Prelude.. Convincing the Husband
Ingrid and I had been married for close to three years and it was a period of absolute bliss for me. I had progressively graduated from having her as my neighbor , to the smart and sexy schoolmate that I gawked at to the girl that I desperately wanted to marry and ended up marrying.
Ingrid had always been a go-getter. If she puts her mind to anything , she always ends up getting it. What she would put her mind to over the next 6 months , would really change our lives though.
I had been average through school and took up the police academy training just to follow in Ingrid's footsteps. She was the one who always thought that police work was the way to go. I think her father being a high ranking cop had something to do with it.
Ingrid and I worked in homicide together and she was already a detective. Ingrid over the last 6 months had been pouring herself into something that had been unsolved for the last 5 years. Girls from high class brothels first missing and then being found dead 2 or 3 days later in front of the brothel every year.
After pouring through all the details and interviewing scores of people, Ingrid had found a few leads to the case.
May 30th
It was a Friday evening and I had come home a bit early from work to join my friends for a drink. Ingrid walked in still in her work clothes. She was beautiful as ever. Her slender, toned , long legs looked great in the formal skirt that she was wearing and her hips -- wow -- they swayed in the most feminine way as she walked in. This was the lady that I had fallen in love with. However, her face held a grim look and I immediately knew that she either had bad news on her case or she had had a very bad day at office. Despite the grim look on her face, I could not resist looking at her top. She had a white satin top, with the top two buttons unbuttoned , showing a hint of cleavage while giving an idea of the ample assets beneath the shirt.
"David, I think we may have a lead," she said as she put her bag on the couch and walked towards the kitchen.
I eagerly followed her to the kitchen. I was puzzled as to why she was grumpy, despite the fact that she had a lead. After all she had never looked grumpy during the last 6 months when she got no other lead.
As she fixed her drink, she started ,"This is a very complex case. Do you know how many high class brothels are there in this city".
I nodded unknowingly and mumbled " 7 or 8?"
"Shame on you. As a cop, you should know the seedy side of things in th city as well. It is six" , she chastised me. I gulped the drink that she had fixed for me. Looking at me gulp the drink , she softened a bit.
" Honey, I did that to myself as well. Even I didn't know. I thought at least guys would know. If I had known this when we started the case, we would have got this lead long time back." she said
I sat there wondering how the number of high-end brothels in the city affected her case. "Well this person that we have been looking for the last 5 years, he has been picking on only the girls in the brothels of the highest end. And after a lot of digging and questioning we found out that the girls that he had murdered were actually the most famous in the brothel. They were the girls who most customers wanted. He has been going after the most famous girl in the highest end brothels"
I sat there listening to each word that she had said. If the killer had made five kills in the last 5 years and there were only six high end brothels, we knew that there was only one brothel to be watched this year.
I nodded my understanding to her. "It is simple , now that we have found this. So we just keep a watch on this last brothel for the next 6 months watching for this guy? " I asked.
"Well , yes and no. We are going to watch, but the captain thinks the guy won't do it , if he finds out we are watching"
"So we aren't going to keep a watch?" I asked incredulously.
"No. But the captain had a better idea. He said we should have someone from the department go undercover."
"Wow, thats some out of the box thinking. So, he is going to send some good looking newbie to be a whore?" I asked.
Ingrid grimaced a bit. She then put her down and kissed me passionately on my lips. I could tell that she had been drinking even before she came as the overpowering smell of cognac hit me.
"Do you love me? Do you think I am beautiful?" she asked me.
"Of course darling. Why do you even have this doubt? I am the one who chased you all over the place to marry you."
"Well, the captain also think I am extremely good looking" she said plainly.
It hit me then. "He asked you to go undercover? No way.. you are a wife.. you couldn't have been asked"
Ingrid then started on what had happened before she left the precinct. " The captain called me into his room. He started saying how this case had scared the city with a murder happening every year and how he needed someone who was mature enough to handle this case but also look drop dead gorgeous. He said, if this case is solved, he would personally ensure that the undercover part is known to no one and I would get a public recommendation and a promotion."
I stopped her at that and asked, "You obviously refused. Right?"