Undercover (closed)

[Storymonkey]

“Yes, she looks like she is our victim. What do you think boss? At least we now have a name, although it is probably fake.”

"No doubt, but more importantly we have a business," Kyle said as he glanced between the photo and the naked woman on the screen. "Paradise Girls dot com..." He leaned back in his chair and began to think out loud. "This by itself isn't nearly enough for a warrant, they could have purchased these pictures from anywhere. Or we could drive down to the studio and get the runaround." Neither option was worth a damn.

"What we need is a CI." He turned back to Roxy. "You probably saw your fair share of the sex industry back when you were with Vice. You know of any informants working porn?" That's what they needed... someone on the inside. But he wasn't about to ask her to go undercover in a place like that.

He scratched through his short, peppered hair. "Option B would be surveillance. Keep an eye on the studio and ID everyone entering and leaving... maybe we'll find someone with a record we can leverage for info on the inside."

 

[ella_v]

Roxy felt a cold shiver running down her spine. She had left the Vice and joined the major crime unit just a while ago, since she had been fed up with helplessly watching young girls getting into the porn business to get their 15 minutes of fame. In her eyes those girls gave away their dignity for nothing and just made the sick bastards, that ran the business, filthy rich. “Yes, sadly I know that business a bit too well. Paradise Girls is connected to the Falcone family and they make millions with it every year. It is not just the website, they make moves, own strip clubs, and escort services. We had been trying to get something on them, but we never got anything solid that sticked.”

Pike nodded slowly. “Yes, Moreno, the Falcone family is really the pride of the city. And I would be just too happy to strap a murder on them.”

“The problem is that they are very careful and nearly never do the dirty stuff personally. And they have their people all over the place. There are definitely rats inside the force and I bet some guys at the DA’s office and even a few judges are on their pay role. If we want to make a move onto them, we will have to be very careful, boss. They are dangerous and they have theirs ears everywhere.”

“You are right, Roxy, this murder investigation could turn into a very big mess with us in the middle of it all. But I have never had a problem with getting my hands dirty. How about you Moreno?”

“Me neither, Sir!” They young woman smiled at her boss. “I can try to contact some of my old informants, but I will have to be very careful about that. I suggest that you start taking a careful and discreet look at Paradise Girls. Maybe you will find someone, who might help us from the inside. And if that does not get us anywhere we will have to start thinking about placing someone on the inside.”

Roxy took a look at her watch. “It is getting late, I will visit some of my old friends from the porn industry tomorrow. Have fun with setting up the surveillance, Sir.” She left the room, while Pike’s eyes traveled back to the ready to start movie of Michele on his computer.

 

[Storymonkey]

Running surveillance on Paradise Studios wasn't going to be easy. The building was a sprawling, squat concrete structure in the outskirts of town -- easily overlooked as a mundane warehouse by most if not of the tall security fence and steady stream of leggy blondes frequently entering and leaving. This wouldn't be as simple as parking a car across the street and kicking back. For a brief moment he considered just saying to hell with all the stealth BS and just set up shop right outside the gates in broad daylight and making a bit of noise. Let them know he had his eye on them... hell, the manager from Club Paradise had probably already reported his visit there, so they should be expecting him!

But if they expected him to be blunt, maybe it was better to go in quiet. The hard approach would just take other options, like a CI, off the table anyway.

Adjacent to the concrete lot that housed the studio was a steep incline that a residential neighborhood backed into. Pike pulled his car up that hill and turned to park at the end of a vacant cul-de-sac that overlooked the studio. Close enough he could keep an eye on things without being too conspicuous and from the distance appear to just be another neighborhood car.

He checked his watch, began twisting a telephoto lens over his camera and hoped Roxy was having better luck than he was.

 

[ella_v]

While Pike had been setting up his surveillance Roxy had been trying to talk to some of her thrusted contacts from her time at the Vice. First on her list was Detective Daniel Hill, her old partner. They met for a coffee at a small café just a few blocks down from the station. Detective Hill was just a few years away from his retirement and he was happy to see his young and attractive partner again.
“Hi, Roxy, how are you? Do you miss the Vice? There is always a spot for you when you are fed up with murder victims and unrecognizable remains.”

“Good to see you too, Dany. How are you? Actually I am pretty happy at capital crime.” They chatted for a while before Roxy directed the topic to her current case. “We have an unknown murder victim, who was a prostitute and porn actress. We don’t have an identity only her stage name, which is ‘Michele’. We saw her in a video on Paradise Girls dot com.” Roxy got the picture of Michele out and pushed it over to Dany. “That’s her, do you know anything about her?”

Detective Hill picked up the photo and took a good look at it. “There are so many girls getting into this business and dropping out again, it is hard to keep track of all of them. Ever since ‘Pretty Woman’ every girl in this town seems to think that she will get lucky and meet the rich, perfect lover by selling her body on the streets. This one does not ring a bell, but she looks good. She is definitely Paradise Girl material, they only take on the best girls and try to get them into the escort business, because that is where the big money is.”

“Too bad that you don’t know her. I guess we will have to take a closer look at Paradise Girls.” Roxy was a bit disappointed that Dany did not know the victim, she would have loved to show Pike her value as a detective. They keep on talking for a few more minutes before Roxy left.

Once the young detective was out of site, Daniel Hill got his mobile out and made a call. “This is Danny, we need to talk.”



Julia had spend most of her morning in the university and had made a small errand on her way home. She felt her heart beating in excitement when she walked over to Shaun’s place and knocked on the door. The door opened and the tall, redheaded geek smiled a welcoming smile at his cute neighbor. His cloth were crumpled, his face was red and sweaty, and his breath was a bit faster.

“Hi Julia, come it. I have just finished to edit all of the pictures.”

“Hello.” The small girl smiled knowingly at her neighbor, but her eyes were drawn to the computer screen on Shaun’s desk. It showed her sitting naked on the wooden fence and smiling at the camera. Julia had to admit that the picture looked great, although it was strange to see herself on some guys computer. “This looks like professional work, I am really impressed Shaun. Thank you very much for all the work you have done.”

“You are welcome and it was a lot of fun for me as well.” He walked over to the desk and picked up a memory stick. “Here are all your pictures, you better print them on a real photo printer like they have at Walgreens.”

The young woman took the stick and placed it in her handbag. “Thanks, Shaun, I even have a little gift for you, for all your help.” She handed a small box to the young man and smiled at him.

The nerdy neighbor curiously opened the box and pulled a blue A&F boxer shorts out of it. Julia giggled when she saw his confused look. “I noticed your tighty-whities and thought that a big guy like you could use some real underwear. I hope they are the right size.”

 

[Storymonkey]

"Thanks," Shaun laughed a little from embarrassment, but knew Julia meant well. In a weird way it was a pretty thoughtful gift, and a little nod and wink to their own private little inside joke. He closed the box and placed it on his desk.

"So what's next for you?" Shaun asked and crossed his arms. "I mean, are you ready to become famous? You know as soon as Playboy publishes those pictures you're going to be the most popular girl on campus. Not that you're not popular already," the shy boy mumbled from politeness. "It's just, you'll be getting a lot of extra attention now..."


OOC: Hmmm... Detective Hill has some interesting contacts, does he? The plot thickens!!

 

[ella_v]

“Oh, I am not sure that I will win that Playboy competition. There are many smoking hot girls on campus and I bet many of them want to get the extra attention and even more want the $ 5,000 price money.” She smiled lightly when she thought about what she would buy with that kind of money. “Of cause I will give you half of that money, in case I really win, since your photos really turned our great. Oh, by the way, I need you to sign this release form for the Playboy, so that they can put your pictures on their website for a vote.” She handed the piece of paper over to Shaun. “And here is another one that I need you to sign.” Julia blushed a bit when she took the second from form her folder. Shaun scanned over the document and was surprised that it was not made out to the Playboy, but to a company called Paradise Girls.