Page 43 of Keep

Her smile was regretful and her eyes suddenly filled. “Yes. I knew him well.”

“Are you on the force too?”

“No.”

Andy cleared his throat. “Maria is the founder of Operation Optimism, a highly regarded organization that helps victims of sex trafficking build new lives. I asked her to meet us here so she could explain a few things.”

I absorbed that information. It didn’t answer my primary question.

“How did you know Hale?” I asked Maria.

Her eyes flashed with pain at the sound of his name. “I’m very sorry for your loss,” she said. “I went to the funeral but I couldn’t bring myself to go inside. I ended up sitting in my car until it was over.” She cocked her head. “Hale never mentioned me, did he?”

“Not that I recall,” I admitted. “But then again my brother has never been up front about the details of his life.”

Maria didn’t appear bothered. “He had a good reason for keeping our association quiet.”

“And what reason was that?”

“He was helping.”

“Helping who? You?”

“No.” Maria looked to Andy, as if deciding how much information she ought to reveal. He gave her a slight nod and she continued.

“On paper Hale was an investor in some businesses that were really a façade for some horrific and exploitative activities.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told that part already,” I said, hearing my voice rise. Curtis gave me a slight nudge under the table, either a gesture of solidarity or a suggestion to stay patient.

“But what you don’t know,” Maria said, “is that he’d helped rescue over twenty victims of forced prostitution.”

That was a surprise. I looked to Andy for confirmation.

“It’s true,” Andy said. “Hale was using his own money to buy them out, hiring an intermediary to pretend to be a big money pimp so the bosses wouldn’t suspect he was behind it.”

“He got them out,” Maria said emphatically. “And he brought them to me.” She reached for a napkin and twisted the end in her fingers as her expression dimmed. “These women are always in bad shape when they first escape from that life. Most are very young, some even minors. You see, they were deliberately targeted and groomed. Ultimately they found themselves unable to get away from an awful cycle of addiction and violence. Hale helped them escape by buying their freedom. And when he started to run short of the kind of money needed to buy them out he still didn’t stop what he was doing. He just went about it a little differently.”

“Theft of valuable merchandise,” I muttered, thinking of the accusations from John Jones/Frank Bruno.

“They’d figured out it was Hale,” Andy explained. “He’d already entrusted Maria with whatever evidence he was able to gather and believe me, it’s going to good use. He would have been a valuable witness.”

“If he’d lived,” I added, thinking of my brother careening wildly through the streets on his motorcycle with booze in his blood and secrets in his head.

Hale. Why didn’t you tell me? You could have told me.

“If he’d lived,” Maria repeated and she choked on the words a little.

I would have liked to hear much more but Andy again grew soft on details. After all, this was an ongoing case that was bound to receive a lot of publicity. Andy assured me that he’d keep me informed if there was anything to be concerned about. He also told me to stay alert and call right away if I noticed even a shadow that seemed out of place.

“But I truly don’t think you or your wife are in any danger at this point,” Andy emphasized once we were outside the diner in the parking lot. “And you know I wouldn’t bullshit you if I thought otherwise.”

I shook his hand and thanked him for going out of his way to set my mind at ease. He shook hands with Curtis, wished Maria a good night, and then walked briskly to his car.

“Well,” Maria said to me and Curtis. “It was nice to meet you both.”

I felt like there was something important I should say to her. “Nice to meet you too.”

She smiled and walked away.

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