Chapter 9

Amy sat for a while after Lee left to finish her Latte.  She wanted to figure out what all she'd just said while it was still fresh in her mind.  It all seemed completely rational and the more she thought about it the more rational and sensible it was.  She still couldn't believe she said it though and, no matter how rational it might be, wasn't sure if she truly believed it all.  Could she really accept, in any way, her husband visiting a prostitute?  If she found out about it and he promised not to do it anymore, she could deal with that.  But if he was going to continue doing it...  

Her thoughts were interrupted by a man who'd walked over to her table.  He was about 5' 10" and overweight, but looked like he could take care of himself in most situations and probably had on a few occasions.  He didn't smell, but when he'd last taken a shower was questionable, though he did appear to have shaved within the past few days.  He grinned showing a lack of dental hygiene that didn't surprise Amy.  "Here." He said rather brusquely as he handed her an envelope.

Amy stared at him until he was gone, not sure whether to say anything or not.  After he left she stared at the envelope in her hands.  They were trembling a little and for no real reason.  She opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Go No Further!" Was all that was written on it.  There was no specific threat, but she sensed the meaning immediately.

"Jacob!" she shouted.  "Did you see that guy that just came in?  Do you know him?"

Jacob looked around Beans and then at Amy.  "Never seen him before."

"I haven't either Amy." Chuck Forstman said as he walked over.  "What's wrong?"

She handed Chuck the note and his expression quickly turned to one of grave concern.  "This may be nothing, but I'll see if the lab can tell us anything." He said.  Chuck was a cop who'd patrolled this neighborhood for longer than Amy'd been alive and right now she was more thankful than ever for his presence.  "I can't say as I agree with what you're doing though." He added.

She wanted to talk to him more about his views, but thought it best to wait until later.  Over the past couple of minutes she'd noticed that the trembling had spread from her hands to almost her entire body.  A couple of times when she'd been walking home late in the evening she'd felt some fear, and once when she thought a couple of gang members were following her she'd actually begun to tremble a little, but she'd never felt like this before.  In the past few minutes she'd quickly learned the difference between being a random target and having someone after her specifically.  She preferred the previous.

"This is scary Chuck." She said, controlling the quiver in her voice.  "How serious do you think this is?"

Chuck looked at the note again and then at Amy.  "I may disagree with you, but I promise you I'll do everything in my power to protect you." He said.  "I don't think you've got anything immediate to worry about.  Even if this is serious, it's just a warning.  I wouldn't worry about it too much for now, but I wouldn't do anything or talk to anyone until we find out some more.  It shouldn't take more than a day or two."

"Thanks Chuck." Amy replied feeling somewhat reassured, but still scared.

"I'll keep you posted as I learn anything."  He said and walked out the door.

Amy sat at her table.  She'd finished her drink, but didn't want to go home alone.  Despite what Chuck had said about there nothing immediate to worry about she was still very uncomfortable.  And very alone.  She began to really wish Lee was still there.  She thought about calling him, but she wasn't sure where things stood between them after this morning's conversation.  She hoped that he hadn't taken anything she'd said this morning the wrong way.  What she really wanted from him more than anything at the moment though was to have him as a friend.  Someone that she could count on to protect her.  She wanted him to come and hold her and tell her that he'd protect her and that everything would be OK.

She was a little shocked by this last thought, but couldn't deny that she'd had it.  After a life of priding herself on her independence and success, of being the new Christian woman, the thought of 'needing' a guy didn't fit.  She'd always expected to get married, but had never expected to need someone like this.  But the feeling was unmistakable and surprisingly, she didn't dislike it.  Actually, under the circumstances, she liked it very much.  The problem though was that Lee wasn't there at the moment to meet her need.

But, there was something far worse.  Something else had been exposed in the past few minutes.  Something that she was surprised by but at the same time wasn't all-together unexpected.  Her feelings for Lee were more than just business associates or even friends.  It was like this threat had cracked open a secret compartment that revealed how much she really cared for him.  How much she loved him.

Now what? She thought. She felt more conflicting emotions than ever before.  Did she really love him?  Like that?  Could she keep working with him as a partner on her crusade?  Suddenly, all that she'd said this morning became real and Lee was the husband who she'd have to accept seeing prostitutes.  Could she really do that?  It was one thing to think about an abstract husband and rationalize the whole thing, but it was totally different now that her heart had put a real human in that place, a human that she truly loved.

Amy looked around at each of the people in Judge Beans.  Could any of them even begin to understand what she was going through?  How many were completely oblivious to the issues she'd been studying for the past few years?

"Hey Amy." Jacob said as he walked over.  "Mind if I join you for minute?"

"I'd love it." She replied.

"How are you doing?" Jacob asked with obvious concern.  "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Amy replied.  "I just need to collect my nerves.  It's kinda scary knowing that someone is after you."

"You know you're welcome to stay here as long as you like."

Amy nodded her appreciation.

"Tell me to shut up if I'm out of line." Jacob began hesitantly.  "But, would you like me to call Lee for you?  Tell him what's happened?"

Amy stared at Jacob for a minute.  Not sure for what reason he was saying that.  Did he know something that she didn't?  She wanted to say yes so bad.  She wanted Lee to be with her.  What would he think though?  Would his first reaction be to do everything in his power to get her to stop?  Did she want to stop?  "No thanks Jacob.  I'll be OK." She lied.

"Alright.  Just know that I'm here to help you in any way I can."

Amy nodded her appreciation.  "So Jacob, what do you think about this whole thing?" she asked.  "Am I nuts?"

Jacob looked into Amy's eyes.  "In Israel and Europe, where I've spent most of my life, it's either legal or tolerated.  Everyone knows that there is no way that it will ever be stamped out or even reduced.  They think it's best to let it be and do what they can to minimize the real negative effects.  And it works." He said.  

Con't...

Amy could sense that there was more and just sat, waiting patiently.  "I think America's prudishness about sex in general is not good.  You have more problems here than any other industrialized nation.  Americans complain about Europe, about nudity on TV or at the beach, about legalized prostitution, but can't seem to see that while some of the surface stuff might seem bad, it's not nearly as bad as here where you're five times more likely to get raped or where unmarried teen girls are having babies left and right.  There's a bigger national outcry over Janet Jackson's boobs than over the fact that about 80 women were raped during the halftime show."

"Prostitution is legal in Israel?" Amy asked with some surprise.

"Yeah." Jacob said.  "Actually, I don't think there's anything in Jewish law or even in the Old Testament speaking out against it."

"Wrong." Amy said.  "I know of at least three places in the Old Testament where it talks about it."

"Well, I'm no great religious scholar." Jacob said, "But I think what you're thinking of are warnings about temple prostitutes.  There's a difference.  Visiting a temple prostitute was a form of worshiping another god and was forbidden.  Visiting a common prostitute wasn't spoken against that I know of.  Actually, I think there are several references to men visiting them without any negative connotations associated with it.  In fact, several of the female hero's in the Old Testament were themselves prostitutes."

Amy was more than a little surprised by this.  Especially since she considered herself fairly knowledgeable when it came to the Bible.  "Jacob!" Kate hollered, interrupting Amy before she could ask a question that was on her mind.  "I need some help here."

Jacob looked over to see 5 people lined up at the counter and Kate the only one to run the till and make drinks.  "Coming!" he yelled as he stood.  "No matter how much we might disagree on various issues I still love you and I'll support you and help you in any way I can." He said to Amy.

Amy stood and gave Jacob a hug.  "Thanks." She said softly.  

As she walked out of Beans Amy suddenly felt very alone.  Was someone watching her?  Perhaps the messenger?  Wondering how she'd react to the note?  Did they know where she lived?  All of these thoughts kept rotating through her head as she walked back to her apartment.  What would she do once she got there?  What was her next move?  Should she even make any next moves until she heard back from Chuck about the note?  Half the people on the street looked suspicious.  How many of these people had read about her in the paper and recognized her?  The fear that one might be watching her and somehow associated with the note sent chills down her spine.

Crossing 9th she grabbed her phone from her purse to call someone.  She wasn't sure who, but she needed to talk to someone and she needed to get going on doing something.  She scrolled down her list and then going back through a second time pressed her talk button.  It only took 4 rings for Beth to answer, but it seemed like an eternity to Amy.

"Amy!" Beth shouted.  "That article about you is so cool!  I'm so major league proud of you!"

"Thanks." Amy replied.  "I think anyway." She paused.  "What are you doing the next couple of hours?"

Five minutes later as she crossed the street in front of her apartment she saw Beth standing by the front door with a big smile.  "You're the talk of the boards this morning sis." Beth said as Amy walked up.

"Me?" Amy replied as she looked through her bag for her keys.  She knew about all of the internet bulletin boards.  Linea had introduced her to them and Amy occasionally scanned them, but hadn't looked at them in some time.  There were a few where providers and clients chatted with each other, about everything from the prostitution industry to politics.  Amy had always found the latter conversations interesting since Republicans, Democrats, and other parties were about equally represented in both the provider and client communities.  

There was also the providers-only board where the providers shared information just with each other.  Some of it general girl-talk, but they also shared business thoughts on everything from websites and where to advertise to how best to manage their money.  They also warned each other about clients who should be avoided because they were weird, psycho, or simply hadn't seen a shower in some time.  A few also compared notes on clients - who they liked, who they disliked, who was good in bed and who wasn't.

"Yep." Beth replied.  "Everyone's behind you."

Once in Amy's apartment they logged onto her computer and browsed the boards.  Amy was heartened by all of the support for her and what she was doing.  Most surprising though, and the most appreciated, were the number of comments from providers talking about how much they'd appreciated Amy's assistance in one way or another over the past few years.  Amy'd never realized the impact she'd had until now.  For over an hour they read comments and replied back with thanks.

Just as they started to log off a post appeared telling everyone about the note Amy had received while she was in Judge Beans this morning.  The post said that the police weren't able to find anything identifying on the note itself, but had identified the messenger as a known associate of an organized crime syndicate.

This last piece of information sent a quick chill through Amy that overshadowed anything she'd felt earlier in the day.  She stared at it for a moment until Beth brought her back to consciousness.

"Who is that?" Amy asked Beth, referring to who posted the message.  Beth just turned up her hands to indicate that she didn't know.  "How does he know any of this?" Amy asked nobody in particular.

She grabbed her phone and dialed the number that Chuck had given her just a few hours earlier.  "Someone just posted on a forum that you think the guy who delivered the note was a mobster!" Amy said before Chuck could even finish answering his phone.  "What's going on?" she asked with anger and fear coursing through every part of her.

"What the fuck?" Chuck replied.  "Where did you see that?"

As she was telling him the name of the site she could hear Chuck angrily asking someone in his office who else knew about the investigation.  "Someone's gonna fuckin hang when I find out!" she heard him yell in the background.  "I'll call you back in 5 minutes Amy." Chuck said into the phone as politely as ever and then hung up.

"You've got to stop Amy." Beth said.  "It's not worth risking your life."

Amy looked at her.  You could still see a slight scar above Beth's eye as a reminder of when a client had assaulted her a few months earlier.  "Yes it is." Amy replied with more confidence than she would have expected.  "Besides it was just a warning, nothing that serious." She added.  "When I think about you being assaulted, or about the other girls who have been, ...or about the Green River Killer up in Washington..." her voice began to crack.  "How can I not continue?"

Beth reached across and hugged her friend.  Probably the most unselfish person she'd ever known.

As promised Beth's phone rang almost exactly 5 minutes after she'd hung up from Chuck.  The voice on the other end wasn't Chuck though.  "This is a dangerous road you're going down.  I'd turn back if I were you." They said and then hung up.  Amy'd recognized the voice, but wasn't sure exactly who it was.

She looked at Beth.  Within just a few hours her entire life had been turned completely upside down.  "Is this thing worth fighting?" she asked.

####

Intro
http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=71067&boardID=12

Chapter 1a
http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=71068&boardID=12

Chapter 1b
http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=71069&boardID=12

Chapters 2 & 3
http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=71240&boardID=12

Chapter 4
http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=74692&boardID=12

Chapter 5
http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=77544&boardID=12

Chapter 6
http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=78741&boardID=12

Chapter 7
http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=80962&boardID=12

Chapter 8
http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=86705&boardID=12

...I had not read any of this story until now. Funny how the mind works sometimes.

After reading your somewhat negative comment, I grabbed a bottle of wine (Gruet Brut), stuck Mozart's Prague Symphony in the CD player and read all nine chapters.

I enjoyed the story. The characterizations are very good, and consistent throughout. The issues, of course, are very pertinent to all of us here. The writer has a well-developed ability to create tension.

I anxiously await future chapters.

I started reading after chapter 6 came out. That night I printed out the six chapters and read them straight thru on the train while heading home. Now I'm hooked.  Keep it coming, JTH!