Page 97 of Convict's Game

I leaned on a low wall to a children’s play area and took in the woman I’d so briefly met in that holding cell. Going by her expression, Becky was wary and afraid. Almost hostile.

“You know she was a sex worker?”

She leaned in and dropped her voice down low. “That isn’t news. She has been for years. She tried to target wealthier clientele, but her habit set her back.”

“She used drugs?”

“Obviously.”

“Did she go through with the auction?”

Becky darted a glance into the nearest Burger Barn window then up at a camera. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Please? Esther died. Someone needs to care.”

She worked her jaw then swore and walked away, out of the perimeter of the building and into the car park. I followed, Manny tracking me.

In the open space, she whirled around. “I can’t lose this job. I have a kid. I need the money.”

I formed a sympathetic smile. “Then you went through with it, too.”

Brittle tension rolled off her. “I can’t tell you anything useful. She was sold first. There were other girls there who I heard, one was crying nonstop, but we were kept blindfolded until they took us out front.”

“Do you know who bought Esther?”

“No.”

“Did you see any of the other handlers?”

“Only the two men who had been at the place I saw you. They didn’t speak often.”

“Did anyone say a name?”

“Like I said, they weren’t chatty. One called another Dumbo, but that’s got to be a nickname, right?”

I lodged that fact away, though she was probably correct.

“Then someone bought you. You must’ve been so scared.” At her tiny nod, my heart broke for her. I gentled my tone. “I’m sorry for what you went through.”

She snorted, not meeting my gaze. “I made it out. Figured you for dead, but here you are, backed by fancy men with fancy cars. Looks like we both did okay.”

“This next bit is important. I need to know who bought you.”

“Why should I tell you shit? You didn’t go through it. You come to my place of work and cause drama. All those nosy bitches are going to have a field day over this.”

“You should help me because someone needs to be held accountable for what they did to Esther.”

Becky’s gaze flew to mine. “Maybe she deserved it. I only know her because she would come in here and other places to try to recruit girls. She was a fucked-up user. I’m not sad. Only shaken that it could’ve been me. Whoever bought her must’ve been a real bastard. No one in the auctions will be safe if he’s on the scene. To think, he could’ve bought me.”

She wasn’t wrong. The mystery buyer was more than likely Esther’s murderer.

“Exactly. Which is why I want to work out who he is. Your buyer might be able to tell us.”

“Fuck. Fine. I didn’t see him when I was being sold. Not until I was escorted to his car and locked in the back. He didn’t tell me his name, not when he was inviting his friends to run train on me and not when he did the most degrading shit a prissy princess like you can even imagine. The auction was for no-holds-barred sex, you know that? I put up with what he…” She gazed to the dark skies and took a steadying breath. “I would do anything to give my son a better life. The money paid for his school uniform, new, not secondhand, shoes that didn’t have a previous owner, day trips he’d otherwise miss out on. Don’t you dare judge me.”

I kept silent. I wasn’t judging. I’d been in a place where I’d have done anything for my family.

Becky centred herself. “When the bastard was asleep in the rented apartment, after everything was over, I went through his bag. There was no wallet, but in a side compartment I found a gym membership card with RS Yelland on it.”