“Tomorrow,” Claire answered. “I need to take a look at all this.” She nodded at the DVDs.
Just as she was leaving, Cindy and Lara walked in with Lasse, a friendly, smiling, solarium-tanned bodybuilder with a ponytail. They had been at a customer’s place on an out-call.
Lasse tossed four thousand kroner on Bonnie’s desk.
“This is Michelle, she’s starting with us tomorrow,” Bonnie said as an introduction.
“Michelle, you’re totally gorgeous!” Lasse said, and groped her breasts appreciatively, winking flirtatiously at her.
The two Thai girls held limp hands out to her and smiled shyly, their eyes on the floor, then they walked into the dressing room together to get ready for the evening customers.
Claire Winther stopped by the fitness center on the way home and spoke loudly and amiably with the receptionist and the man beside her on the treadmill, making sure that she was noticed.
At home, she poured a double gin-and-tonic, which she drank while taking a long and luxurious bubble bath. Just as she had settled in her adjustable bed with her laptop and Bonnie’s DVDs, John’s goodnight text came in: Dear, what do you think about spending Christmas and New Years here in Brazil, I’ve found a wonderful beach hotel and the weather is great?
She answered: Wonderful. Just what I need-to get away from this wet and cold darkness.
I’ll reserve the luxury suite and arrange the trip. Okay with you if we leave around December 20?
That’s great for me. Kiss hug and goodnight.
Then she put the first DVD in to study the whores and their customers in action.
By midnight she knew she could do this. She had a plan. Abandon her body mentally during the act, but leave her brain in charge. Most of it was banal and cliché-ish-as Bonnie had said it would be.
“They want to believe that they’re fantastic, that they have an enormous cock and make you really horny. If you play that role you almost can’t go wrong.”
First and foremost in her mind was to take good care of herself. No sadism, no anal sex, no kissing, no sex without a condom, and no appointments without security. There were alarm buttons at the clinic, and Lasse was on duty with his phone on out-calls.
She could be firm with her demands because of her status as a luxury escort.
A week passed, and the others at the clinic were impressed with the stylish novice.
The customers were also thrilled.
A local politician, a police sergeant, and a real estate tycoon made new appointments with her as soon as they were finished. That was unusual. Most customers slink off, slightly embarrassed after the conclusion of a session, and aren’t heard from again until the urge overcomes them.
She learned quickly how to answer the eternal question: “What makes a sweet, pretty girl like you…”
“Times are tough right now, and it’s a job just like any other,” she would answer.
On the third day, a straightlaced high school teacher already wanted to “save” her.
“You are far too good for this. I’m single and wouldn’t mind having a girlfriend like you,” he said.
When she told the story to the others in the kitchenette, they doubled over with laughter.
The catastrophe came on the seventh day.
A sadist went amok with Cindy down in the S &M room and ran off without paying. Cindy was shaken up from several violent blows to the head, in addition to suffering a hand wound from trying to avoid being knifed.
She sat in the kitchenette with a dish towel wrapped around her wounded hand, crying in anguish.
“She has to go to the emergency room,” Claire said.
“That’s a problem, because she’s here illegally,” replied Bonnie.
“Yeah, that’s not gonna work, but I’ll call Teddy Bear,” Lasse said. He punched the brothel owner’s number, explained the situation to him, and had a long talk, after which he updated the others: “Teddy Bear will under no circumstances have her go to the emergency room. But we can send her home and get a new… You want to go home?” he asked her in English.
Cindy looked at him blurrily, then her head fell on her chest.
“I think she has a concussion,” Claire said. “I have a proposaclass="underline" I know a doctor at a private hospital who will be discrete about this. Let me take care of it.”
They all agreed, provided no one told Teddy Bear.
“But I have to drive Lara and Theresa out on three outcalls, so you’ll have to take a taxi,” Lasse said.
First Claire had the taxi take them back to her home on Kystvejen. She picked up her Philippine au pair’s residency permit and passport, then they rode to the private hospital.
“My au pair has been hurt. She hit her head and cut her hand…” she explained to the doctor.
“She seems disoriented. We’ll have to do a brain scan and hold her for observation. Her hand isn’t serious, no tendons or vital parts have been cut, but it will have to be stitched,” the doctor said, after a quick examination. Then he looked questioningly at Claire. “It looks like an assault.”
“Yes, she had a fight with another Philippine, a boyfriend, but he was on his way out of the country, leaving today, presumably he’s already flown the coop, and she won’t go to the police… Would you like me to pay a deposit?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Cindy was wheeled away on a trolley while the doctor did her case sheet on his computer, entering various details from the passport.
“Her name is long and it’s hard for us to pronounce,” Claire said. “So she calls herself Cindy. She doesn’t speak Danish and understands only a little English, but we’ve found ways to communicate, so get in touch with me if there are any problems-and let me know when she can be picked up. I’ll stay in touch.”
First name: Cindy, the doctor wrote, and nodded politely at Claire.
She paid a deposit of twenty thousand kroner, putting it on her gold card.
That evening she told Bonnie: “I have some family coming next week. I’ll have to work quite a bit from home, so don’t put me on any shifts.”
The truth was, John was coming home from Brazil the day after tomorrow. She had given a lot of thought to how she would conceal what she was doing. Her excuses would have to be the fitness center and visiting friends. Fortunately, he wasn’t the controlling or suspicious type.
It was Sunday evening, and he would be home Tuesday morning. She debated whether she should surprise him by going out to the airport. No, that would seem peculiar. His car was parked out there, he always drove home alone. She should just stay home and greet him with a warm bath and a nice lunch. That’s how he liked it.
“Monday is okay, but I’ll have to take Tuesday off,” she said to Bonnie.
Bonnie frowned, worried: “Then I’ll have to start calling around to freelancers. It’s tough right now. Christmas rush. But anyway, it’s okay. You have to take care of things at home,” she sighed.
Monday, Claire had three out-calls before Bonnie rang her at six o’clock:
“Okay, listen. Teddy Bear wants a session tonight. He’s coming in at nine, and he’s really looking forward to you after all the good things Lasse has told him. As you know, Teddy Bear is a little bit special. He wants it really hard, for a long time. Bound and gagged. The rack, cage, gallows.”
Claire looked at her watch: “I have appointments until nine, and I have to get something to eat.”
Bonnie: “Perfect. Lara and Theresa can tie him up and gag him, then he can stand there and wait until you appear as the dark mistress of the night, the slavedriver… Also, he likes the big black wigs and lots of black around the eyes. Oh, and by the way: when he blinks with one eye, stop with the pain. That’s the game.”