And now I'm free

That was my friend Pipi

Such a whore, I said to myself

Like me, such a whore like me

"Do you recognize this man?"

The vice detective shows me a picture of Marcus.

"Don't answer that," My lawyer says quickly.

"If your client doesn't have anything to hide, then she wouldn't mind answering the question," The detective says with an irritated scowl on his old, wrinkled face. "If you don't answer, Miss Gordon, we'll go see if your brother recognizes the man in this picture."

The lawyer notices that I tense up at the mention of my brother but she holds a hand up to me as if to say 'calm down' and then the gives the detective a challenging look. "As Mr. Gordon's attorney, I have the right to refuse an interview. You're not interviewing him."

"Then, we'll have no choice but to call child protective services," The detective threatens. "If we don't think that Eleanor is acting in his best interest. And right now, I'm not so sure that she is."

"CPS?" I speak up, feeling the blood drain from my face. "No, I have legal custody of him."

"Yes, you do. They're just trying to scare you by bringing CPS into this but if they do come, they will just be here to make sure Casey's best interest is in mind. They aren't taking him away," She explains to me in a calm voice. She's very good at her job, I've noticed. When I called Jill to tell her that I'd gotten arrested, she told me not to say anything and to wait for the lawyer. So, I've been sitting in this cold interrogation room for a while with this irritated old detective, not saying anything.

"You do know that when you go down for this, your brother will go back into foster care, don't you?" The detective realizes that he's stricken a nerve in me by talking about my brother and I can tell that he's going to milk it but I'm going to do my best not to let it get to me. "But if you cooperate, I'm sure we can work out an easier sentencing."

"You don't have proof that my client is guilty of anything that you're alleging," The lawyer, I think that her name is Miranda but I've been so anxious and panicked that I can't remember. I'm barely breathing right now, trying to keep calm. They apparently have Casey here, so that probably means that Micah and Josie are here too. Unless Micha left, and I guess Josie's dad probably came to pick her up.

"We have a few witnesses," He confirms, looking at me instead of Miranda. I keep steady eye contact because I'm convinced that if I curl up into a ball and start screaming like I really want to, it'll be pretty obvious that I'm guilty.

"I've seen your witness list. It's all hearsay at best. You don't have a case here," Miranda informs the man. It amazes me how she goes from a soothing voice, like a mother, to an 'I mean business, don't fuck with me' tone of voice within the blink of an eye. I need to talk to Micah, or at least find out what's going through his mind. Maybe, if I can just explain myself to him... maybe he can understand.

Miranda has already explained to me that I'm not being charged with anything officially, but they can hold me for twenty-four hours before they have to either release me or charge me. If they charge me, there's a very real possibility that I'll lose custody of Casey. Just as I was getting a grip on a solid life plan, it's immediately starting to slip out of my hands again.

Casey is probably going to hate me after this, not to mention Micah. Josie's dad probably won't let me talk to her anymore if he finds out what's going on. I'm going to lose everybody—whether I get charged or not.

"We have an entire day to find the evidence that we need. I'm confident that something will turn up," The detective assures both of us. "The high end hookers always think that they're untouchable but they always crack. You're not any better than the whores on the street."

"Fuck you," I spit out at him and Miranda gives me a dirty look, not approving of me saying anything.

"Don't talk," She reminds me.

I know that I'm no better than the 'whores on the street' as he said, because categorizing all of the hookers that walk the streets in one group is ridiculous. They're just women, trying their best. If anything, they're braver and stronger than me because a lot of them have to deal with dangerous clients and pimps. Whereas Jill pampers her girls and makes sure that all of the clients are vetted and safe to work with.

"Alright. Well, I'm sure your boyfriend is talking up a storm in the other room," The detective takes another direction. That doesn't scare me though because even if Micah wanted to turn me in, which I'm sure he would if he could, he doesn't know anything about that part of my life.

I don't respond to him and it frustrated him even more.

"I would like some time with my client," Miranda decides. The detective looks even more frustrated but he still stands up from the chair across the table and leaves the small, dark room.

"You really shouldn't be worried, Eleanor," She promises me once he's gone. "They got a lead and ran with it, but they don't have anything solid to charge you with. They barely had enough for an arrest. They don't even have enough probable cause for a search warrant on your car or apartment."

"Can you get in to see Casey? I just need to make sure that he's okay. Can I see him?" I ask her curiously.

"Not right now, but I can go check on him in a minute, and give him a message if you'd like," She offers. "If they do convince a judge to get a search warrant, will they find anything? The cameras are off, we have confidentiality, you can tell me."

"No," I say slowly. "I mean, I've got a lot of skimpy dresses. Can they look at my bank statements?"

"They'll need a warrant," She informs me. "And like I said, they most likely won't get one. I've seen cases with ten times the evidence they have on you not make it to court. I really think that you'll be fine here."

"Do you know why they arrested me? Or who their lead was?" I ask her curiously, even though I'm already pretty sure that it was Davis. Although, I'm curious as to how they know that Marcus is one of my clients. I've been meeting with him once a month for almost the entire two years that I've been in this business though, and I really can't imagine him having any part of this.

"They're not saying. The picture that they showed you is a business CEO. One of their undercovers saw you having dinner with him, so they're suspicious but they questioned him already and he denied all of their accusations," She explains to me. "They've got two other witnesses but they've both flopped so far."

"Okay. That's good."

"We'll get you out of here as fast as possible, Eleanor," She promises me in her soothing motherly voice. "I'm going to go make sure Casey is okay, and I'll be back soon."

"Tell him that I'm sorry," I say to her slowly, in a scratchy voice as I try my best not to cry. I know that once she leaves, they'll turn the cameras back on and if they see me crying, it's basically a confession. Obviously, not one that can be held up in court but I feel like if they see me crying, they'll be able to tell that I'm guilty and they'll push harder.

She offers me a sympathetic smile before she gets up and heads out of the room as well.

I wait in there for a long time, trying to rehearse what I'll tell Casey when I see him. And if I ever get to talk to Micah again, I have to have something prepared to tell him. I'm not exactly sure what that is though.

Explaining this to Casey will be so much easier than explaining it to Micah. Casey wasn't really betrayed all that much but it is in the social contract of a romantic relationship that you just don't have sex with other people. I have hope that he'll understand because of what we've already discussed about legalizing prostitution, but I don't have my hopes very high on that one.

I'm not sure how much time passes until Miranda comes back into the room alone.

"With your permission, Casey is going to go home with your friend, Micah, until we get this all figured out," She informs me. "If you were to get charged, CPS will have to take him. For now though, is that okay with you?"

"Does... does Micah want to take him?" I ask her in pure shock.

"It was Casey's idea but Micah agreed to it," She explains.

"Okay. Yeah, that's okay," I tell her. I want to believe that this means that he might be able to forgive me but I also know Micah. He's such a sweetheart, so if Casey asked him for a ride somewhere or if he could stay with Micah, I know that he wouldn't be able to say no to that. Especially to Casey right now, who is definitely feeling a lot of things. He's not doing it for me, he just wants to help out Casey.

She goes to tell somebody that I approve and I start to dwell on what this all means. I would kill a man just to know what Micah is thinking right now. Just one thought that's going through his head. Miranda comes back a little while later, by herself.

"Detective Bernard will be here soon for more questions," She warns me. "Do you have any questions before he comes?"

"How is Casey doing?"

"He's in shock, mostly," Miranda tells me. "He'll be okay."

Before I can ask her any more questions about my brother, a detective comes into the room that isn't the one from before.

"Hi, Miss Gordon," He greets me. He's a lot younger than the other detective and by the half-smile look on his face, he seems to think that he's handsome, and that it's going to help him get answers from me. "How are you feeling?"

"Don't answer," Miranda insists.

Detective Bernard looks personally offended by her statement but quickly recovers and then looks back to me. "I just want to ask you a few questions about all of this madness going on. I want to help you, but I can't do that if you don't help me."

"I'm the one who helps you," Miranda reminds me. "Don't believe this cliché, it's a trap."

"Alright. I can see that your lawyer isn't going to let you talk, so why don't I start by telling you what we know?" He offers and then he opens the folder in front of him and shows me some pictures. I suddenly realize why it took so long for Davis's plan to into affect.

They spent some time stalking me to get a case together before they could arrest me. The folder is full of pictures of me from the past few weeks as I met with my clients.

Sitting at dinner with the doctor (that one actually wasn't illegal), going up to the hotel suite with Ashe when we went to that 'party', and a few other men that I've been with recently.

"These are just pictures of my client having dinner," Miranda informs the detective. "Are you trying to tell me that just by having dinner with somebody, they're guilty of prostitution?"

"This man," He points to a picture of one of the men that I was with for just one night. It was before my phone call with Davis, before I cut my client list down, and I don't remember his name. "Has already given us his testimony, and he's given a very descriptive admission about what services he paid for."

I try my best to look stone faced and nonresponsive.

"After being bribed," The lawyer adds. "For a lighter sentence on a different matter. This is all hearsay and it's insulting. I'm going to go talk to a judge about getting you out of here soon. There is no probable cause here, just one ridiculous lead and apparently, the desire to harass my client."

"We have evidence," The detective argues. "And we know that you're guilty, Eleanor. It's time that you learn that you can't just do anything that you want without consequences."

Anything that I want? Does he think that I wanted to become a prostitute? That my dream as a little girl was to spend my nights with strangers? To destroy the one solid emotional relationship that I have ever had? He thinks that this is what I really wanted? Sure, I didn't hate it before Micah. It was kind of fun most of the time and I made so much money. But it is not what I wanted. I did it to protect my brother. Right now, that sounds counterintuitive because by becoming a prostitute, I risked getting arrested which is the opposite of protecting him.

But at the time, when I was making thousands and thousands of dollars, it felt like the right thing to do. I would still probably go back to it if I could but now that Casey knows and Davis has proved that he is a bit powerful, I know that I'll have to stop. If I don't get put in jail, that is.

"If you don't have any questions, this interview is over. I'm going to go talk to a judge," Miranda tells the detective as she gets her phone out, probably to get an appointment with a judge or something. "You are all wasting both my and Eleanor's time with this goose chase."

The detective doesn't seem like he knows what to do now, so when Miranda starts to leave, he goes with her because he knows that he can't question me without her present. Again, I'm left in the room by myself.

I wish that they didn't take my phone. If they would just let me call Micah right now, I would probably confess. That's a dramatization, but it's killing me not to know what's going on outside of this room.

If I could just explain things, maybe he could understand. It has to be nighttime by now. After spending a while at the amusement park, and sitting in here for a few hours now. I'm starving because I haven't eaten lunch or dinner but I'm too nervous to eat. They've offered a few times, but I feel like if I eat anything, I'll just throw it right back up. I don't know exactly what time it is, but I'm getting tired now too.

Just as I'm about to rest my head on the table to close my eyes and force myself to relax with a few breaths, the door opens again. I'm expecting a detective or maybe Miranda, but my jaw nearly drops to hit the table when I see Jay Barkley standing in the interrogation room with me.

"You're free to go. Come with me."