Marcia and I separated in March of last year. We had a silly fight and things were said that I know we both regret. It was the 14th when she left and then disappeared. She wore a bright red mini dress.
A week later I knew after no contact something was wrong and I began to look. I found she had gone into the City and the last I could find any trace of her she'd gotten off the L train at the 49th street station.
A guy sat on the bench just outside the station dressed to the tenths. Dark suit,vest even a hat and gloves. Tall maybe 6'3" 240lbs nice looking African American. They had talked for maybe 20 minutes and she had walked off around the corner with him.
That was the only slim lead I had so I staked out that bench. It took two weeks before he showed back up. It took two more weeks before I saw him pick up a very nice looking white woman who had just come in to the station and had stopped to talk with him. They walked around the corner to a dark red BMW and they got in and drove off.
I tailed them. He drove to an uptown high rise where they went inside. And about 3 hours later she came out alone. I tailed her to a Midtown hotel where she entered. I found out she was a Mrs. James T Smith from the burbs of Jamison about 50 miles south. She was in room 124.
About 4 hours later I see her come down out of the elevator and go into the eating area. I got a table near hers and waited. After her meal came and no one else joined her, I did. I told her who I was and why I needed to talk with her.
Her story was much like Marcia's. She and her husband had separated just days before after she had caught him messing around. But they were unlike us keeping in very close contact. She said the man she had left with was a modeling agent and he had taken her to his studio to try to recruit her for his employer as a Model. And he wanted her to pose for a photo shoot.
I ask if she had done the photo shoot?
"Yes, I did a complete photo shoot for him."
"How complete was your shoot Mrs. Smith?"
"Are you asking if I posed naked for him? Yes, I did. And we had sex together. He wants me to go up to a farm in Connecticut to do a complete layout.. It just sounds a bit remote and maybe more to it than I want to get into."
"Are you to see him again?"
"Maybe? I am to call him tomorrow and either confirm or not about the shoot up there. And he wants me to see him again for sex either way. I had never been with a black man and I enjoyed it so yes, I probably will see him again."
"And the shoot up there?"
"I just don't know for sure about the shoot maybe after I am with him again. He showed me photos of several women who work for them and some beautiful shoots in the woods up there."
I slipped a picture of Marcia from my pocket and handed it to her. She studied it several seconds.
"Yes, I think she was one of the women he showed me. She was completely nude so it is harder to be sure? But I think so. She has a great body and is very pretty."
She described my wife's body to a T so I was sure it was her. I had the lead I needed. I told her I would like to stay in touch with her but with no other direct contact with her.
I picked her up the next morning when she came out of the hotel and I followed her back to the high rise where he had taken her the day before. She was there for nearly 5 hours and then went back to the 49th street station and left on the train. I checked, she had gone home.
But I knew a bit more. So I staked The bench out again. It took just over two more weeks when he got another bite from a woman he found of interest and who was interested in his pitch and she went with him to the studio in the high rise. I waited out side for over 4 hours hoping they would come out together and I could tail him to the farm in Connecticut.
But again she came out alone. I followed her to a near by hotel. Again she came down alone and took a table for dinner by herself. When I approached her table she became offended and said she was calling the police.
I was then forced to make a move I didn't want to make. I had to flash her my badge. Not just any badge either but my US deputy Marshal badge. She still was hostile so I quietly informed her I would arrest her and charge her with prostitution and make it stick. She shut up and ask me to sit down.
"Mrs.?"
"Yes, I am Mrs. Brantley, from just outside the city. I have left my husband and I am here looking for a job."
"And you did a photo shoot in the high rise this afternoon?"
