My Sister's Keeper

Chapter 21

21

STANDING MOTIONLESS in front of the window, I held my breath and waited to see what Angie was going to do. Her eyes pleaded with mine and mine with hers. The two of us stayed fixed on each other until the lights in the room went off whereupon she bolted across the porch back toward the door from where she'd come.

"Wait," I whispered, spanning the deck behind her.

"Please don't tell," she pleaded as I got closer. "I'll do anything you want." She let her gown fall open and as the wind whipped it out like a sail, I saw that she wore nothing underneath. "Please?"

I stopped a few feet from her. "I don't work here. I'm just trying to find out what happened to a girl that's disappeared."

She pulled her robe closed clasping it at the neck and waist. "I—I don't know anything about the others. I just started last week."

"What do they do here?"

She looked inside her room then back to me and whispered, "Who are you looking for?"

"Ashleigh Matthews."

As the chilly wind pressed her thin robe against her naked body, she struggled to keep it closed. "I've never heard that name."

"What do you do here?" I asked again.

A sliding door rolled open one level above us and hard leather shoes scuffed the porch above our heads. The door closed with a bump and as the shoes crossed the deck and started down the stairs, Angie pulled me into her darkened room closing the door behind us. Through the misty glass I could make out the shape of a heavy man in his 50s or 60s as he continued down the stairs and disappeared.

"That's creepy Fat Albert. He walks around all night, but the girls say you can get anything you want from him if you do him favors. Don't let him see you."

I took her arm and swiveled her to face me. "Tell me the truth, Angie. What goes on here?"

She ripped her arm out of my grip and stepped back into the darkness. "How did you know my name?"

"I just heard you say it on the phone."

"Please. Leave now before you get me in trouble."

I whispered gently, "Listen to me. This girl could be in a lot worse trouble and I need to find her."

Her voice grew fainter, "I told you I've never heard of her."

I shuffled blindly toward her voice and spoke softly. "A blond man from here was in her house earlier tonight looking for something. When he left I followed him here. He drove a black Corvette and had a mole on his face. Who is he?"

I could hear her breathing through her mouth. "That's Greg. He works here, too."

"Doing what?"

"Whatever they want."

"On the phone you said things were crazy around here. What did you mean?"

Her breathing became more rapid. "Someone took some money and they're trying to find it. They questioned us and searched our bags."

I bumped against something with my left leg and moved more to the right. "When?" I asked.

Her breathing became more rapid. "Don't come any closer. I mean it."

I stopped moving. "When did the money disappear?"

"Sunday or Monday," she sounded panicked. "Now will you please go?"

"I will if you'll tell me what they do here, Angie." I could hear her breathing and lowered my voice to a whisper. "Please tell me what they do here."

Her voice was so low I almost missed her answer. "It's an adult website."