It took a lot of persistence to get this interview. Abigail congratulated herself on her reporter's intuitive and the white-knuckled work ethic that lead her here. With a little bit more, she would blow the lid off Charles Winter's whole operation and her own little independent news source would finally get the recognition that it deserved. That was the dream, anyways.
Abigail had spent the last three years since college starting her own news platform, where she could do the hard-hitting journalistic work that she dreamt about. Admittedly, it started as nothing more than a blog and her earliest posts were cringe-worthy at best (and potentially libelous at worst), but she had gotten better, expanded to an independent website, and even gotten some ad revenue going. Each article that she had been publishing, mostly centered around big business corruption, garnered more attention than the last. Abigail felt like she was one big break away from becoming a recognized, respected independent publication.
Enter Charles Winter. Charles was one of the richest men in the city, but had no official job anywhere. He got his wealth through gifts from various businessmen, all of whom publicly acknowledged their donations to him as "money between friends". To top it all off, the gifts were even taxed appropriately, meaning that there was nothing illegal about the transactions. Abigail was lucky that she caught wind of this, because nobody else seemed to care that it was happening.
Charles was naturally reclusive. He bought the top floor of a high rise in the city, then quickly expanded to owning the top ten floors. The floors were locked down tight, with special security provisions. Charles was rarely seen anywhere outside his private tower. Food was delivered, rich people gave him money, and Charles sat above the city having not earned anything himself.
Most ominous of all were the girls. While Charles was not seen leaving the tower, Abigail personally witnessed on her stakeouts dozens of girls with security clearance entering and leaving the private elevator to Charles Winter's suite. All of them were between 18 and 25 and every one of them looked like a cover model.
Putting it all together, Abigail was sure she was on the cusp of revealing a major prostitution ring that catered to the city's richest men. Charles' brilliance--and ultimately, Abigail was sure, his downfall--was that he was doing it and paying the taxes at the same time. If Uncle Sam got a piece, then Uncle Sam didn't care about how you got your money. But Abigail was a member of the press, and the independent press at that. She cared and she was sure that her readers would as well.
Abigail was an expert researcher. She collected the public property records that showed Charles Winter's acquisition of his property. She found records of the checks written from personal bank accounts of the wealthy to Winter's account--although admittedly that was an ethical grey. She even found the contractors who redid the top floors for Charles and pried details from them--they didn't like talking about it, but she did pry out the detail that most of the lower floors of his ten-floor property were dedicated to single-person living arrangements. The case for trafficking increased.
As she assembled her information, Abigail sent her courtesy request for an interview to Charles. It was only appropriate from a journalism standpoint to offer the subject of the interview the chance to speak their piece. She didn't expect to get a response, but she did.
"Mr. Winter would love to speak with you," the email said. "He has availability all Tuesday morning, if you're free."
Abigail was surprised, but also suspicious. It wouldn't be above a trafficker to try to abduct her--or even silence her--if he felt threatened. Still, it was the opportunity of a lifetime and it would be the extra bit her article needed to really make a splash. Journalism was about taking risks.
It was also about being smart, though. Abigail decided to make a contingency. She set an article to publish in the future, revealing all she knew and explicitly explaining that she was going to interview Charles Winter now. If the article was published, it would be proof that she never returned from that interview and her disappearance should be investigated as further evidence of foul play. Abigail didn't want to be abducted or killed, of course, but she was tempted by the fantasy of being the heroic reporter who risked everything for a story. Those were the people she read about. Those were her heroes. Her contingency article was set to go out that night, just in case she never made it back.
Abigail showed up to Charles Winter's tower on Tuesday morning at the agreed-upon time. She approached the security elevator, where she saw two girls in tight-fitted, deep cut, short dresses. Apparently they were waiting for her. One was blonde and the other was a redhead.
"Hi," the blonde smiled sweetly. "Are you Abby?"
"Abigail," Abigail corrected her. "I'm Abigail, yes."
"Welcome!" the redhead glowed. "Charles is so excited to meet you. He's been reading your work."
'I'll bet he has,' Abigail thought. 'And he's probably well aware of what I want to write about him.' The thought of going head-to-head in a mental chess match against an evil man filled her with confidence. It wasn't just about a story. It was about defending feminism at large.
Abigail stepped into the elevator with the two girls.
"So, do you ladies work for Mr. Winter?" Abigail asked, probing gently.
"Oh no," the blonde shook her head. "We're just his friends."
"Charles has a lot of friends," the redhead added.
"And how long have you been his friend?" Abigail said.
"Three years for me," the blonde said.
"I think two for me," the redhead nodded. "Just after my eighteenth birthday, so... yeah, about two years."
"And what does being Charles' friend mean?" Abigail asked.
"Well whenever I have the chance, we fuck," the redhead said.
Abigail blinked. She had expected to have to coax such a confession out of a scared, captive girl. The redhead just said it as a statement of fact.
"What?" Abigail stammered.
"Well I wish he would fuck me more often, but... you know..." the redhead elaborated.
The blonde chimed in, "I know! He just has so many friends. You have to wait your turn."
"You... you admit that you sleep with him?" Abigail said, trying to catch up in her head.
"Well yeah," the blonde said with a shrug. "What's wrong with that?"
"Oh, wait," the redhead said, "are you one of those religious girls? No sex until marriage?"
"Well no," Abigail said, "but..."
"Then what's the problem?" the redhead said, appearing genuinely confused. "We're just having fun."
"But you... but you want to have sex with him?" Abigail asked. "He's not forcing you?"
"Oh no," the blonde said firmly. "No, we beg Charles to fuck us."
"Well..." the redhead said thoughtfully. Abigail turned to her, awaiting the dirt. "...sometimes he does tie us up. But that's more for fun than because we don't want it."
"That's true," the blonde nodded. "He does force us to fuck in that way. But--" she paused to giggle "--that doesn't mean I'm not begging him for that too."
The elevator door opened, which was perfectly fine with Abigail. The tape in the hidden pocket of her jacket had recorded all of this, but she didn't know what she would do with it. It was obviously a staged performance for her benefit. She would have to dig deeper to find the real dirt. The journalist in her wouldn't give up that easily.