Red Collar (2 page)

*****

Kate Ripley never considered herself lucky. She was born in a small run-down apartment in Brooklyn. Her dad, Keith was a construction worker. Her mother, Terri was a housewife and the odd casual employee of a pizzeria or a bakery or wherever work called out for her. For most times though, Terri loved to spend the days with little Kate. They drew pictures of a happy sun, shiny stars, sang old nursery rhymes and played in the tiny playground outside their apartment building. In the evenings, Terri would prepare dinner as Kate would watch an old TV rerun while waiting for her dad to return from work.  Until Kate was six, she thought she had the best life. And then luck, as her mother called it, ran out on her.

One day, she waited outside her school for her mother to pick her up as usual. As the hours slowly passed by, she realized that her mother would never come. That was the first day she walked home alone. The next day, she waited for at least an hour before she started her walk home. As days passed, she waited lesser and lesser until she stopped waiting at all.

The serene family evenings that she eagerly used to look forward to, was also replaced by unending arguments and fights. She found herself more than often hurdled tightly in the corner of her bed and her wardrobe as she played make-believe with her dolls. One evening, everything just quieted and when she walked out of her little corner, she found her mother had left. She was only eight.

It was now, she and her father after that. He would have been all she needed but unfortunately he didn’t know much about what girls needed. In his favor, he would buy her clothes from the charity store up her street but they were always two sizes bigger. She was growing, her father would tell her. Her clothes needed to allow her body to develop. However, more than often, her clothes would tatter before she could ever outgrow them. At thirteen, she gave him the ultimatum of letting her buy her own clothes or she’d elope with Joey Kimmett, the notorious fifteen year old bully who went to the same school as she did. Her father couldn’t have that, although he knew Joey never did ask to elope with Kate. But Kate had made her point and her father relented. And that was how it was for the next ten years until he died four years ago.

His heart gave up, they said. But she knew it had always been heartache. Ever since her mother had left. So she felt it quite ironic when her mother returned for his burial. It beat her how she found out about the funeral. But there she was, standing by the fresh earth of his grave in her long dark skirt and tall boots.

She didn’t come alone. She brought along her four children. The youngest, Lily was only two, tugging at her mother’s skirt.

When she did leave two days after the funeral, so did the one fifty dollar note Kate carried in her wallet.  She only heard from her mother occasionally after that, until a year ago.

She was sobbing on the phone. Kate assumed that she had been hit by her partner again. But it was cirrhosis. Her drinking had at last caught up with her, like her father always feared. Her liver was damaged and she was dying. Kate did all she could to help her pay for her medication and treatment, but when she lost her job three months ago, she thought it would be the opportune time to move in with her mother and half-siblings. Much against the advice of her friends and everyone she knew.

*****

She climbed up the stairs to the red door.
Masseuses by Madge
was etched high and proudly above the door.

Inside an ash blonde woman greeted her at the reception.

“I’d like to see Madge Harris,” Kate said.

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No but…”

“You have to have an appointment to see Ms Harris. Besides she is unavailable at the moment,” the woman replied with a feigned smile as she briskly surveyed Kate with her eyes. “Would you like to leave a message?”

“Would you tell
Madame
Madge that Kate Ripley’s at reception? I think she would be quite interested to hear the news I have for her.” Kate gave her a curt smile and strolled away towards the lounge by the large windows overlooking the gardens.

She took slight pleasure in watching the woman’s smile melt as she stressed on the term
Madame.
She readjusted the belt of her coat. It was a fiddly habit she had whenever she tried to suppress her excitement in public. She would look nervous and tensed instead.

She heard the woman’s hushed tone behind her as she relayed the details of her presence to someone over the phone. The receptionist was now evidently aware that Kate knew all about the façade masking the real operations of the business.

*****

Kate first heard of Madame Madge four months ago. She was then still secretary to the sleazy Russell Wilder at Miller’s Furniture Designs. In her three years of service, she had successfully managed to brush away much of his sexual innuendo with a tight smile. However it was obvious that his patience for her to take his bait was slowly wearing thin. When rumors of another set of redundancy began surfacing, she had inkling she would be heading that list.

She was biting her nails over her options one afternoon when Bridget Lantz dropped her ass on her desk.

“Well, have you decided what you’re doing when you get the sack?”
she said, twisting her pencil in her fingers.

“We don’t know if I’m getting one yet,” Kate smirked.

“Come on Kate. Everyone knows Wilder’s been trying to get your knickers off for years. All you’ve done is get him mad instead.”

“What do
you
suggest then? Take them off to save my job.”

“On the contrary, darling, quit.”

Kate looked up at her, befuddled. “You’ve lost it Bridget. You’re not making any sense.”

“Listen, hon. If you try and sleep with the big boss now, he’ll know you’re doing it only for your job. He’s a dick, babe but he ain’t that big a dickhead. He’ll use you and then dump you just as fast.”

“Do you have a point in any of this, Bridget?” Kate sighed, tiredly.

“Well…yes. There is this place. An escort service. Really professional. They pay well too. As a matter of fact, extremely well. I’ve been trying them out for two weeks now. The best decision I’ve ever made. I’m just waiting to end my term here with Wilder.
Like hell, I’m gonna risk my redundancy package.”

“That’s good for you, Bridget,” Kate said, rolling up her eyes. “So you finally realized your potential in the whoring business. I wish you the best. But no, thank you. I have no interest in joining you on this venture. Now if you please excuse me,” pushing Bridget off her desk. “I still work here.”

“Kate, please…,” Bridget protested. “You’ll make a great escort. You have the curves, the etiquette, the skills. If you’ll only give a damn about making yourself beautiful once in a while, men will kill for you. You know you have it.”

“It’s a …,” Kate dropped her
voice to a harsh whisper. “It’s a brothel.”

“A high-end escort service,” Bridget corrected quickly.

“Does it matter?” Kate almost shouted out in frustration. “It’s prostitution. You give sex for money. It’s just been given a classier label. High-end escort service, indeed!”

“Kate,” Bridget started.

“Not another word,” Kate warned. “You’re out of your mind, Bridget. I have my values. If I wanted to do something like that, wouldn’t I have fucked Wilder a long time ago?”

“That’s different!”

“How is that different?!”

“Wilder would have fucked you. Not the other way. As an escort, you call the shots. You get to keep your values and get paid for it. Tell me Kate, what did you get out of sleeping with all those loser boyfriends of yours? Didn’t they use you? This is different, Kate. People respect you.”

She shoved a card into Kate’s palm. “Call them. At least, find out before judging them,” she said as she walked away.

Kate glimpsed at the card. “Masseuses by Madge”, she read. She threw the card into her bag. She would never consider the possibilities of such a job. Not unless she was desperate.

Her desperation arrived a week ago.

“Kate,” she heard a voice call from behind her. It was Madge Harris. She was a tall, slim attractive woman in her late forties.

“It’s such a delight to see you,” Madge said, approaching her at the lounge, her brunette hair loose and bouncing at her shoulders.

“Hi, Madge,” Kate greeted with a small smile.

“I heard you’ve got the position at Reid Enterprises. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Kate replied softly. She glanced away to stare at the small prints on the carpet.

Madge watched her carefully. “You alright, hon?”

She raised her eyes slowly. “I’m…I’m just a little nervous.”

Madge let out a small breath. “I understand. You’ve never done this before. Is that it?”

Kate didn’t answer.

“Listen hon,” Madge said. “You’re going to treat him like any of your boyfriends. Just a very rich one. You keep him happy and he showers you with gifts. You’re very lucky that such an offer came by when you joined us. To tell you the truth, I’ve never received or heard of such an absurd proposition. And it suits you too.”

Kate gave her a small smile.

Madge put a comforting palm over Kate’s. “You’re a beautiful woman, Kate Ripley. I would have loved you to be a masseuse. But it’s obvious you’re destined for the finer things in life. If I had another candidate for the Reid position, believe me, I would have volunteered her name as well. But the truth is I didn’t have another. You see, women of your caliber don’t often seek out such establishments as mine. I would have loved to keep you on. I can imagine the multitude of clients seeking you out here.” She let out a small chuckle. “But Bob Whitton is a very special friend of mine. And he was visibly worried of how he was going to find someone to fill that position. I mean, which educated, career-driven woman would in her right mind agree to such a contract. That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen, right?”

Madge sighed and continued. “And then you came along…well, what can I say? The rest is as you know it. Now, let me see you.”

She urged Kate to get up so she could assess her. “Open your coat, darling. Let me see what you have under there.”

“Here?” Kate asked as her eyes nervously roamed the reception.

Madge laughed. “Oh dear, you really need to work on that demure, baby. You’re seriously in danger of being dropped like a hot potato. There’s no one here,” she said, assuredly. “Our next client doesn’t arrive in at least an hour.”

Kate slipped out of her ivory coat, slowly.

Madge nodded, approvingly. “Very good. Panache. I like it.”

Kate ran her hand nervously over her one shoulder, sequined short champagne dress. The dress had cost her a substantial part of her savings. But she understood the importance of first impressions and she couldn’t afford to lose this job.

“And you have a sexy pair of lingerie under that?” Madge asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Umm…yes,” Kate said, slightly taken aback by her directness.

“Well done, Kate. I’m impressed.” She picked up Kate’s coat and helped her into it. “Whatever you do, Kate, keep in mind the importance of referrals in this business. My name rides on this one and Reid Enterprises is not any small business I can gamble my reputation on, hmm?” She lifted Kate’s chin with a finger. “Undoubtedly, you are beautiful. But that’s not enough to keep you alive in this profession. You have to flaunt the attitude that the world’s at your feet. When you succeed at that, there can be no stopping you to the top.”

Kate gave her a small, nervous smile. “Madge,” she asked, hesitantly. “Has he been here? Do you know what he likes?”

Madge hooked her arm through hers and led her towards the reception. “No. And even if he was our client, we never kiss and tell.” She gave a light chuckle and put her finger to her lips. “Don’t worry. Men like to tell you what they want. Especially if they’re paying for it.”

“What about your commission? We never arranged that.”

Madge shook her head, bouncing her brunette curls. “That’s been taken care of. From this point on, you belong to Reid Enterprises.”

Clayton Reid, corrected Kate silently. And she wasn’t sure if she liked it at all.

*****

She entered the lobby of her new employer’s apartment building at precisely five minutes to ten o’clock. It was the rich Italian granite floors and the imported anigre wall panels that first caught her eye. This was a world vastly different from the one she knew. There was a white gloved doorman at the entrance, a concierge service and an attended reception waiting on the residents of the building, regardless of the time. When she entered the elevator, a fresh chypre fragrance suffused the air. This most certainly was a world apart from what she was accustomed to.

She pressed onto the button to level 22. She noticed that it was the penthouse. As the elevator rose, she mentally repeated the rising floor levels reading on the elevator position indicator display, hoping that it would ease her relatively rising nerves.