The Stranger

Chapter 14

The stranger had given Heidi the link to FindYourSugarBaby.com as well as her daughter’s user ID and password. With a heavy heart, Heidi signed in as Kimberly and found out all she needed to confirm that everything the stranger had told her was true.

The stranger had not just told her out of the kindness (or emptiness) of his heart. He made money demands, of course. Ten grand was the amount. If she didn’t pay it in three days, the news of Kimberly’s “hobby” would go viral.

Heidi signed out and sat on the couch. She debated pouring herself a glass of wine and decided against it. Then Heidi had a good, long cry. When she finished, she headed to the bathroom, washed her face, and sat back on the couch.

Okay, she thought, what do I do about this?

Heidi’s first decision was almost the simplest: Don’t tell Marty. She didn’t like to keep secrets from her husband, but then again, she didn’t hate it either. It was part of life, wasn’t it? Marty would absolutely lose it if he found out what his little girl was up to while she was supposedly studying at NYU. Marty was prone to overreaction, and Heidi could see him hopping in his car, driving to Manhattan, and dragging his daughter back by the hair.

Marty didn’t need to know the truth. Come to think of it, neither did Heidi.

Damn those two strangers.

When Kimberly was in high school, she had gotten drunk at a party at a classmate’s house. Intoxication led, as it often does, to going a little too far with a boy. Not all the way. But too far. Another mother in town, a busybody who meant well, had overheard her daughter talking about the incident. She had called Heidi and said, “I hate to tell you this, but if our roles were reversed, I would want to know.”

So she told Heidi about the incident. Heidi had told Marty, who had completely overreacted. The relationship between father and daughter had never really been the same. What, Heidi wondered, would have been the outcome if that busybody had never called? In the end, what good had it done? It embarrassed her daughter. It strained the relationship between father and daughter. It had, Heidi believed, been a huge part of Kimberly’s decision to go to college so far away. And maybe that stupid phone call from that stupid busybody had even led Kimberly and ultimately Heidi to this terrible website and the horrific nature of her daughter’s relationship with three different men.

Heidi didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence was right there in the “secret” communications between her young daughter and these older men. Dress it up all she wanted, but there was no way around the fact that her daughter was involved in straight-up prostitution.

She wanted to cry again. She wanted to do nothing and forget those two calm strangers had ever said anything to her. But she had no choice now, did she? The secret had been thrust in her face. She couldn’t put that horse back in the barn, to mix her metaphors. It was a parental paradox probably as old as time: She didn’t want to know, but she did want to know.

When she called her daughter’s cell phone, Kimberly had answered with breathless enthusiasm. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hey, sweetheart.”

“Everything okay? Your voice sounds funny.”

At first Kimberly had denied it. That was to be expected. Then she tried to make it sound innocent. That, too, was to be expected. Then Kimberly tried defiance, accusing her mother of hacking into her account and invading her privacy. Again expected.

Heidi kept her voice steady, even as her heart cracked in her chest and filled it with pain. She explained to Kimberly about the stranger. She recounted what they had told her and what she had seen on her own. Patiently. Calmly. At least, on the outside.

It took some time, but they both knew where this conversation was headed. Cornered, the shock slowly wearing off, Kimberly started to open up. Money was tight, she explained.

“You can’t believe how expensive everything is here.”

A classmate had told Kimberly about the site. You didn’t really have to do anything with the guys, she’d been told. They just wanted young girls for the company. Heidi almost laughed out loud at that one. Men, as Heidi knew all too well and Kimberly quickly learned, never really just wanted company. That was merely the loss leader to get you in the store.

Heidi and Kimberly talked for two hours. At the end of the conversation, Kimberly asked her mother what she should do.

“Break it off with them. Today. Now.”

Kimberly promised she would do just that. The next question was how to proceed. Heidi said she would take some time off and come up and spend some time in New York. Kimberly balked.

“The semester will be over in two weeks. Let’s just wait till then.”

Heidi didn’t like that idea. In the end, they agreed to discuss it further in the morning. Before they hung up, Kimberly said, “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Please don’t tell Dad.”

Already decided, but she didn’t tell Kimberly that. When Marty came home, she said nothing. Marty cooked up burgers on the grill in the yard. Heidi poured them both drinks. He talked about his day. She talked about hers. The secret was there, of course. It sat at the kitchen table in Kimberly’s old chair, never speaking but never budging, either.

In the morning, after Marty left for work, there was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Mrs. Dann? I’m Detective John Kuntz with the New York Police Department. May I speak with you for-”

Heidi threw open the door, nearly collapsing in the process. “Oh my God, my daughter…?”

“Oh, she’s fine, ma’am,” Kuntz said quickly, stepping forward to help support her. “Wow, jeez, I’m sorry. I guess I should have told you that right away. I’m just imagining-your daughter is in school in New York and an NYPD officer shows up at your door.” Kuntz shook his head. “I have kids too. I get it. But don’t worry, Kimberly is fine. I mean, healthwise. There are other factors…”

“Factors?”

Kuntz smiled. There was a little too much space between each tooth. He sported a terrible comb-over, the kind of thing that made you want to grab a pair of scissors, pull the few hairs taut, and snip them off. She placed him in his midforties, paunchy with stooped shoulders and the sunken eyes of someone who didn’t eat well or get enough sleep.

“May I come in for a moment?”

Kuntz held up his badge. It looked, to Heidi’s amateur eye, to be legitimate.

“What’s this about?”

“I think you probably have some idea.” Kuntz nodded toward the door. “May I?”

Heidi stepped back. “I don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Have any idea what this is about.”

Kuntz stepped inside and looked around as though he were there to buy the place. He smoothed down a few of the comb-over hairs that had started to make a static-electrical escape. “Well, you called your daughter last night. Is that correct?”

Heidi wasn’t sure how to answer. Didn’t matter. Kuntz plowed ahead without waiting for one anyway.

“We are aware that your daughter has been involved in activity that could be illegal.”

“What do you mean?”

He sat on the couch. She sat on the chair across from him.

“Can I ask a favor, Mrs. Dann?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a small one, but I think it would really simplify this conversation for all concerned. Let’s stop with the pretense, okay? It just wastes time. Your daughter, Kimberly, was involved in online prostitution.”

Heidi just sat there.

“Mrs. Dann?”

“I think you better leave.”

“I’m trying to help.”

“It sounds like you’re making accusations. I better talk to an attorney.”

Kuntz pushed down the stray strands again. “You got it wrong.”

“How so?”

“We don’t care about what your daughter may or may not have done. It’s petty and I will grant you this: With the online stuff, there is a fine line between business relationship and prostitution. Then again, maybe there has always been. We aren’t interested in hassling you or your daughter.”

“Then what do you want?” Heidi asked.

“Your cooperation. That’s all. If you and Kimberly cooperate, we see no reason why we can’t just forget about her role in all this.”

“Her role in what?”

“Let’s take it a step at a time, shall we?” Kuntz reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pad. Then he took out one of those small pencils golfers use to keep score. He licked the pencil’s tip and turned his attention back toward Heidi. “First off, how did you find out about your daughter’s involvement with that sugar babies website?”

“What difference does that make?”

Kuntz shrugged. “Just a routine question.”

Heidi said nothing. The small tingling at the base of her neck had started to grow.

“Mrs. Dann?”

“I think I better talk to an attorney.”

“Oh,” Kuntz said. He made a face as though he were a teacher suddenly disappointed by a favorite pupil. “Then your daughter lied to us. That won’t look good here, I gotta be honest.”

Heidi knew that he wanted her to bite. The silence between them grew so big, Heidi could hardly breathe. She couldn’t take it, so she asked: “Why do you think my daughter lied?”

“Simple. Kimberly told us you found out about the website in a completely legal way. She said that two people-a man and a woman-stopped you outside a restaurant and informed you of what was going on. But see, if that were true, I don’t get why you wouldn’t want to tell us that. There is nothing illegal in that activity.”

Heidi’s head started spinning. “I don’t understand any of this. What are you doing here exactly?”

“That’s a fair question, I guess.” Kuntz sighed and adjusted himself on the couch. “Do you know what the Cyber Crime Unit is?”

“I imagine it has something to do with crimes on the Internet.”

“Exactly. I’m with the CCU-that stands for Cyber Crime Unit-which is a fairly new division of the NYPD. We bust criminals who use the Internet in nefarious ways-hackers, scammers, that kind of thing-and we suspect that the person or persons who approached you at the restaurant are part of an elusive cyber criminal syndicate we’ve been after for a long time.”

Heidi swallowed. “I see.”

“And we would like your help in finding and identifying whoever might have been involved in these crimes. Does that make sense? So let’s get back to it, okay? Yes or no, did two people approach you in the parking lot of a restaurant?”

The tingling was still there, but she said, “Yes.”

“Great.” Kuntz smiled with the spaced teeth again. He wrote something down and looked back up at her. “What restaurant?”

She hesitated.

“Mrs. Dann?”

“I don’t understand something,” Heidi said slowly.

“What’s that, ma’am?”

“I just talked to my daughter yesterday afternoon.”

“Yes.”

“So when did you talk to her?”

“Last night.”

“And how did you get here so fast?”

“This matter is of great importance to us. I flew in this morning.”

“But how did you even know about it?”

“Pardon?”

“My daughter didn’t say anything about calling the police. So how would you know…?” She stopped. Her mind traveled down a few possible paths. All of them were pretty dark.

“Mrs. Dann?”

“I think you better leave.”

Kuntz nodded. He started working the few strands of hair again, sweeping them from one ear to the other. Then he said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”

Heidi stood and moved toward the door. “I’m not going to talk to you.”

“Yes, you are.”

Still sitting and with something approaching a sigh, Kuntz took out his gun, aimed with precision at Heidi’s kneecap, and pulled the trigger. The sound of the weapon was quieter than she would have thought, but the impact was more immense. She collapsed to the floor like a broken folding chair. He moved fast, covering her mouth to smother her scream. He lowered his lips to her ear.

“If you scream, I’ll finish you off slowly and then I’ll start on your daughter,” Kuntz whispered. “Do you understand?”

The pain came in waves, nearly making her pass out. Kuntz took the muzzle and pressed it against the other knee. “Do you understand, Mrs. Dann?”

She nodded.

“Terrific. Now let’s try this again. What was the name of the restaurant?”