Page 16 of Ruining Vanessa

Fucking Paul for bringing this mess on all of us. Fucking Giulio for not giving me proper warning before sending me to clean up the mess.

“Officer Baca was working undercover for our vice department. In particular, he was focusing on prostitution.”

“Just missing? You sure he didn’t run off with a whore?” Officer Davidson asks, although even he sounds more serious now.

You don’t joke about dead or missing officers.

Conteh glares at Davidson. “No. He has a wife and a young daughter at home. His assignment was only meant to last a week. While we are hopeful we’ll still find him alive, at this point we have to work on the assumption that he’s been murdered.”

Murmurs sound from all around me. My precinct might not be all on the up-and-up, but cop killers are serious business. We band together against anyone who might try to take us down, and if I didn’t know what had happened to the good officer, I’d be as righteously pissed off as those around me.

It makes me a little nervous. It wasn’t that I didn’t know the chance I was taking in offing him, but the alternative would’ve been worse. Just letting him go and spread shit about Ntimacy could’ve really caused a domino effect that even my captain couldn’t ignore—that even Giulio couldn’t buy off.

I’m going to wring Paul’s neck the next time I see him.

“He disappeared between check-ins,” Conteh goes on. “He hadn’t found anything at any of the targets he’d visited, but he was still following a list. Unfortunately, we don’t have that list. We’ve been investigating all of the strip clubs and potential brothels in our district, but we’ve come up with nothing.”

Of course they hadn’t. Ntimacy was out of their direct jurisdiction.

What had brought him over here, into our domain? Had he heard rumors? Was he checking out a lead, or did he just decide to expand his search?

“We know which clubs he’d already investigated,” Conteh says. “But as you know, New Bristol has no shortage of shady strip clubs and similar establishments. We’ve compiled our own list of potential targets in your area.” He nods to me. “Detective Graham? Captain Parker says you’ll be taking lead on this investigation.”

I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. We’ll have to make sure everything is thorough but not too thorough. Maybe we need to end up having a few strikes against a different club, one Giulio doesn’t own, and misdirect the investigation that way.

I nod. “Yes, Sergeant.”

The rest of the meeting goes like they usually do. We ask questions, Conteh answers with increasing annoyance. I find out who my contact on the 52nd Precinct is and get the files sent to me.

Thank fuck Damien’s thorough in his body disposal. As long as nobody finds pieces of Baca’s corpse, there isn’t much to go on. It’s all circumstantial shit. Any good lawyer would point out that there’s no proof of murder.

“Detective Graham, a word before you go,” Conteh says once the meeting wraps up.

I nod and wait as everybody else files out—including the captain.

Conteh closes the door, leaving us in private. “I realize you have your own cases to deal with, so I appreciate your cooperation on this matter.”

“Of course. Anything for a fellow officer,” I say, keeping my eye on Conteh. I can’t tell what kind of guy he is, whether his own precinct is as… unscrupulous as mine, if he’s the kind of guy Giulio would be able to bribe.

I wouldn’t suggest it to him, though. Attempting to bribe anybody now would only draw attention.

“I didn’t want to mention it in front of the other officers, because I know how prejudiced people can be. But I have… some reason to believe that Baca might have been having an affair with a man. I’ve spoken with that individual and determined he is unrelated to the case. However, when looking for leads, I don’t want you to limit yourself to simply heterosexual establishments.” Conteh’s lip is curled in disgust, and I have to resist the urge to bark out a laugh.

When he says he knows people can be prejudiced, he must be including himself in that line-up.

“No worries,” I answer calmly. “I know a few places where men sell themselves. I can check those out. Wouldn’t be bad to have an excuse to scare a few of them straight.” I laugh at the stupid pun, although Conteh only glowers. I bet Giulio would have thought that one was funny.

I shrug, unapologetic.

Conteh finally nods at me. “Thank you for your discretion, Detective. I look forward to hearing your updates.”

Giulio will get a kick out of the investigation turning more toward male prostitutes instead of Ntimacy. This will work in our favor since he doesn’t traffic in men. Some of his rivals do, though…

I step out of the room, joining the other detectives and officers on the floor. All of them are gossiping like old women about the case.

“So what do you think, Graham?” Davidson asks me. “Think he went for a nice vacay with a side piece?”

I snort. “Not likely, but who knows? I’ve got a few things to check out that Conteh didn’t want to talk about in public.”

---