Her gaze snapped to my face with confusion, then recognition. Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God. You’re undercover.”
I grinned. “Good to have confirmation it worked.”
“Girl, if I hadn’t planned to see you tonight, I never would have guessed it was you. Even if I checked you out at my register.”
“I take it your girl hasn’t been in yet?”
She shook her head. “Not yet, but if she follows the usual pattern, she should be here within the next ten minutes.”
“I’m gonna try to talk to her and make sure she’s okay.” I leaned in a little. “Would it be okay if I take her to the back?”
Cassandra pursed her lips. “Honey, you can try, but she’s as skittish as a bass at a fish fry. I doubt she’ll agree to talk to you, let alone go to the back.”
“How likely is it that she’s been trafficked?” I asked.
Cassandra nodded as the bell over the door clanged behind me. She lowered her voice. “I should’ve realized it last night, but she’s a regular, you know? And I thought most of those girls were older. And kept better guarded. She comes in alone, but a man sits in a car and waits for her.”
My heart skipped a beat. “How old do you think she is?”
Cassandra’s gaze tracked the customers behind me, and her mouth tightened. In the convex mirror behind her, I saw two guys by the beer case.
“Dunno. She wears a lot of makeup to cover it up,” she murmured. “But I’d guess her to be about fourteen. Maybe fifteen.”
My blood ran cold. I wasn’t sure why the information about her age had caught me off guard. I knew young girls got trafficked—I wasn’t naïve. Maybe I’d gotten thrown off by Wilhemina from the Velvet Room. She wasn’t underaged. But runaway teen girls, or girls from rough homes were easy prey. Desperate for somewhere to sleep and something to eat. They just didn’t know they’d traded one prison for another.
Now I really wanted to help this girl.
“I guess we’ll see what happens,” I said. “For now, I’ll wait by the bathrooms, so I don’t look suspicious to anyone outside.”
She waved a hand. “You do you, girl. If this child is really bein’ pimped out, then I’ll do anything I can to help her. Lettin’ you stand by the bathrooms is no big deal.”
“Thanks.”
I headed to the back, opened the back door, and found myself face-to-face with an angry James Malcolm.
“What the fuck too so long?” he growled under his breath.
I let him in and made sure the door was shut behind him. “I was talking to Cassandra. Letting her know I was going to hang out back here while I waited.”
His eyes narrowed. “You didn’t tell her I was gonna be back here, did you?”
“What do you take me for?” I grumbled. “An amateur?”
“No.” His voice stayed low. “A rule follower.”
It felt like a judgement, not a statement. “Not anymore, I’m not,” I said, bitterness slipping out before I could stop it.
“Hey.”
I turned to face him, his face inches from mine.
“You can change your mind about any of this at anytime,” he said, his voice rough and insistent.
I shook my head. It was obvious he’d misunderstood. “I’m okay with not following the rules.”
“Then what are you pissed about?”
That was a good question.
