Page 16 of Wicked Tricks
She still looked uneasy. Stepping away from the desk, she shook her head.
“I don’t know about all this,” she mumbled, pulling her child in close against her.
“Most people buy these identities to use as criminal aliases. You know, they use them to rack up debt and commit crimes. But more and more,” I shrugged, “it’s just normal people wanting a fresh start.”
This girl was obviously still a teen, though thin, her cheeks still had a youthful plumpness to them. She had gotten hold of my phone number through a girl she wouldn’t name, and called me in the middle of the night to ask for help. At the time, she didn’t even know what it was that I did, she only knew that I could help.
If that was the reputation that we were gaining at Lilith’s, I knew that we had to be doing something right.
“I just don’t want him to ever find us,” she said quietly, her eyes wandering to the child in her arms. The girl was asleep, unaware of her surroundings, tucked against Grace’s chest. She was probably only about a year old, but looked huge in the tiny arms of her mother.
“He will have no way to trace you with this, no one will. If you can leave without him following you, from there you will be basically unfindable. Dye your hair, don’t ever get social media, fly under the radar. You get to build this new person, Grace.”
I picked up the documents and slipped them into an envelope. I retrieved her new ID from my laminator, and checked to make sure the watermark was in the correct place.
“Everything you need is in here. Birth certificates for you and your daughter, passports, bank accounts. A whole new history and identity.”
She reached down with her free hand and withdrew a smaller envelope from her coat, filled with crinkled fifty dollar bills, and handed it to me. I took it, and slipped it back into the bigger envelope containing her documents and handed it back to her.
“Put it in your new savings account,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course,” I nodded.
She smiled gratefully and nodded, slipping the envelope out of sight.
“Thank you.”
“Are you sure that we can’t help you any more? We can help you make your exit, and protect you,” I said.
She shook her head, “no, I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of him.”
I smiled and sighed, “OK, just know that we’re always here if you need. You have my number, call me anytime. Day or night.”
She nodded, not meeting my eye, and I knew better than to push. There were some things that we needed to do alone, and I knew how hard it was to admit that you needed help.
Her baby started to fuss, and she headed towards the door.
“Thank you again,” she said as I let her out.
“Be safe,” I said, and she nodded, slipping down the back steps into the alley.
I stood by the door, watching her as she disappeared into the street. The sky was grey, and the breeze was cold against my skin. I stood there for a while, and I just hoped that she would be okay.
Then I had some time to myself before anyone else turned up.
For meetings with clients like Grace, I preferred to see them when the rest of the club was empty. A lot of them were nervous, and it made them more comfortable when there weren’t a whole lot of people around.
Sure, we did bad things, but the whole reason I had stayed with Lilith’s for so long was because of the women we helped. I was a product of this life, of the city’s underworld. I was born into it, among it - it was a part of me more than anything else.
During my youth, I saw many women suffer at the hands of the criminals they cared for. Held down and held back by them, told to be quiet and compliant. They were used as pawns, punching bags, and payment - all this they did for the men that they loved.
I had witnessed it so many times, and still struggled to understand it.
Why the fuck couldn’t we have any of the power?
These women stood by and lied for them, killed for them, and for what?
