Duplicity - A True Story of Crime and Deceit by Paul Goldman (surface ebook reader txt) 📗

There were also a dozen calls to New York, and adozen calls to England. Even more interesting, it seemed that Roycewould make a call to Doc, then call Audrey, then call severaldifferent women. Also found were calls to lots of different men,most of whom lived in Spencer County, the county where Royce lived.The men Audrey called were from Palm Beach, Broward, or Miami-Dadecounties.

After I was finished with the phone bill, I tookanother look at Albert Chang's fax. I noticed something interestingat the top of the fax, an email address. Entering the entireaddress into Google, what came up made me lose my breath in shock.It was another Christian organization, with offices all over thecountry and Canada. Chang was on page 2, as the head of the branchin Royce's town.

I calculated a working hypothesis: Royce gets thenames of the tricks from Doc, who perhaps is the owner of a websitewhere men request hookers. He takes these names and numbers, andpasses them on for servicing. Royce keeps the tricks from his area,and has his own girls service them, thereby cutting out themiddleman and his, or her, 20 percent cut. Then he gives the othertricks to Audrey for herself and her girls.

What about Albert Chang, the Asian girl, and theChristian connection? I asked myself. Could it be simply acoincidence, that Albert Chang flew all the way from Hong Kong,requested a passport and visa for a girl from Royce, just to workfor $8 an hour for a non-profit Christian group? Doubtful. So, whatwas going on?

Satisfied with part of my analysis, unsure of therest, I shut off my computer, stepped away from my desk, and stoodat my window, looking down on the street below.

Though the thought had been in the back of my mindfor some time, it came up loud and clear while I watched theneighborhood kids playing ball.

Was I a fool?

This investigation first began out of anger andperhaps even revenge. I had wanted to hurt Audrey. As thingsprogressed, however, my motivation became less about retaliationand more about doing what was just and right. It became aboutwanting Johnny to see his father as someone of courage and resolve.He would never understand it now, but some day he would know. Someday he would understand what I had done and what I risked. But, wasmy investigation putting Johnny in harm’s way? How would I livewith myself if something were to happen to him?

I was pretty sure I was going to win my case, so whydidn’t I drop it? The simple answer was that I was putting a lot oftrust in what I believed deep down was my Divine protection in thiswhole affair. But, was this faith ego-driven, in which case itcould be completely misguided, or was it for real? My father hadtold me many times not to mess with Royce and his low-life andviolent crowd, and if the cops were on their payroll, by extensionnot to mess with them either. I was ignoring my father’s advicecompletely.

I went to bed, and lost sleep over these and otherquestions. When I awoke after a few short hours of fitful sleep, Iwas still concerned. I waited all day for the call and, when itcame, it was a Detective Damian Walker.

“I asked to speak with either along-time detective, the head of VICE, or the head of InternalAffairs. Which are you? I asked.

Damian chuckled. “Well, I'm not head of anything, soI guess I'm your long-time detective.”

I gave him the short version of mystory. He listened quietly, without interruption.

“I’ll set up the meeting fortomorrow, away from the station house. If you like, we can meet atSandsprit Park.”

“Sounds perfect,” I replied. “Andsince it’s Friday, we could take the bench right next to Audrey andher girls having their weekly business meeting.” Needless to say,we changed our meeting to a public parking lot, for 10a.m.

After I hung up the phone, I thought, if they're onthe take they might just drive me out to the Everglades and shootme. There would be nothing I could do about that. I called TerriLynn, gave her the names of all the men I was going to meet, andsaid, “Please ask your ‘guys’ to scream at you right now if I'm notsafe tomorrow.” Terri heard nothing, which helped to relax mynerves a little despite the echo of my father’s advice stillringing in my ears.

The next morning, I drove to Hobe Sound and waitedfor a call on my cell phone from Damian, giving me directions tohis car. I jumped when my phone finally rang.

“We are in the green Ford SUV,with darkened windows,” Damian said in practically a whisper. Icouldn’t remember what the name of the movie was, but I felt like Iwas in it. The secret meeting place, the potential for danger, itwas all there, writing its own script. I slowly slid out of my carand scanned the busy parking lot, squinting out over the heatrising up in waves from the asphalt. I noticed a green SUV. Mybrain was screaming at me to get back in my car and drive away. Mylegs apparently didn't get the message, because they were taking meto meet with the men in the green SUV with the darkenedwindows.

When I reached the SUV, the door seemed to open byitself, and I was beckoned inside. I peered in, and saw three facesmasked with sunglasses and scowls. I cleared my throat and gotin.

Maneuvering awkwardly into a seat, I was introducedto Damian Walker, a Detective with twenty-seven years of service,Lieutenant Robert Newman, head of the VICE unit, and Bill Rockland,head of Internal Affairs.

Without wasting any time for niceties, Damianinstructed me to retell my story. I did, and when I came tosomething for which I had evidence, I handed it to Rockland, whowould pass it to the others. The first thing I gave him was a photoof Audrey.

He handed it to Damian and asked, “Is this one of thegirls you observed at the park?”

“Sure is,” Damianreplied.

I was surprised. It seemed someonehad reported a few months prior that several hookers were meetingat Sandsprit Park on Fridays, so Damian went out, got their licensenumbers, and ran