she’d left her jacket in the car so she’d have greater range of motion. She could only imagine how sticky she’d be if she’d left it on.

One of the officers rapped on the door, sending a jolt through her entire body. She bent a little lower to make sure no one peeking out a window could see her behind the bush. The movement caused a light twinge in her rib. She had broken several in an altercation with a child abductor two months ago. And while she was technically completely healed, certain positions still caused the rib to get grumpy.

Someone opened the door and she forced herself to shut out the street noise and listen closely.

“Are you Dean Chisolm?” she heard one of the officers ask. She could sense the nervousness in his voice and hoped whoever he was talking to couldn’t as well.

“No. He’s not here right now,” a youngish but surprisingly confident-sounding voice answered.

“Who are you?”

“I’m his brother, Sammy.”

“How old are you Sammy?” the officer asked.

“Sixteen.”

“Are you armed, Sammy?”

“No.”

“Is there anyone else in the house, Sammy? Your parents maybe?”

Sammy laughed at the question before getting control of himself.

“I haven’t seen my parents in a long time,” he said derisively. “This is Dean’s house. He bought it with his own money.”

Keri had put up with just about enough of this and stepped out from behind the bush. Sammy glanced in her direction just in time to see her holster her gun. She saw his eyes widen briefly despite his best efforts to act blasé.

Sammy looked like a carbon copy of his big brother, complete with pale skin and multiple tattoos. His hair was black also but too curly to make spiky. Still, he wore the required punk uniform – black T-shirt, skinny jeans with an unnecessary chain hanging from them, and black work boots.

“How did Dean manage to buy his own house at just twenty-four years old?” she asked without introducing herself.

Sammy stared at her, trying to decide whether he could blow her off or not.

“He’s a good businessman,” he answered with a tone that hinted at defiance without completely going there.

“Business been good lately, Sammy?” she asked, moving a step forward, staying aggressive, hoping to keep the kid off balance.

The two uniformed officers stepped down so there was no one between Keri and Sammy. She didn’t know if it was a conscious decision on their parts or them just wanting to get the hell out of the middle of the confrontation. Either way, she was happy to have the floor all to herself.

“I wouldn’t know. I’m just a lowly high school student, ma’am,” he said, sounding more brazen.

“That’s not true, Samuel,” she charged, glad that she’d read the file on Chisolm that Edgerton had sent her while they drove to the house. She saw that using his given name startled him. “You dropped out last spring. You just told a lie to an LAPD detective. That’s not a great start to our relationship. Do you want to repair it?”

“What do you want?” Sammy demanded, full of guarded petulance. He was off his game now, stepping out onto the stoop against his better judgment.

He was oblivious as Ray quietly came out from around the other side of the house and set up position a few steps behind the boy. Keri stepped toward him to keep his attention on her. They were now less than four feet away from each other.

“I want to know where Dean is,” she said, dropping the playful pretense. “And I want to know where the girls he brought over this afternoon are.”

“I don’t know where he is. He left a few hours ago. And I don’t know anything about any girls.”

Despite being a juvenile delinquent in training, Keri she knew that Sammy had never been arrested, much less served time. She could use his fear of the prospect to her advantage. She decided to go in for the kill.

“You’re not being straight with me, Samuel. And I’m losing patience with you. We both know what business your brother is in. We both know how he can afford this house. And we both know that you’re not spending your free time working on getting your GED.”

Sammy opened his mouth to protest but Keri held up her hand and barreled on without pausing.

“I’m looking for two missing teenage girls out there. They were brought here by your brother. It’s my job to find them. If you help me do that, you can lead something close to a normal life. If you don’t, it’s going to go very badly for you. This is your one chance tonight to avoid getting put in the system. Cooperate or it’s down the rabbit hole.”

Sammy stared at her, trying to keep his face untroubled. But his eyes were unnaturally fixed and his breath was shallow and quick. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists. He was terrified.

What Sammy didn’t know was that Keri didn’t have a warrant. If he’d just stayed inside the house and refused to speak to them, they wouldn’t have had much recourse other than to call for a warrant and wait outside until it was approved.

But by stepping outside to engage with her and leaving the door open, he’d made himself vulnerable. He didn’t realize it yet but whether he agreed to help or not, they were getting in that house. His next decision really would determine his immediate future. Keri hoped he could tell she wasn’t bluffing. She hoped he’d choose wisely. He did not.

“I don’t know anything,” he said, unaware that he was only sealing his own fate.

Keri sighed. She almost felt sorry for him.

“Did you hear that?” Ray asked.

Sammy, unaware that anyone was behind him, nearly jumped out of his boots.

“What the…?” he started to say. Ray interrupted him.

“Detective Locke, I think I heard some cries for help from inside. Can you hear them too?”

“I think I can, Detective Sands. Officers, can you hear that too?”

The two uniformed officers clearly couldn’t but didn’t want to be the weak links. They both nodded, and for good measure, the one who’d first knocked on the door added, “For sure.”

Ray rolled his eyes at the clumsy effort but continued anyway.

“Officers, can you handcuff Mr. Chisolm and put him in the back of your car for now while Detective Locke and I check out that crying?”

“This is BS,” Sammy shouted as one of the officers grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around to cuff him. “You can’t hear anything. This is an illegal search.”

“I’m afraid not, Sammy,” Ray said, unholstering his gun and preparing to enter the house. “Those cries we all hear create exigent circumstances. Maybe go to law school once you get that GED, buddy.”

“You should have listened to me,” Keri whispered in Sammy’s ear before she walked up the steps and pulled out her gun. Ray nodded and they both entered with weapons raised.

The place was a sty. There were empty beer cans everywhere. Fast food wrappers littered the stain-dotted carpet. Music was coming from somewhere in the back.

Keri and Ray made their way through the house quickly. Neither of them expected to find much. The fact that it was devoid of people suggested that it had only been a staging area. Girls were likely brought here thinking they were attending a party only to be drugged and then moved en masse.

Keri found the back bedroom where the relentless techno music was coming from and turned it off. She stepped into the adjoining bathroom and saw a pair of panties balled up beside the toilet.

With a creeping anxiety, Keri returned to the bedroom and noticed something she’d missed before. There were three locks on the door. In addition to the standard one on the knob, there was both a deadbolt and a chain lock.

“Hey, Ray, come back here,” she called out as she moved to get a closer look. The chain lock had lots of scuffs. It could have been her imagination, but Keri couldn’t help thinking all the markings were a result of it repeatedly being locked in a rush, by someone trying to prevent people from getting out easily.

Ray stepped in the room and Keri pointed at the door.

“Lot of locks for a bedroom door,” he noted, pointing out the obvious.

“I also found some panties in the bathroom,” Keri said.

“There are a few other pairs strewn throughout the rest of the bedrooms too, as well as a few bras,” Ray said. “I also found some coke and pot. I think we’ve got enough here to arrest Sammy if we want.”

“Let’s call in CSU to collect the drugs and see if they can find any prints. I want to take another run at Sammy. Now that he’s facing real time, maybe he’ll be a little more chatty, especially after sitting in the back of that squad car for a while.”

“Sounds good,” Ray said. “I’m going to turn on the TV to find a channel that sounds like girls screaming. You know, for the exigent circumstances and all. Got to make it look good, right?”

Keri nodded. While Ray fiddled with the remote control, she walked out to the squad car. One of the officers had turned on the flashing lights and a small crowd was developing down the street.

Keri was pleased at the effect. Everything was adding to the pressure on Sammy. She didn’t want to put a sixteen-year-old kid in the system but she would if she had to, especially if the threat of doing so might rescue two abducted girls.

He was staring at her nervously through the car window as she approached him. She opened the door and knelt down to his eye level. She could go lots of ways with this kid but decided that at this point her strongest move was to just play it straight.

“We found the drugs, Sammy,” she told him. “Pot, coke, who knows what else. The quantity suggests more than just possession. We’re talking intent to distribute. And since you were the only one in the house, you’re the only one we can pin this on. We also found female undergarments. We’re bringing in our crime scene unit to check for DNA and dust for fingerprints. And I’m pretty confident we’re going to find some for the girls I’m looking for, maybe others too.”

Keri watched as Sammy gulped hard. She thought he might say something but he stayed silent, so she went on.

“I’m laying this all out for you so you know what you’re facing. I’m not trying to trick you or play games. You’re hosed, Sammy. I don’t know what the sentence is for this off the top of my head. But if we can’t get those girls back, I’m going to put all my energy into making sure you get the stiffest possible sentence. I’ll testify against you. My partner will testify against you. I’ll find a way to get the parents of these girls to testify against you, to tar you with these missing girls. Do you believe me Sammy?”

Sammy nodded.

“Good. So we’re on the same page. With that, I’m going to give you one more chance to get yourself out of this. I’m not even going to ask you to implicate your brother. I just want to know the location of the warehouse where Chiqy took those girls. You give me that and it pans out, I’ll go to bat for you with the DA. But this is a one-time-only offer. You’re only good to me as long as I still have a shot at finding these girls. What do you say, Sammy? You want a second chance at saving your own life?”

Sammy lowered his head as if lost in thought. Keri waited patiently, knowing she had pushed as hard as she could and it was now out of her hands. After a moment he raised his head again and she knew she had him.

“The warehouse is in the Valley, in North Hollywood, on Vanowen,” he nearly whispered. “I don’t know the exact address. But I have it on my phone. If you give it to me, I’ll find it for you. That guy has it.”

Keri stood up and faced the uniformed officer he’d pointed at. It was the one who’d first knocked on the door. He was leaning on the hood of the car.

“Give me his phone,” she ordered forcefully, then turned to face the house and yelled as loudly as she could. “Ray, get out here now!”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Keri wasn’t in control and she hated it. She forced herself not to let her frustration show but it was hard. If she bit her tongue any harder, she feared it would bleed.

Because they were about to raid a warehouse that might be housing a prostitution ring run by a notoriously brutal pimp who maintained a small army, an LAPD SWAT team had been called in. They were running the show.

Keri and Ray stood with the team, who had set up a block away from the warehouse. They were listening to the team leader give final instructions. On his mark, half the team was to enter through the front and half through a door in the back. Keri and Ray would be allowed to join them once the place was secure.

Keri watched them approach the warehouse and, despite her resentment at being left out, couldn’t help but admire their teamwork and efficiency as they quietly moved into place.

The team leader gave the go-ahead over the radio and she heard a series of bangs as the team members dispersed stun grenades before disappearing inside. She listened to the chatter as they secured the facility. There were no shouts, no gunfire, and little anxiety in their voices. Keri could tell within thirty seconds that there were no hostiles inside. After another two minutes, they were given permission to enter.

Once inside, Keri allowed herself a moment to take in her surroundings. The entire cavernous warehouse was comprised almost exclusively of mattresses scattered throughout. There had to be over two dozen. They were completely bare, without sheets or blankets. A few of the ones in the corners had curtains, which offered the barest semblance of privacy. A bitter thought entered Keri’s head.

Maybe those are for the VIP clients.

It was immediately apparent why the SWAT team had sounded so casual. Other than the areas behind the curtains, which had clearly been checked, there was no place to hide. Despite the overhead lights being dimmed, the entire warehouse was visible and it was almost completely empty.

In fact, she only saw two people in the whole place who weren’t law enforcement. One was a john who appeared to be passed out on the ground next to a mattress. The other was a young girl sitting on a mattress near the back of the facility. A SWAT officer stood over her, while a medic took her blood pressure.

Keri headed straight for her, followed closely by Ray. The girl looked to be about fourteen, with long stringy blonde hair. Her eyes were red and cloudy, as if she wasn’t all there. She wore a tank top but didn’t have any bottoms on. Instead, she was partially covered by a thermal blanket the medic had given her.

“Have you asked her anything yet?” Keri asked the officer.

“No ma’am. Not my area of expertise. Besides, I wouldn’t want to step on any toes.”

“Smart man,” she said before kneeling next to the medic. He glanced at her briefly before returning his eyes to the girl.

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