Ties That Bind

Chapter Twenty-Four.

Jon Dupre had called Ally Bennett from the jail and given her the combination to a safe hidden in the basement of an isolated house on the Willamette, several miles south of Portland, which Jon had purchased under another name. Sometimes Jon's "special" customers wanted a place to party where they wouldn't be seen, even by chance. There was money in the safe, and envelopes containing video- and audiotapes. She had taken some of the money and a few audio- and videotapes to Oscar Baron. Jon had not told her what was on the tapes, but he had been confident that they would get him out of jail.

In addition to Baron's retainer, Ally had taken some of Jon's money for herself. She'd been having trouble making ends meet since the cops closed down Exotic Escorts and had been forced to tend bar evenings at a tavern near her apartment. She hated it, but she had to earn a living. She'd finished her shift at the bar and was pulling into her apartment complex when she heard Oscar's name on the car radio.

" . . . was found brutally murdered in his home. Police told reporters that Baron had been tortured and robbery appeared to be the motive."

Ally slowed down. She didn't believe in coincidences; the murder had to be connected to the tapes she'd given to Baron. With a chill, she realized that Oscar knew her name. What if he told it to his killers? What if they discovered where she lived?

All of a sudden, it didn't seem smart to go up to her apartment. Ally switched off her headlights and made a slow U-turn. She was almost at the entrance to the apartment complex when headlights came on at the far end of the lot. Ally jammed the accelerator to the floor and peeled out across traffic. She turned right at the first street and began weaving in and out of side streets. Ally slowed down but kept a constant watch in her rearview mirror. After a few minutes, she started to feel silly. Was her high-speed flight caused by paranoia? Maybe, but Ally decided not to take any chances. She took out the loaded .38 she carried ever since one of her customers had smacked her around, and placed it next to her on the passenger seat. When the car from the lot did not materialize, Ally headed toward the freeway.

Jon Dupre's safe house had a deck that overlooked the river. It was cold outside but Ally pulled her coat tight against her throat. She needed fresh air and a place to think. Ally lit a cigarette and wondered about the tapes she had given to Oscar Baron. If Jon was convinced that the tapes would help him beat the rap for killing a United States senator, there had to be something earthshaking on them. There were other tapes hidden in the safe. She crushed out her cigarette and went inside.

The safe was under a cover of loose linoleum in the basement laundry room. As soon as she opened it, she counted the money. There was twenty thousand dollars left. If someone was after her, she could take it and run. But she couldn't run. Not without Stacey, Lori Andrews's kid. The thought of Stacey languishing in one foster home after another was eating her up. If she had enough money . . .

Ally rummaged through the contents of the safe. She found some business ledgers and glanced through them. They contained the names, phone numbers, and addresses of Exotic Escort customers, and were cross-referenced to the tapes. Ally selected a few videotapes at random. There was a big-screen TV in the basement. She turned it on, put a cassette in the VCR, and pressed play. What she saw was what she'd expected to see. A fat, older man, whom Ally recognized as an influential politician, was groping a naked Asian girl named Joyce Hamada. She watched for a while before taking the tape out and popping in another. It was more of the same, only the partners were different. Ally was puzzled. These tapes would be interesting to the cops, but no one was going to let Jon off in exchange for them. Whatever Jon was counting on had to be a hell of a lot different from what she'd seen. Then she remembered the cassette she'd slipped into Jon's pocket at the Travis fundraiser.

At Jon's instructions, Ally had secreted mini tape-recorders in the den and several bedrooms as soon as she'd arrived at the country house. She had collected the recorders and all of the tapes before the night was over. The girls were always under orders to get their dates to talk about themselves, and this wasn't the first time she'd brought tapes to Dupre. Though Jon had given her a bonus every time she helped him tape a client, he'd never told her what he did with the tapes, but she wasn't stupid. Ally was certain that he used them for blackmail if the information was juicy enough. There had been a lot of very important people at Travis's party.

Ally went back to the safe. The tapes from the fund-raiser were small, and it took her a while to find them. They were much more interesting than the sexcapades she'd viewed earlier.