“One way of putting it,” Daphne added.
“Well, the good news is, getting your brother’s name in the mix helped untangle some of the threads we were pulling,” Ava said. “But first, let’s start with your phone.”
“My phone?” James said.
“Someone’s been tracking it. More specifically, Terrance ‘Terry’ Palance has been tracking your phone. He’s the CEO of a small-but-not-that small tech company that runs a Christian prayer-subscription service.”
“You have to pay money to pray?” James asked.
“To pray with celebrities,” Ava said. “Somehow, I’m thinking that’s not what Jesus had in mind, but who am I to say. Anyway, his company is backed by a very conservative private equity company.”
“Why would he be tracking James?” Daphne asked.
“We asked the same question and, as usual, it comes down to money,” Ava replied.
“He was being paid?” James asked.
“We think he was being blackmailed,” Callie corrected.
“By?” Daphne asked.
“When we couldn’t find a connection between him and you, Lovell, we started digging into his life. Every month, he pays two thousand dollars to an entity called Sweet Dreams,” Callie continued.
“I’m guessing Sweet Dreams isn’t a sleep app?” James said.
“It is not. It bills itself as a private, members-only club, and it is, but it’s a sex club. Not the legal kind either,” Callie said.
“It seems like it should be obvious what the difference is between a legal and an illegal sex club, but can you spell it out for me?” Daphne asked.
“Legal clubs, which are usually also member-only, are fully consensual, and whether someone partakes in the activities or not is entirely up to them. This isn’t uncommon in the worldof BDSM or for those with specific kinks or fetishes. They are basically places where folks with similar interests can have a safe place to explore those interests,” Callie said.
“I’m not sure how I feel about my baby sister talking to me about BDSM,” Daphne said.
“I couldn’t make you blush if I tried,” Callie shot back on a laugh, before sobering again. “The kind of club we think Sweet Dreams is also caters to kinks and what some may consider niche predilections, but it isn’t consensual between the parties involved.”
“People pay to have sex, or do whatever, with people who are forced to be there?” James clarified.
“Basically, yes,” Callie replied. “And they pay a lot of money to do it.”
Daphne took a sip of wine to steady her nerves. “Okay, so what you’re saying is that Terry Palance is a member of the club and that someone who knows this is blackmailing him to track James.”
“Well summarized,” Ava said.
“Where does Malcom Carter come in?” she asked.
“Guess who’s the head of security for Sweet Dreams?” Ava said.
“Fuck,” James uttered under his breath.
“You weren’t close, were you?” Ava asked. “I’ve never heard you mention him, but what about growing up?”
James shook his head. “He’s closer in age to our sister, and both were a fair bit older than me,” he answered. “I always felt lucky about that. We never got along, and being that much younger made it easier to stay away from them, because they weren’t interested in having a kid tagging along.”
Daphne twirled her glass between her fingertips. “So Henry’s PI calls Malcom to see if he has any information about James’s location. Then Malcom, sensing money in the water, blackmailsTerry to find him before Henry does, hoping that if he kills James, as his closest kin, he’ll then inherit,” she said, more to get the picture straight in her head.
“Oneof my closest kin,” James corrected. “There’s my sister, too.”
Ava cleared her throat. “Actually, I’m sorry to tell you, but your sister, Chanel Washington? She died in a home invasion nine years ago.”
