Originally posted September 20, 2011
((Clues lead the group back to the reporter. You can read the entire thread hear.))
The door swung open as Chance lifted his head to knock. Stephanie's stood full in the doorway, her damaged hair returned to its natural auburn. The woman scanned the group, settling on Alisha. "You," she breathed, pointing a finger. "You've been in my head all day. How? Why?
--
by Rabid Squirrel
Alisha's eyes go wide for a moment and she backs up a little "I... I... I was trying to help you.. "
--
by RexCelestis
"Help me?" Stephanie asked, nonplussed.
"Ms. Burdette," Chance interrupted. "We've been hired by your father to find you. We're no threat. You can call your father and verify all of this. We've set up a safe house for you, but I understand if you don't want to come with us right away." He looked up and down the hallway. "We might attract some attention if we continue this conversation in the hallway. May we come in?"
--
Christian Pittard stepped into the doorway, placing himself between Stephanie and the heroes. "Everyone but him." He jabbed a finger towards Chance. "Does the Yamaguchi-gumi mean anything to you people? How is Mr. Watanabe's health, Mr. Thomas?"
Chance looked at the others. "Go ahead in. It's not like what he thinks, but I don't want to discuss it, here. Tell me or don't tell me what you talk about. I'll keep an eye on the elevator."
--
Stephaine looked up, shook her shoulders as if shaking off a daze. "Does my father know? Please tell me he doesn't know. His life is in danger if he knows."
Indesipherable to anyone else, Christian pulled out a folder from a pile. Black and white photos of a well dressed man flicked out, a well dressed man encircled by a crudely drawn red target on each. "Stephanie and I are working on a story. She received these pictures after she upset a few girls at the bar I pointed you towards this afternoon. Those are pictures of her father."
Stephanies eyes shifted back and forth. "I don't think Osagie and Osahon ever figured out I was working with a reporter, but they knew I was asking around about the girls. One of them burst into tears while we were talking, in front of some clients."
Pittard lit a cigarette, then passed it to Stephanie before lighting another. "Osagie and Osahon. They're Nigerian. They run the bar at the center of our investigation." The cloud of smoke shifted around his head as he nodded his head. "Dodgy business there. A number of tourists reported a getting scammed at their place, hit up for big bills, spiked drinks," he gestured with his lit fag, "That sort of thing." The reporter took a long drag. "The girls were mentioned as an afterthought."
"Their stories," Stephanie related. "I came here to have a good time. Ichiman an hour with more for drinkbacks. Gifts and a little more on the side. Some of these women came here to help feed their families." She looked up. "I couldn't let it go."
--
"I didn't know what would happen to Gina," Stephanie volunteered. "I gave her the date with Jim so I could come here and work on the story with Christian. It was her last date before she was heading home." Her held tilted and her voice softened. "We were nearly finished. We didn't know about Kumagae, then."
Pittard straightened from where he leaned on a doorway, hunting down another file. "'Jim' is Jun Kumagae," he explained, cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. "He's been linked to the disappearance of a dozen or so women over the last ten years, all hostesses working in the country illegally. The police have questioned him a few times, but never had enough evidence to press charges." The reported set the open folder down on the table. "Hard to make a criminal case when you keep deporting the witnesses and nothing else linked him to the missing women."
"Regina Bradly," Pittard noted with a nod. "She's an American citizen, but I haven't been able to fight out much more about her."
"We look a lot alike," Stephanie explained. "The first night he came into Yoshi's, Jim kept mixing us up. Neither of us thought he would notice if it wasn't actually me that night. When we didn't hear from her, Christian started poking around."
The reporter shrugged. "I think the Nigerians pointed him at Steph with the hopes of quieting her, stop her from talking to the other women at their bar. It is just a guess."
--
by Rabid Squirrel
Alisha nods as she listens taking in all of the information. "how much evidence do you have now? I mean enough to put this guy away?"
--
by RexCelestis
"Niets," Pittard sneered. "We have nothing. The police haven't even positively identified the body. That could take a few months. I haven't found anyone willing to say they saw Jim and Gina together. Some of the women I spoke with said that Jim made videos of them as part of subjugation play, but they won't tell the police for fear of deportation. This guy hires women, drugs them, videos them, might even have killed them, and the police say they don't have enough cause to search his house."
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