Katherine arrived at the address shortly after dark had settled on suburbia. The building was not well-kept, weeds had overtaken the small parking lot, challenged only by the scattered trash. It had been painted several different colors in its life, each apparently more garish than the preceding one. It had never been much more than it was now – a lingerie modeling studio.
Katherine had worked for the police department as an administrative assistant for about six months. Her husband was a policeman in the same department, a policeman who had ambitions to one day be captain. He would do anything to impress his bosses, and volunteering his wife for this assignment was one of those things. To say she was reluctant would state the obvious, but she loved her husband and was willing to trust him and trust his judgment. The heat was on the captain to shut down the modeling studios; "dens of prostitution" the local religious community charged. Some of the women working there had already been arrested and now the clientele was the target. Ordinarily this would be a job for a policewoman, but the department was small and the only women on the force would not exactly inspire a man to commit a crime. Katherine's role in this would be simple; dress reasonably sexy and give the men every opportunity to incriminate themselves once they were in the room together. For this she had chosen short blue skirt and a white button-up cotton shirt, and heels. Her brown hair pulled to one side, she looked as if she was out to play tennis.
She walked into the establishment and was motioned into the back. There in a room were her husband, the captain, and two other policemen. They would be her protectors tonight, watching through the two-way mirror, videotaping the encounters for evidence. Two cameras were setup, each capturing a different angle into the room. For a conviction it would be necessary to get the exchange of money between Katherine and the client on tape. The captain instructed her on how she should act: no nudity, no touching of the clients, no direct requests for money from the client. The captain explained, they had to incriminate themselves. He advised they would come into the room as soon as the customer had committed a crime. Her husband had gone over all this before, and she nodded her understanding. The captain said they were ready whenever she was, and she took a deep breath, smiled at her husband, and walked up front.
One other person was there, one of the women who had worked there prior to the arrests. She was cooperating with the police in return for a reduction in the charges against her. She looked at Katherine for a long time but did not say a word. They waited in silence for the customers to arrive. About 30 minutes had gone by when they heard the ring of the bell on the front door. Soon a middle-aged man, average-looking, walked in. The other woman went to greet him, explaining the terms: $40 for 20 minutes of modeling, $50 for half an hour. The customer looked over the woman, then looked over Katherine. He looked back at the other woman then said he would take 20 minutes with her. She took his money and led him into a back room. Katherine was alone. Nervously she paced, dreading the sound of the bell. But soon the woman came back, and took her position on the couch. Katherine asked her where the gentleman was; she replied he went out the back. Before she could ask anymore the bell sounded again. Another man soon walked in. After being given the spiel by the other woman, he too looked both women up and down. Katherine was extremely uncomfortable with such direct staring, a strange man inspecting her as she would inspect a steak at the butcher shop. She was somewhat relieved when he, too, chose the other woman. Katherine again was alone after the woman and client retreated into the back. She sat there for several minutes when she heard someone coming from the back; good, she thought, she had more questions for the woman. It was, however, her husband.
