The Assignment 4 (5 page)

“Chloe?” she sobbed.

“Lacey! What’s the matter?”

“It’s nothing, Chloe. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do this.”

Lacey felt bad for calling Chloe like this. She knew that it would only make Chloe worry about her and that was the last thing she’d intended. She knew that Chloe had enough on her own plate to worry about.

“Tell me what it is,” Chloe said.

Lacey wanted to tell Chloe everything but she knew she couldn’t. She was so worried, so scared. It had all gotten so complicated, so quickly. The story was complex but her emotions were complex too. She felt bad about lying to Chloe about who she really was. She felt sick about lying to Jason. She was worried about the gun she’d found in his apartment. She knew that she had to keep everything together, she had to do her job, she had to keep her mind focused. But everywhere she looked, disaster seemed to be looming. Sandra wasn’t even sure the magazine would run with the story.

She’d wanted so badly to get this story and for it to be the defining story of her career. She wanted it to be so damning, so damaging, that it would ruin the reputations of the men who’d hurt her and Chloe. She wanted to destroy them forever. But all she could see was just how difficult that was going to be.

“I need your help, Chloe.”

“Lacey, you know I’d do anything for you.”

“I want to meet Lally’s daughter.”

“What?”

“Lally, from the mansion.”

“I know who Lally is,” Chloe said.

Chloe sounded worried and confused.

“I want to meet his daughter.”

“Lacey, what are you talking about? Why would you want to go anywhere near that man or his family?”

“I can’t tell you right now, Chloe. There’s so much I haven’t told you, but I will tell you everything soon. When the time is right.”

“Lacey, you’re scaring me.”

“Will you just trust me on this, Chloe? Will you help me?”

“Of course. Of course I’ll help you. But you’re not making any sense. You’re going to get us in trouble. We’ll lose our jobs. You need to stay away from these guys outside of work, Chloe. That’s the very first rule of the job.”

“I know all that, Chloe. But this is really important. I know it doesn’t make sense right now, I know I haven’t told you everything, but will you please just trust me on this? I need your help to speak to Lally’s daughter. Her name is Claire. She’s our age. She just got married to a man forty years older than she is.”

“Oh, Lacey. Can we meet?”

*

L
ACEY MET CHLOE AT A
cafe close to the library. As soon as Chloe saw her she hugged her. Lacey hugged her friend so hard.

“Lacey, what’s the matter? You seem all shaken up.”

“Let’s get a seat,” Lacey said.

They got a table and Chloe went to the counter and bought two coffees. She came back to the table and handed a cup to Lacey. Lacey held it with both hands, the heat of the cup warming her. She took a sip. It was good to have something hot to drink after being outside in the cold.

“Lacey, please tell me what’s going on. Do you know what could happen if anyone at The Club, or even Benny, were to find out that you wanted to mess around with Lally’s family?”

“I know, Chloe. I know it’s dangerous.”

“It’s not just dangerous,” Chloe said. “It’s crazy. It makes no sense.”

“You’ve got to trust me, Chloe. It makes sense. I’m trying to get information about Lally and the only way is by talking to his daughter.”

“Why the hell do you want information about Lally? Don’t you know everything you want to know about that man?”

“Not everything.”

“What else is there to find out? You know him better than anyone.”

“Do you remember how it felt being under Lally’s thumb?” Lacey said. “Do you remember how terrifying it was? Do you remember how he treated us? How he made us feel?”

“Of course I do,” Chloe said. “I’ll never forget it. He was kicking me on the ground. He was knocking my head against the floor. I remember every second of it, Lacey.”

“Well, don’t you ever get tired of that? Of the feeling of being helpless and powerless? Don’t you ever want to turn the tables on men like that and show them that they don’t control everything, they don’t own everything?”

“I fantasize about it, Lacey, but I know that it will never happen. I know how the world works. I know who he is and I know who we are. He’s rich and powerful. We’re hookers. We don’t get to turn the tables on men like that.”

“Well what if I was to tell you that maybe we could?”

“Lacey, this is scaring me. Do you know what could happen to us for even talking about this?”

“I know, Chloe. I’m sorry to put you in this position, but think about it. What if we could show this guy that he wasn’t above everyone? What if we could get him into trouble?”

“Lacey, what are you talking about?”

Chloe looked so scared that Lacey felt sorry for her. She was sorry that she’d called her and pulled her into this mess. She should have figured out a different way. She shouldn’t have involved Chloe. Chloe depended on Lally and men like him for her livelihood. She was terrified of him. She wasn’t a reporter pretending to be a call girl, she really was a call girl, and without her job she had nothing.

“I’m sorry,” Lacey said. “You’re right. I’m not making any sense.”

Chloe looked at her, long and hard. She seemed to be thinking over everything Lacey had said. She knew there was more than just a crazy idea here.

“Lacey, I’m so scared of these men. You haven’t been playing this game as long as I have. You haven’t seen everything that they’re capable of. I know you’re a smart girl. You’re different. If you have some plan to get back at Lally, I believe in it. You’re not crazy. But I’m still terrified of even thinking about trying to hurt these guys. They literally
own
us, Lacey. They can do anything to us. Benny could call us at any second and tell us to go to the mansion and we’d go. And if those men wanted to kill us and bury us under their million dollar lawn, no one in the world would stop them.”

“You’re right,” Lacey said. “I didn’t think about all that, Chloe. It’s just, I overheard Lally talking about some things the other morning at the mansion, some things that I might be able to use to get him in trouble, and I just wanted so badly to get back at him for the way he treated us. I wasn’t thinking straight. I don’t even know if what I overheard was enough to get him in trouble.”

“Well, you better be sure before you try anything stupid,” Chloe said.

“That’s why I wanted your help.”

Chloe sighed. She looked at Lacey. There was a troubled look in her eye. She was concerned about something, scared, worried. Lacey could tell she was thinking about saying something but wasn’t sure whether she should or not.

“If you have something you want to say,” Lacey said, “you can say it, Chloe.”

Chloe nodded. “Lacey, you’ve been kind to me. You’re a real friend. You’ve done more for me in the short time I’ve known you that almost anyone else. But I need to know who you are?”

“You know who I am, Chloe.”

“No I don’t. Not really. You’ve been keeping something from me, Lacey. I know you have. And I’m not angry. I’m sure you have your reasons, but if we’re going to be this close, if we’re going to be everything to each other, I need to be able to trust you completely, and I need to know who you are.”

Lacey looked at Chloe. She knew she was right. She had a right to know who Lacey really was. They’d been through so much together. They’d been through hell and back. They’d shared experiences that most people couldn’t even imagine and if Lacey was going to enlist her help for the story she had to be up front with her. Chloe would be risking everything if she was going to help. Lacey had an obligation to be honest with her.

“Well,” Lacey said, “first off, what I told you before, about being a prostitute’s daughter in New Mexico, that much is true.”

“What about the rest?”

“The rest, the father in Dallas paying for my house, that’s not true. I don’t have a father. That’s not even my house. It belongs to my employer.”

“Your employer?”

“Yes.”

“Who’s your employer.”

“Someone who hired me to get information about The Club.”

“Who?”

“
Pulse Magazine
.”

The look on Chloe’s face broke Lacey’s heart. She’d never seen a girl look so betrayed in all her life. Chloe’s eyes grew wide with shock. Her lips quivered. She looked just as she had when Lally had been beating her at the mansion.

“You lied to me,” Chloe said.

“I know,” Lacey said. Her voice sounded weak. She knew she’d hurt Chloe. She knew that whatever she said now wouldn’t sound right. It wouldn’t make up for the lies that she’d told. It wouldn’t make up for the sense of betrayal.

“I trusted you,” Chloe said.

“Chloe, I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry? I let you in to my secret life, Lacey. I thought you were in this with me. I thought we were in it together. I thought I’d finally found someone who understood me, who understood what I was going through. I thought you were going through it yourself.”

“I am in this with you,” Lacey said.

“No you’re not. You’re pretending to be in it. You’re pretending, for an assignment. You’re just a reporter. You’re using me to get information, to get your scandalous story about sex and corruption among New York’s elite.”

“I’m not using you, Chloe.”

Chloe stood up. “Don’t speak to me, Lacey Gardner. You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me. I’m a whore, you’re a reporter. What could we possibly know about each other?”

“Chloe,” Lacey said desperately, “please, believe me. Everything that happened between us was real. I was there with you. That was me. Our friendship, it’s real. You’ve got to believe me.”

Chloe was shaking her head. The look of desperation, of betrayal, was almost too much for Lacey to bear. She’d never wanted to hurt Chloe like this. Everything was falling apart. The story, her friendship with Chloe, she was blowing the whole thing.

“How can I believe anything you tell me?” Chloe said. “How can I trust you? All those things that happened to us. Lally and the Mayor beating the shit out of me, riding us like ponies, fucking us like animals. I was there because I’m a whore. I was there out of desperation. I was there for the money. But you? You were there
to get a story
?”

“Chloe, please. I’m sorry.”

“You were there by choice, Lacey. You
let
those men treat you like that for a story? I don’t understand that, Lacey. I don’t. I’m sorry.”

Chloe turned and began to run for the door of the cafe. Lacey got up and chased after her, leaving her coat and purse at the table. A million things were rushing through her mind. She felt like the world was falling apart. She’d blown it with Chloe, the best friend she’d ever had in her whole life. She’d blown her cover. How could she continue going to the mansion now that Chloe knew she was a reporter? What had she done? She rushed past the tables of cafe patrons, trying to reach Chloe before she got to the door.

“Chloe,” she cried out.

Chloe didn’t look back. She reached the door and stormed out onto the busy street. Lacey followed her.

“Chloe,” she cried out. She caught up to Chloe and took a hold of her shoulder.

“Get the hell away from me,” Chloe said. She was crying. Lacey felt so guilty, she felt so bad at the way she’d made her friend feel. She’d never wanted to hurt her. She’d never wanted to lie to her. She hadn’t wanted to make her feel betrayed. She had to do something to make it right.

She couldn’t lose Chloe’s friendship. She would die if she did. She wouldn’t be able to continue with the assignment without Chloe. She didn’t know what to say, what would make Chloe forgive her. Without thinking, she said the only thing that she could think of, the only thing that seemed to matter.

“My mother never saved me,” she panted, desperately. She didn’t know what she was saying or why. She didn’t know anything any more.

Chloe stopped. “What?” she said.

“I told you, when we first met, that my mother got me out of the motel, away from the life of prostitution. I said she saved me. That was a lie. She didn’t save me. She eliminated me because she saw me as competition.”

Chloe looked at her. Her mouth was still trembling as if she was holding back tears. Her eyes were wide and large and angry. She looked up and down the street. It was full of people in business suits and heavy coats rushing to and from offices.

Then Chloe took a hold of Lacey by the shoulders and hugged her. She held Lacey with both hands and pulled her in to her, holding her so tight Lacey felt she might never let her go.

“What the hell are we doing out here?” she said, sobs of tears mixing with relief in her voice. “You’re going to catch your death in this cold.”

VII

L
ACEY BROUGHT CHLOE BACK INTO
the cafe. Luckily her coat and purse were still at the table where she’d left them. They bought two more coffees and sat down.

“What’s going on?” Chloe said.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Lacey said, “but you have to know, I haven’t been faking this. This is real to me, Chloe. This world, this life I have here, is more real to me than the life I left behind. You and Jason and the people I’ve met are closer to me than anyone in my other life. I’m not pretending any of this. I wasn’t faking it when I was your friend.”

“Who sent you here?” Chloe said. “What kind of magazine would make you come here, into this world?”

“I know it’s hard to believe, but my editor thought I would be able to uncover a really big sex scandal.”

“Well she wasn’t wrong. You fucked the mayor. What could be a bigger scandal than that?”

“Well, that’s what I need your help with. I think I’ve stumbled across something bigger than a sex story?”

“What?”

“Lally and the mayor are up to something. I sense there’s a scandal there, bribery and corruption, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

“Why bother? Isn’t the sex more of a story? I know I’d be more interested in reading about it.”

“The sex is definitely a story as far as the mayor is concerned,” Lacey said. “But I want to bring Lally down. After the way he treated us, he deserves to suffer, and the best way to do that is to print the corruption story.”