            Sam Ped in,
           "The Picture Frame"
            by Pedro Vila


   It was a dark and stormy night. At least, that's how my dreams kept playing out. Dark figures looking to off me. Villagers with torches chasing me to a windmill. Everyone willing to turn me in.
   I get my bad nights like everybody else.
   Times in my waking world were not much better. Public opinion was shifting again. Mostly because it was an election year. Types like me weren't wanted around. Even the police, who knew I was a strait shooter, were hassling me lately.
   I was an admitted pedophile.
   Hey, I started out like everybody else. I fooled around as a kid with the girls on my block. Clumsy kissing and touching. But as I grew older, my girl friends didn't. In high school I got away with quietly dating the grade school girls, but in college, it blew up in my face.
   I ended up on probation and had to keep my nose clean for the duration. I dated girls, my age, some of them innocent and childish at heart, others small and flat chested who'd shave themselves for me.
   But it just didn't do it for me.
   I stayed clean and joined the police force. I liked helping people, it felt good. I was a good cop. But word got around and I was out on my ass after five good years with my nose clean.
   That's when I moved to another city. That's when I became a private eye.
   I had a good run since. I've helped some people, others I couldn't. I've had a few lovers, the kind I needed. I took a lot of punches, and gave a few back.
   The local police force accepted me grudgingly. I was able to get things done that they couldn't touch. Oh sure, most of them wanted to see me dead, but a few figured that it was more of a cross than a compulsion for me.
   That was then. This is now.
   No business, a civil lawsuit, no money, and now my license is about up. Yeah, life was a real hoot.
   What do you say when a small korean girl comes in dressed like a hooker, and goes for your lap?
   "You Sam Ped. You find my brother." she demanded in comical broken english. "I pay you sex. You find my brother then."
   I dumped her off onto the floor. "Whoa, kiddo. I don't work that way. Go sit there." I motioned toward the chair across from my desk.
   She bounced back onto me like a superball. "You like young girl. I young girl. You can have me now." It was like the worst stereo type from a movie. I was expecting her to say 'Me so horny' any minute. I stood, picking her up. She wrapped her little arms around me like I was going to kiss her. Then there was that confusion as I dropped her outside my door and started to shut it.
   An arm and a leg came back through to stop me and she started to yammer, "No! I stay. I like you. You handsome man. You like me. I be your girl friend." I opened the door and put my foot on her chest and gave her a good shove, slammed the door and locked it.
   She talked at me through the door for a good ten minutes before she gave up and left.
   Why didn't I take it? It smelled fishy to me. She was more concerned about the sex part than her brother. And this week there's a sale on entrapment.
   I closed up shop and hung out at the office for a nightcap. I decided to be more on guard for more of her.

   It wasn't long after I opened up the next morning when I got a courtesy call from the blue boys with the shiny badges. They forgot the sales pitch and made me a present of some pretty bracelets to wear behind my back. Then they took me downtown to model them for the bigwigs.
   After that, I got to wait in the preshow green room. Only it was grey and it smelled like stale smoke.
   Then it was my police buddy Nick with a new guy named Det. Guillen.
   "Okay Sam. You wanna' tell us what happened?" Nick said, starting the ball rolling.
   "Well, first there was nothing, see? Then god said, 'Let there be light!'" I could have told him more, but something told me he'd heard that story before.
   "Yeah, yeah. That's right. You can be cute." Nick said, smiling. He didn't look happy, though. "I'll play along. Just tell us what you know about the murder. Oh, you don't know? Well let me fill you in. Eleven year old Lisa Dong was found in a ditch near your office, raped and strangled, holding your wallet."
   I patted my breast pocket. No wallet. Little Lisa was a pick pocket too. Nick smiled and leaned in real close. I could smell Krispy Kreme on his breath. "So, Sam. How'd the Gook get your wallet?"
   "You think I'd be dumb enough to leave my wallet at a crime scene? Wake up and smell the coffee and donuts, Nick. It's a plant." I leaned back away from the coffee and donuts I was smelling.
   The new guy got steamed. "Hey! You saying we planted it? That's a load coming from you! You goddam baby raper! How'd you like it if we stick you..." Nick shut him down with a look.
   "He's not saying that, aren't you, Sam." He didn't phrase it like a question. "Truth is, we're just going to all wait together for some lab results, nice and quiet. And if Sam wants to talk about it, I'm sure he'll want to before anything that might get him in trouble shows up. Right Sam?" Nick took the other seat across the table from me. "I'm sure you'll want to be helpful on this, now. Wouldn't want it to get around that you were on the child killers side."
   He had a point. I had little credit these days and they could hold me for all kinds of things and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. Besides, Lisa wasn't a client, and I wanted to find out who would have wanted to kill her as much as these jokers did.
   I told them about the whole visit. Nick didn't look convinced. Det. Guillen was more vocal about it. "That's bullshit! You think were stupid? You think your too smart for us? That we can't catch you? Your toast, scumbag! We're gonna' nail you to the fence!"
   I looked at Nick, "Your 'good cop, bad cop' routine needs work." Guillen made for me, but stopped at Nick's arm. Nick was a big guy and most people pissed their pants when he looked at them funny. Me? I didn't have to go.
   "You might want to rethink your act, Sam. I know you've been strait with us before, but times have changed and a lot of people want to see you go down now. Don't push it too hard."
   I had a good come back but it was a tough room, and I decided not to waste good material on it.
   We waited for the lab results.

   I was out in four hours. There was no way they could hold me for that crime. The lab results proved a smaller perp with a different blood type than mine. That didn't stop most of the badges at the station from wanting me to take the rap for it.
   Sure. And let the real killer free.
   No one asked me for help on this one, but part of me wanted to find out why the girl came to me in the first place. I couldn't shake the feeling it was a set up of some kind.
   I went strait for my office and wished I hadn't. It looked like someone had picked it up and shaken it around. Everything was where it should be if it was a city dump. I thought it might have been the cops but all my files were on the floor. A cop would have taken them for evidence.
   They didn't even take my nature books.
   Clean up was simple. Everything that wasn't important went into a corner. I spent extra time on my case files. Someone might have been looking for something. If they found it, then I wouldn't have it anymore. That could point me in a direction. Yeah, I know what your thinking, If my memories so good, why have case files? Shows how much you know about detective work.
   It took me well into the night to find it.
   It wasn't a case file that turned up missing though. It was a map to a business I'd picked up at a clients house. Some sort of talent show, just for kicks. I never went though. It just didn't sound like fun at the time. Now I was wishing that I had.
   If that's what they took, it was a sure bet that something illegal had happened there. Don't get me wrong. I'm not looking for trouble, but trouble had already found me and I was never one to wade in slowly.
   I didn't remember where the show was on the map and it looked like I'd have to bug the client again. Not a good idea. He had an eleven year old daughter and I was pretty close to being shot last time, but that wasn't because of the girl. It was the case. Unrelated to the young girl.
   Thinking back, it seemed like a no brainer case. Hardly worth my time. A quick buck.
   A quick buck and a wild bullet.
   Okay, flashback time. A little over a year and a half ago. I was hired to find a stalker hounding Mr. Flipps niece. A fifteen year old who lived across town. Mandy, the eleven year old daughter who lived with Mr. Flipps, had come on strong and I had a rule then about not sleeping with clients daughters. It was a good rule. I should have used it more often.
   I had found out quickly who the stalker was and had cornered him in his house with personal possessions that were stolen from her. When the police came, a bullet whizzed by and struck the ground four feet from where I was standing. The police went in and brought him out in bracelets.
   Case closed.
   Mandy sided up to me when Mr. Flipps went upstairs to grab his checkbook. She told me how she liked big strong men like me. To someone her size, most men would count as big and strong. I was handed the map as her father reentered the front room and I left with my fee.
   Why didn't I go? I could go for someone like Mandy. She smelled ripe for sex, which wasn't all that uncommon for someone entering puberty.
   Trixy! That was why. Call me old fashioned, but I wasn't the type to play the field. I owed Trixy allot. We had a good thing going for a while. I wondered how she was doing in her new life up north.
   I would have to go see Mandy again.
   I started with an innocent phone call. Mandy had a job. Mr. Flipps wasn't all that helpful and I had the feeling that mentioning who I was wasn't going to help, so I didn't.
   It took one more phone call to find out where she worked. A thirteen year old needs a work permit.
   It was a flower shop and I walked in looking like a customer. A customer with an overcoat and hat looking for a thirteen year old girl. Yeah right.
   "Excuse me, sir?"
   "Yes, what can I do for you?" the geeky teen boy behind the counter asked with his best professional smile. It needed lots of work.
   "I need to talk to Mandy Flipps. Tell her it's Sam. I worked for her father a while back." I tried my best to sound impersonal. Maybe trying is what makes me look bad. Either way, the kid looked cornered for a moment and I knew this wasn't going to go well.
   "Well, um, she doesn't work today. Sorry."
   I stood silent. Then, "Her father seems to think that she is working her today."
   Agian, that cornered look. "Oh, I forgot. She took the day off at the last minute to go shopping. Okay?" I said nothing. The boy was a bad lier. "Um, look. I have work to do, okay? So sorry I can't help but I have to go in the back room, okay? You understand?"
   I nodded, then leaned in, "Sure kid. Tell her I was looking for her. You'll do that okay?" All seriousness, I was. The kid kind of shrunk back from me. All he could do was nod, so I left.
   I left the shop. I didn't leave the street. The kid knew where she was and my coming on strong should push him strait to her. All I had to do was follow.
   Sure enough, in ten minutes, he'd closed the shop and hopped in a Geo Metro, pulling out onto the busy street. I followed him strait to a photography studio.
   I waited and he came back out in a few minutes and I followed him back to the shop. Too easy. I went back to the studio and waited.
   Nothing happened. At least, nothing happened before I went to sleep or after I woke up. I'd been up too late going over my files and it had turned dark.
   I could have missed a bus load of elephants. I decided to make up for lost time. I got out of my car and crossed the street to the studio.
   The front door was locked. Maybe they'd all gone home. I went around back and tried another door. Bingo!
   I walked into a back hall, well lit, with a bathroom to my right. The place was quiet so I was too. With the door unlocked, it was a sure bet someone was still here.
   I thought I'd just check a few rooms and leave. I could always say my car broke down and I was looking for a phone.
   First room was empty and dark. I saw umbrella lights and a white back screen. The second room was occupied.
   "Hello." said a very lovely twelve year old red headed girl who just happened to be on her belly on a fur carpet, naked I might add. I caught my breath. Oh, yeah, the girl was beautiful beyond my wildest dreams but it was the back ground that startled me.
   I'd seen it in pictures. I'd seen it in illegal pictures. I usually knew most of the illegal porn shops around town, it helps in my work, but this one was big time. I would have thought it was from over seas. Fancy that. Right in my own backyard and I didn't even know it.
   "I like your props." the carrot top pixie said to me, breaking my spell.
   "Your not half bad yourself." I took one step in and stopped.
   "I didn't know we had another shoot." she said, lazily. I got the impression that she was on something. "You wanna' fool around 'till Reggie brings the camera?" She rolled on to her side, giving me an eyeful of perfectly smooth belly. If my gun had been in my belt, it would have went off.
   I sat down beside her. "So, what should I call you?"
   "Mmmm. What do want to call me?" She stretched like a cat and I went into heat.
   "Humor me."
   She half looked at me for a bit and said, "Usually, they call me Jill." Then she reached for my crotch. I should have let her, but I grabbed her wrists and pushed them down to her sides instead. Jill arched her back and purred. She liked being handled. She would have let me tie her up if I'd wanted.
   I didn't have time though. Reggie could come through that door any moment.
   "What are you doing afterwards?" I asked, trying to sound interested.
   I guess she saw some serious interest in my eyes, or maybe it was the drugs. "Sure. I could party with you. Your different." She raised herself onto an elbow. "What do they call you?"
   "Sam." I said, and got up.
   Jill was confused. "Where're you going, Sam?"
   "I'm gonna' get some balloons and party hats."
   I was in my car and gone before anyone knew I was there. I needed time to think this through. This was a big operation I'd stumbled onto. Big operators. Big muscle. I wasn't in a hurry to make any enemies there yet. They'd take cuts to the front of the line and That would be it for ole Sam Ped.
   Mr. Flipps daughter was most likely mixed up in this too. Maybe even Flipps himself. There was no way to be sure though. Not yet.
   Tomorrow was a school day. I decided to follow Mandy for the day and see what turns up.

   Mandy ditched the second part of school and I followed her to a burger joint. It was pretty crowded with the lunch crowd and I took a chance on going in there.
   Mandy was sitting with a few other hookies and I ordered a burger after a few minutes. They looked like they'd be here for the next hour. I knew kids.
   Suddenly, Jill was there beside Mandy and I went alert. Mandy seemed glad to see her, but there was something scared in Jill's face. She seemed to be trying to say something serious to Mandy, but Mandy wasn't in the mood for it.
   Jill suddenly caught sight of me and I shook my head and put a subtle finger to my lips. Her face went white. Then there was an older man standing there beside them. He was dark, curly haired, and looked like he was trying hard to be hip in baggy pants and sneakers. It didn't work on him.
   He said something and Mandy looked up at him like he was her sweetheart. Jill didn't look up at all but kept giving me worried glances. She was trying hard not to give me away.
   Then he said something and the girls started to walk out with him. Jill didn't look like she wanted to go. She gave me a look that said 'Help me' and they walked right past my table. I got up to follow very discretely.
   They got in a Fiat and I got in my car to follow. I wanted to get beside Jill and give her a chance to say what I knew she would want to so I pulled to the street exit and gave the Fiat the courtesy to go first.
   Jill saw my face and mouthed 'Sam'. Nobody else gave me a second glance. I was hoping Jill would mouth 'Help', but I thought I'd follow anyway.
   They drove out of town and then along a dirt road following the river. I held way back and followed the dust so's not to be spotted.
   I saw them pull onto the beach and park and I stopped immediately and got out. There was enough brush to hide my approach and I got as close as I could. It wasn't close enough. I saw curly's gun and knew he'd gun me down before I could do anything.
   Jill and Mandy were not in good moods and were being dragged to the beach from the car. It looked like he was going to plug them and dump the bodies in the river. I had an idea and worked fast as I watched the girls being herded towards the water.
   Curly turned with a start when he saw me walking with my head down, shirt opened, and no shoes with my pant legs pulled up. I was a beach comber, stumbling out of nowhere. He hid the gun but still had it pointed at the girls. They stayed quiet, thinking if they cooperated, he might let them go. Fat chance!
   I walked almost within ten feet when I suddenly stopped and asked the man for a light.
   "Beat it, asshole." he said.
   I pretended to look hurt and took a gentle step towards them. "Ah, come on guy. I don't mean you any harm. I just need a light is all. Come on."
   Curly reach into a pocket and tossed me a lighter, then said, "Now beat it."
   I patted my pockets and said, "You wouldn't happen to have a smoke on you too, would you?"
   It was then that Jill said, "Help us, Sam."
   Curly looked at her, startled and I saw the gun come up for me. My hand was already on the one I'd put through my back belt and I got the first shot. His went wild in the air and the girls started screaming.
   Mandy was still screaming when I sided up to them and checked for curly's pulse. He was dead. Jill grabbed me all of a sudden and hugged me tight saying, "Thank you, thank you. He was going to kill us."
   That's when Mandy shut up. She looked at curly then at me and fainted. 
   I was in deep. "Jill, help me drag this joker to the car." It took her a moment to watch me try and drag him before she understood what I meant. The keys were still in the ignition and I used them to open the trunk. Curly became a spare tire and I picked up Mandy and ran to my own car, stopping to get my coat and shoes.
   I laid Mandy in the back seat and Jill sat close to me in front. She was shaking bad. She couldn't let go of my arm.
   I needed a safe place to stash the girls. This was going to get ugly.

   Jill was first in the house. Mandy hung back waiting for bad guys to come running out to get her. She ventured in when Jill yelled an "All right!" at finding video games. I never played any, but I thought they'd come in handy some time.
   I locked the door behind me and took a peek out the window shade. I looked back to find both girls looking at me with worry.
   "Relax. No one followed us." I said to them. It didn't help. Who can blame them? Nobody knows that they're with a strange man in an overcoat, in some house nobody knows about, and he's got a gun.
   I went to the couch and sat, stretching out my feet. There were things that I needed to do, but I wasn't ready to trust them here yet. I had to stay and get them into the laying low routine before I could leave them alone.
   Yeah, sure. It had nothing to do with them being two beautiful young girls that were sexually active and I'd just saved their lives.
   Jill was the first to ask. "Are you a cop?"
   "No." Mandy suddenly spoke up. "But he used to be." Now how did she know that? "He also likes little girls." She said it like she thought she wasn't included in that category.
   "Okay." I said in a firm tone. "Spill it. How deep into this are you?" The angel and the pixie looked at each other. "Somebody wants you dead. You want my help? You gotta let me know what's going on."
   "It was Reggie." Jill finally blurted. "He freaked out when I told him about you being in the set. I didn't know anything but he seemed to think I narced on him and he was being set up. I didn't know who you were. I thought you were just another guy... you know."
   I turned to Mandy. "Your father. Is he involved too?" She didn't have to answer. I could see it in her eyes.
   "You were supposed to fuck me. You didn't even show up." She looked bitter. "I was too old for you, you freak. A lot of other guys didn't think so."
   "Yeah? Shows what you know." I turned back to Jill. "How many girls? How many guys in the network?"
   "We're the girls. The last two went on to acting in LA." she said.
   "You see them?"
   "I did one. She was Asian. Really small for her age. Didn't talk very well." Jill laughed at something funny she remembered. I leaned back.
   "Lisa Dong." I said. Jill's face brightened at the name. "She's at the morgue." Both girls looked shocked. "They found her north of town on the same river you were just on."
   "Reggie wouldn't have done that. He liked her." Mandy said. Curly was Reggie?
   "Did Reggie like you too?" I asked. Yeah, Reggie was the photographer and he took out the garbage on the side.
   Why didn't the porn guys connect Lisa the body with Lisa the model? It's not like the pictures were too hard to find.
   "I'm going to get a pizza, okay? You girls stay put and don't let anybody know your here." That's when both girls jumped onto my lap and held me. They may have been pre teen sex kittens, but they were still kids inside. They weren't ready to be on their own yet. They needed a big strong adult in charge. I stayed.

   It was Jill who approached me first. Mandy was in the shower and Jill had tired of the games quickly. She kept glancing at me, probably to make sure I wasn't going anywhere. I kept glancing at her because I couldn't get her naked image out of my mind.
   She sat down next to me. "So how old do you like girls? Am I too old for you?"
   "Don't believe everything you read in the papers." I looked her up and down. She knew I wanted her. She'd had experience.
   "What about Mandy?" she asked. "Why didn't you do her?"
   I met her lovely green eyes framed by the white face and red hair. Her waiting lips, pink and wet. "I don't shit where I eat." I said, breaking the mood. "I don't sleep with the clients daughters."
   "So who's your client now?" Jill said, making more mood.
   She had me there. "Nobody. I'm not getting paid for this one."
   Yeah, you can see it coming. A classic cliche'. She told me how she could pay me and next thing I knew, Jill was in her panties and on my lap.
   I ran a slow hand up the front of her shirt and traced a no detour up to her slim neck. Her pink, red areola's just beginning to bug out from her. They gave away just a little and snapped back when I let them go. Then her undershirt was off and I lay back from the sudden weight of her on my chest.
   I let her open my shirt and then lifted her light frame up enough for me to undo my pants. I could tell by her reaction to being lifted that she wanted me to take charge. She liked to be handled. I liked handling her.
   I held her wrists behind her, that's where she wanted them, and reached under to position myself into her. She was very wet and offered some resistance from simply being tight. She worked her body and had me in before I was ready and then worked her hips fast like she was on a tight schedule.
   I grabbed her face at the jaw line and squeezed her cheeks. She looked at me with a hint of fear and I let go. Then I put her hands on my shoulders and slowly lifted her up and then back down over me. Jill kept trying to speed up but I purposely kept it slow, forcing her to go at my pace.
   I could tell that she was getting bugged by it. Youth. Always in a hurry. The dissatisfaction began to change after a few minutes when she excepted her loss of control and then I was starting to get a pleased reaction from her. I didn't know how many guys she had had before me, but not one of them had tried this on her before.
   I was determined to make her cum before me, a good selfish cum that would knock her socks off. Each thrust drove her just a touch farther towards my goal and little twelve year old Jill was going to have her first multiple orgasm. I made sure of it with both hands under her and pushing little girl buttons.
   I hadn't cum yet when Mandy walked in the room and stopped cold at the sight of us. I saw her right away. Jill had a few nonsense things to say before turning to look where I was looking.
   Jill was jerking a little, trying to stop cumming as I watched a full range of emotions play across Mandy's face. It had hurt her feelings when I turned her down. She had told herself that it was because she was too old, saving her pride. Now that had come crashing down on her.
   I tossed Jill off as Mandy ran from the room. It was going to take me longer to be able to leave them alone now. Jill was hugging her legs and I heard her say, "Oh shit." to herself as I chased Mandy into the bathroom.
   Many wouldn't unlock the door and wouldn't answer me. I went back to Jill who was spread out on the couch. I had thought she was upset from being caught with me but I was wrong. It was post orgasm bliss. It hadn't taken much for me to make her cum, and judging by her reaction, nobody had even gone that far before.
   "Look. Mandy's upset. I need you to watch her. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." Jill was just breathing hard. "You understand? I need your help."
   Then her eyes snapped open wide, then went dreamy. "Oh, god. I'll do anything for you."
   "Yeah, right." I pulled her to her elbows. "Listen. More people are going to want to kill you two. I need to go and stop it before they can find us. Comprenday? I have to go, and you need to keep both of you safe by not answering the door or leaving."
   "Okay" Jill said, suddenly serious. She was looking at me like Mandy had looked at Reggie before they turned sour. I wasn't sure if I had any future with this pixie, but right then we both wanted it.
   "After all this is through, maybe we could finish." Hey eyes lit at that. I reminded myself to find out what happens when I use my mouth on her. "She's locked in the bathroom. Watch her. I'll come back soon. There's food in the cupboard. Help yourself."
   I gave her a kiss on the lips. Jill mistook it for another round and latched onto me with both feet and hands. I pulled free and made for the door quickly. A second later and I would've jumped her bones again.
   I locked the door on the way out and did a once over around the yard. You could see one neighbors house from the yard and it was locked up for the season.
   Then it was back to the city. First thing I did was trade my gun at a lock box I used near a park. If they found Reggie, they'd likely trace the bullet to me. I hit a payphone next and called my buddy Nick at the precinct.
   He didn't sound glad to hear from me. "I'm busy. Call some other time."
   "I got hit." I said simply. It could have meant a number of things. It kept him on the line long enough for me to tell about my office being ransacked and my gun stolen. "I need to fill out a report on it, but I thought I'd check to see if I'm welcome first.
   "I got it on file. You can come down when we're not busy, Ped. Right now I got better things to do."
   "Yeah, sure. Let me know if you find who's got it, okay?" I hung up without waiting for an answer. That should let me off the hook with Reggie for a while if they find him.
   I checked back at my office. It had been hit again. This time, they spilled water and coffee over everything. I left it. I left the office too. If it was who the girls were mixed up with, I didn't want to wait for their return.
   A couple of blocks down the road, I spotted a tail. A did a couple of harmless turns and could tell it was a pro tailing me. They knew just how to stay back and not be noticed. Well, not be noticed by an amature.
   I had an old back up for just such an occasion. I'd been keeping it for an emergency and this fell right out of the ambulance.
   It was a multi garage bait and switch. If they followed me into the garage, I could ditch them with some stair wells. If they stayed outside and waited for me, I could be an old lady in a Ford driving five miles an hour.
   I could do this at two different parking complexes and I planned to use both of them.
   I was pretty sure I'd lost them at the first lot but I went through the second one just to be sure. I ended up in a blue Honda.
   I passed the picture studio once and spotted a police stake out in the spot I was going to park at across the street. Good old boys in blue must have finally figured out the Lisa Dong connection. Nothing may happen for hours there. It didn't for me. A trip back to the safe house seemed like a good idea.
   It took me twice as long to get back with the extra turns I made. I didn't want anything bad to happen to the girls on my watch.
   Jill was going strong at a video game and didn't register that I'd come back. Mandy seemed very glad to see me. Funny, I would have thought the opposite. I sat on the couch with Mandy and Jill looked up and gave me a million watt smile, "Hi, Sam. You didn't bring pizza?" I snapped my fingers playfully. Again, the brilliant smile. "It's okay, we ate mac and cheese." Then it was back to the video game.
   Mandy wasn't looking happy with me talking to Jill and she got up and pulled me by the hand to the bed room. I figured she'd just wanted to talk in private. I sat on the bed and waited. Mandy stood in front of me and looked like she didn't know how to start.
   I started for her. "Your welcome." I said. It didn't help. She still looked unsure what to say.
   Then she made up her mind and sat next to me. "Do you think I'm pretty?" she asked.
   I could have chuckled at that. I didn't.
   "You want to know why I didn't try to bed you before." I said, but Mandy shook her head.
   "No, I know why. Jill told me." She hesitated, then decided to plunge in. "Why did you do Jill? Is that what you want instead of money?"
   Yeah, we were in the bedroom to talk. I leaned back onto my elbows. "You got me figured all wrong, kid." Did I really say that? I sat back up and looked ready to leave. "Listen. I didn't ask Jill for anything. It was her idea." Mandy didn't look like she was buying it. I tried a different tact. "You know I used to be a cop. You know what us cops are like. I try to help people. If the moneys dried up, then I'm a sucker for not leaving them in a pinch." I stood. "Later, if you run into money, you can pay me then. But I'm going to stay until this is finished, okay?"
   I was at the door when Mandy stopped me. "Sam. I could pay you the way Jill paid you. I've already done it a few times."
   I shook my head. "I don't want anything your not willing to give."
   She got indignant at that. "I am too willing to give you, um... I mean... you know."
   The door was open and I turned to it. Mandy let loose everything she'd been feeling at once. "What does she got that I haven't got?!"
   I could see Jill turn and smile from her video game. She was enjoying being the desirable one. I closed the door again and turned to Mandy. "Okay. You win. You can pay me now." I finished saying on the bed.
   Mandy stared for a second, then got to work. She went for my belt and had my pants unzipped in a flash. She'd done this enough times to have it down pat. She'd pulled me free and rubbed it across her face a few times. It was a beautiful face to rub against and I got hard quickly. It wasn't long before I recognized a familiarity to how she was handling me.
   It was movie sex.
   I instantly saw Mandy as going through the motions. She wasn't really enjoying any of this. I stayed hard so as not to hurt her feelings. "I'd rather wait until you want to do this."
   Mandy looked up, a martyr. "I want to do this." she said, like she was ready to sweep out the parking lot. She hesitated on my eyes and knew what I was talking about. After that, she tried to do everything she could to fool me into thinking that she was enjoying this. But the spark wasn't there.
   Then, she stood with me still in her mouth, and pulled off her pants. I was impressed. Then a strait straddle and spit in her palm to ready herself.
   Though Mandy actually positioned me like a pro, she wasn't very wet or relaxed down there and she had a bad time trying to fit my head in. As she pressed me up into her, I could feel her muscles clenching up in a steady rhythm, like the throbbing from hurting.
   I watched her face get worse and then I stopped it. I lifted her off and she started to cry. I held her and she didn't fight me. She knew she wasn't ready and I was fine with that. I told her so and a few other kind things a young girl would understand. Eventually, I let her go when she started to feel withdrawn. She needed time to sort things out and was no longer worried about me.
   When I left the room, Jill was looking at me with veiled curiosity. Did I fuck her or not? I wasn't telling. Not with my face, not with my eyes. I was out of the house and I did the once over before getting in my borrowed car and splitting.
   I came into town and to the stake out from the opposite side of where I had the girls stashed. I wasn't being too careful with this one.
   I saw the stake out car but it looked empty. Did I miss something? I parked around a building and walked to the unmarked police car. I looked in the passenger door and saw my buddy Det. Guillen, asleep. I couldn't blame him, it'd happened to me too.
   I kicked a can to under the car and was around the corner before he could focus. I bent reflection of a black outline on a car across from me on the sidewalk turned out to be the detective waking up. I saw movement for a couple of minutes and figured he was up for good. A long sweep and I ended up down the street from the cop car.
   I couldn't see the studio from here, but I had a great view of the stake out car. It would tell me if something was going down.
   If he stayed awake.
   It was a few hours later when I saw a couple of really big and ugly guys with baseball caps approach Guillen's car from the street between us. I stayed low and they scanned up my way and didn't see me.
   Guillen didn't see them coming. They had him out of the car in a flash and a single blow knocked him out cold. A black car pulled up and they threw him in the trunk. It pulled forward slowly and I had to make a choice. Follow Guillen or stake out the place now that they thought the coast was clear.
   Like I said, I'm a sucker for not leaving them in a pinch.
   I started the car and followed them from a safe distance. With the streets empty, I had to do it with the headlights off until we hit some traffic. They stopped at a payphone ten miles away and I hit one on the opposite corner.
   I called Nick at home. "They have Guillen." I said. It took him a minute to realize who he was talking to.
   "Sam?! Go to hell! Wait a minute, what?"
   "At the studio. They hit him from behind and he's now in the truck of a black Mercedies. Plate's say "S-N-A-P-6-9". I followed them to the corner of Broadway 10th. They're parked and getting instructions from somebody right now. It doesn't look good. I think they're going to go south on 10th but cover all the roads here in case they change their plan."
   In this moment, Nick and I were on the same frequency. He hung up and I was sure he was getting the whole force rallied. 'Officer down' works wonders at dropping donuts.
   Then the black car was back out and heading south on 10th. I spotted the first unmarked car five blocks down the road.
   I stopped counting cop cars at three and turned to case the studio again. They had a big truck parked beside the building and were loading out file cabinets. Then suddenly, a car pulled up beside the front door and a man came running out with a small girl covered in a blanket. He dumped her in the front seat and ran back in.
   The car sped off. My sucker button got pushed again and I ended up tailing it.
   They were heading to the seedy outskirts of town. A place where you could buy and sell children, if you knew how. They were going to dump a young girl who knew things. Chances are, she wouldn't have much of a life after that.
   I knew where they would need to go with a package like this. I've had to buy a few girls freedom there before. I went around them and beat them to the punch.
   I was in front of the door when the car pulled up. The man got out and I said, "Got something for me?"
   He stopped and looked around, not sure if outside was the best place to do this. It didn't bug him that he didn't recognize me. He'd never done this before.
   "I got a call that you were coming." I motioned with my head to the alley. "We do it there. Bring the package."
   He reached in for the bundle and carried it over to my car in the alley. I opened the trunk and the guy set it down inside. The bundle didn't move and I looked in to see if there was a live girl in it or not. There was, live and drugged.
   "If Malchick didn't tell you, then she's gotta go. I don't care if you film it or not, just make sure she won't be alive to say anything." Then he waited. I looked at him square, trying not to wring his neck on the spot. "So," he said inching forward. "What kinds of things are you gonna do to her?"
   "I was thinking of shooting her in the gut." I said.
   He looked disappointed. "That's all?"
   "My mistake." I said drawing my gun out. "I meant you."
   I shouldn't have done it like that. The shot would bring out the real traffickers. I didn't stay to watch the funeral.
   Nobody followed me and I pulled over to get the poor girl out of the trunk. She was still out cold and I kept her wrapped in the blanket in the back seat.
   I hit another phone. "Nick."
   "Yeah? What?" Then his tone went down a notch. "It's you." I could tell he was glad I called and didn't want anybody to know who he was talking to. "We got Detective Guillen. He'll be okay."
   "That's good to hear. How many people have you collared so far?" I asked. I assumed they wouldn't be staking out the place anymore.
   "About a dozen. Why?"
   "You have anyone named Malchick?"
   Silence while Nick consulted something. "Maybe. It's too early to tell. Why? Who's Malchick?"
   "The name came up. He might be ring leader. Oh, and I have a package you need to pick up."
   "What kind of package?" He asked suspiciously.
   I sighed. "A little girl they were going to dump in the Hoffman district."
   Nick Whistled. "Okay. I'll send a car."
   "No!" I said suddenly. "I trust you. Somebody else might decide to make me out as one of the perps."
   "Yeah? Well I'm too busy to come out right now." He sounded mad.
   I played my card. "You owe me that at least for saving Guillen's life."
   I could hear Nick sigh on his end. "All right. Where ever you say. Just give me a half an hour." I told him where and then he hung up. I guess I had high card.
   Nick came in an unmarked car and I showed him the goods. "She's been drugged." He said.
   "I can't pull one over you can I." I said. Nick didn't find it funny.
   "You do anything with her?" He asked, gruffly.
   I didn't find it funny. He left, warning me about some tests and I got in my car and switched it at one of the lots.
   I needed to talk to the girls again about Malchick. It was hard to double back and forth without going strait for the house. I was impatient to find out a few things.
   When I got there, Jill was missing.
   Mandy was in the bedroom still and she didn't even know Jill had left, and had no idea where she could have gone either.
   There was something different in her eyes. She probably had been doing a lot of thinking.
   "I need to asked you a few things." She looked at me, not totally letting the words sink in. "Malchick." I said.
   Mandy mouthed the words, "Daddy" and then stopped when she realized that she had given it away. I put my hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. She gave me a little half smile and I broke the news. "The cop's moved in. Your dad's going to try and disappear. Maybe you have some things to say to him first." She said nothing. A good little girl. "And I rescued a younger girl than you an hour back. Malchick had given orders to have her killed." Mandy bit her lip. "Only they brought her to some guys who kill kids real slow and messy." Mandy's eyes went wide. "You may have seen her. Mousy brown hair, about nine, mole under her right ear."
   Mandy gasped. She knew who it was. It had never occurred to her until just then that her father might have also given the orders to have her killed by Reggie.
   She started to tear up. I went to hold her but she pushed me back. "He's got a plane in a private airfield near our house." I was up and heading for the door.
   "Stay here and wait for Jill. I'll be back for you when this is over." Then I was in the car and gunning it for Flanders field. I took the strait route, almost. I had an idea and made a quick stop first.
   There was a car at the airstrip and a parked plane. I had to park on the other side of the trees and sneak up from behind the hanger. I checked for a watchout and found only one man, sitting and having a smoke. It wasn't Mr. Flipps, or Malchick as I knew he was also called.
   The smoker was in sight of the car but not the plane and I decided that I would stash my gun there, the one I'd used to shoot Reggie with. Then I went back to a spot close to my car in the trees and waited.
   Nick pulled up to where I was parked in fifteen minutes. He came up next to me and crouched beside me. "Turns out the girl was a virgin still, Sam."
   I didn't even look at him. "I didn't check."
   "Is Malchick in there? We don't have him."
   "Malchick is his code name. He's really Pete Flipps. He's got a nice house not too far from here. I'm waiting for him to show up, just like you and him." I motioned towards the hanger and the smoker walked in sight for a moment. Nick started and crouched low suddenly. I didn't move. It's the movement that'll give you away.
   Then a car came onto the airfield and the waiting man went to go start the plane. "This is it." Nick said and put his police radio to his mouth. "Units, move in now."
   Then the airfield was suddenly ablaze with red and blue lights. The car tried to make a run for it through the field and was taken out of commission when a black and white rammed it from the side.
   Nick ran for the field and became senior officer in charge. I waited in the bushes until I saw a cop pulling my gun from the plane. Then I high tailed it back for Mandy.
   Jill wasn't there.
   Mandy hadn't seen her. "You know, she does that allot." Mandy said. "She'll disappear on a binge, sometimes for weeks." I had under estimated Jill. She probably had connections. She might be fine. But I wished I knew for sure.
   "So did you find my father?" Mandy asked, finally broaching the subject she had wanted to ask from the moment I'd come back.
   "Yeah. You can see him." I sat on the bed. "But you'll have to ask the police first." Mandy looked shocked, but relaxed moments later, like a weight was being lifted off of her shoulders.
   "What about me?" she asked. "Where do I go?"
   "Where do you want to go?" I asked back. "You want to see him?" I thought for sure she'd say yes, but Mandy shook her head instead. "You want to just wait here for a while?" That got a nod.
   I took off my coat and shoes, and I laid back on the bed. I needed a nap and, who know? Maybe Jill might come back.
   When I was half asleep, Mandy cuddled next to me and I wrapped my arm around her.
   We both slept.

   It was a kiss on my cheek that woke me. I turned to see Mandy looking at me strangely. There was something in her eyes that said she was ready.
   I leaned into her small face and kissed her lips gently. She tensed a little but then relaxed when I waited for her next move. It became like that. I'd make a small move forward, then she would make a small move back at me.
   We took our time.
   Every once and a while, she'd go into autopilot and start to perform on me like in one of her movies, but I would stop her until she realized that I didn't want that. She didn't know what I wanted and it became a slow dance between us, feeling each others needs quietly.
   I let her undress herself only as much as she wanted.
   I let her undress me too.
   We ended up with me in my shirt and her in her panties when things started to hit her. Her father was going to jail. Her father had hurt a lot of people. Her father had whored her out to high paying businessmen. Her future was a big question mark. She told me all of that and more.
   That's when she started to cry hard.
   I held her for a long time, waiting and riding it out. I didn't think anything would happen between us. She had too much going on right then, and I didn't think she understood much of what she'd been through. I held her like a shore holds the ocean, taking the waves and just being there.
   I held a child until she went to sleep again.

   I was awakened again by Mandy's weight on me.
   She had stripped the last of her under garments and was straddling me, A look of resolve on her face.
   I put my hands on her waist to stop her. "You don't have to do this." I said gently.
   "I need this." was all she replied and I let her waves wash over me some more.
   I may have told her that she didn't need to do it, but my body was screaming for her. She was beautiful. A work of art! Her lines just beginning to curve, her breasts just beginning to bud out, her body just beginning to understand.
   She was on autopilot again. I stopped her once more and rolled her onto her back. Mandy laid there waiting, thinking that I'd enter her at any moment. I didn't.
   Instead, I kissed her softly on her lips. Then nuzzled my way down her cheek to her slim neck. I thought I heard a faint gasp, which suited me fine. I just wanted to smell her soft, young flesh for myself. I was a bonus that she liked it too.
   I didn't spend much time working my way down, not out of haste, but just because I knew that most girls her age haven't developed the sensitivity that comes with breasts yet. She did have some on her flat belly and that's when I took my time going down on her.
   I felt like taking my time here. It was too rare that I get this opportunity to enjoy this skewed sense of love that was mine to bare.
   Going slow was just the ticket for her as well.
   I started my final oral act with gentle kisses to her peach fuzz mound and teased her with quick flicks of my tongue. By the time I was ready to seriously taste her, she was past ready to be eaten.
   Mandy was wet. It may have been her first time ever. I was drawn to it. I wanted to bathe in it, rub it all over myself. I wanted to swim inside of her. I didn't think I would fit.
   It was Mandy who pulled me up to her face again. Her legs were wide and I could see little neon lights in her eyes, flashing "Ready" on and off. Like the blaring sign in a cheep hotel, I wouldn't be able to sleep while they were flashing.
   She guided me to her opening and needed me to enter her, but her body was still doing the throbbing thing and I could see some hurt in those flashing eyes. Hurt from our sizes. Hurt from not being able to do what she needed us, we needed us, to do.
   I nuzzled into her neck once more and found her trigger. She let loose a deep sigh and arched her back up from the bed. I held her head with one hand and slid my other one down her back to her tail bone.
   Suddenly, her door was wide open and I squeezed in. She was very small inside. I took pains to be careful with her. She started to clench uncontrollably again and I felt a steady tightening on the front half of my organ which threatened to push me back out. I held her by her head and tail bone and didn't let it happen.
   I stayed at her soft, sweet neck and tried to keep on that trigger. Her throbbing rhythm quickened it's pace and she suddenly gasped and tightened her body on me. I felt fingernails dig into my back. She was orgasming already.
   I hadn't even started to move in and out of her yet.
   I waited for it to subside and Mandy pulled her face from my shoulders and looked me square in the eyes.
   "Your different." was all she could say, breathlessly. Most people knew I was different, but she was thinking of it in the good way.
   It wouldn't take much to make me cum in her. Just giving her a thrill took me halfway there.
   I pushed a little into her body and dove for her little neck again. I felt for the triggers with more detail this time and brought her to another orgasm along with myself. She was squeezing me like a vise and we both felt me stream myself into her young forming womb as I came in her. I think that kicked it up a notch for her as well.
   Then there were tears in her eyes again and I rolled us onto our sides out of concern. Was it things again? I asked her.
   No, she'd said. It hurt her for a grown man to be in her for too long. I with drew and we held each other for the rest of the night, talking and snoozing until sunlight began to beam into the bedroom window.
   I fixed oatmeal and we both ate, naked and under the covers.
   About nine o'clock was when I broached the subject we were both avoiding.
   "You know, you'll need to talk to the police. They'll be looking for you." I said. Mandy showed some fear again. "But nobody will try to kill you now. Your safe."
   "I'm staying with you." She said flatly. Yeah. That'll work. Nobody will suspect me with a young girl living at my home.
   "I would love that." I said. "But I have a dangerous job and you could get hurt." I lifted myself to lean over her. "Besides, with out your testimony, your dad could get off easy. Think of how many more people he could hurt."
   Mandy must have thought just that, but she turned away from me in anger, like I had something to do with it. Maybe she just didn't like what she knew I was going to say next. So I didn't say it. I didn't need to.
   There was fifteen minutes of silence. I reached for her again. "Mandy."
   Mandy shrugged me off, still facing away from me. After another minute, she got up and started to get dressed. She wouldn't look at me. I got up and dressed too.
   I stood by the door and she put her coat on and waited for me to open it or step out of the way. "Where to?" I asked. She look at me then, searching for something she knew I could offer.
   I saw her last bit of hope disappear and she said simply, "The police."
   I closed my eyes and nodded.
   The drive was as quiet as an empty bottle of booze the next morning as it sat on a table, reminding you of going too far the night before. Neither one of us said anything. What was there to say? What she needed from me wasn't permanent and what I needed from her, I couldn't have. Case closed.
   She started to open the door when I pulled up to the precinct. I stopped her with a hand on her elbow. "You know, that thing about us..." I'd started to say.
   "Yeah." She said back. "I know how it works. I'm not going to tell on you." Somehow, that didn't make me feel better.
   She started to move again and I held her once more. Her look said, "What!"
   "After this all blows over," I said, looking as honest as I could. "Call me if you need anything. If you need help, or even just want to talk." I should have been the tough guy then. Instead I looked like a sap, going all mushy over a girl, but there I was. Mandy didn't say anything but her looks were hard. Then she was out and walking towards the station.
   I was just about to feel like I'd played a bad hand when she stopped and came back to my window. I opened it, trying not to mush.
   She looked me hard in the face. "Your paid in full now, okay?"
   I took a hard breath, pretending to be fine. "I owe you." I'd relied.
   Then she walked away. Tough. Hard kid. Hard life.
   She'd make it. But everything was different for her now.
   I had thought I'd been good to her, showed her how to be taken care of instead of used. But it worked backwards. Before, she was an innocent, forced to do adult things and not understanding. Now she understood.
   I felt like I had been the one to rob her of her innocence.
   No good deed goes unpunished.
   I went back to clean out my office.

   <END>