The Big Gamble - Michael Mcgarrity [57]
A really gross photo of a man and a woman came up on the screen. “This is what you do all day?” Piño asked. “Cruise the Internet and look at dirty pictures?”
Vialpando chuckled. “Not all day. Not even every day. Some of it’s pretty disgusting. A lot of the porno stars are traveling hookers. They come into the city for a month or two, sometimes on a regular basis, rent a furnished pad, and ply their trade. The adult sex sites are a good way to get a make on those girls when we get a tip. A john who feels ripped off will call anonymously, a landlord might complain about a tenant, or a neighbor will report unusual activity at an apartment. We’ll go out, take a few photos of the lady in question, or get a name and a good description, and see if she pops up on the Internet as a wet and wild one. Sometimes we get lucky.”
He enlarged a photograph of a naked woman on a bed with her legs up in the air giving the camera a come-hither look. “That’s Brenda. We got her for soliciting. It was her first bust, so she walked with a fine. But she won’t be back in Albuquerque, at least not anytime soon.”
“Charming,” Piño said.
“Did you know that adult porn sites are the biggest Internet moneymakers, worldwide? What does that tell you about civilization as we know it?”
“There must be a lot of horny sick guys out there,” Piño said.
“And women.” Vialpando clicked on another favorite, an escort service. “We check escort services all the time. There are some local sites we keep an eye on, but the really big ones are out of state. They offer the full menu: fetishes, S and M, bondage, domination, threesomes, bisexual encounters, and your straightforward heterosexual party girl. Some of these women work part-time, usually away from their home territory. If you’ve got the cash and are willing to pay, they’ll fly in for an overnight or even for a week. It can cost anywhere between a couple of thousand for a night, to fifteen grand or more for a week of intimate companionship.”
“That’s what I paid for my car,” Piño said as she read the bio on Tammy the Temptress, who was twenty-four and was studying for an advanced degree. Tammy was proud to be a courtesan, and loved romantic evenings with generous, virile gentlemen.
“Tammy the T is out of Houston,” Vialpando said. “We missed her by a day last time she was here, but we’re hoping she comes back soon. The airport cops are keeping a watch out for us. Want to visit her photo gallery?”
“No thanks,” Piño replied.
“Next up are the Internet personal ads.” Vialpando clicked one up. “There are two types we scan: the blatant come-ons and the intimate encounters. Just about every site has both.”
“Why do you look there?” Piño asked.
“The escort services and sex sites are getting more sophisticated in their marketing strategies. They know cop shops are monitoring them. Placing personal ads for individual girls not only gives them another venue, but it also makes our job tougher. There’s gotta be millions of women looking for love or whatever through the Internet.”
“So, how do you score a hit?” Piño asked.
“You’ve never cruised the personals?” Vialpando asked.
Piño shook her head.
Vialpando looked her over and smiled. “I guess you don’t need to.”
Piño had noted the absence of a wedding ring on Vialpando’s hand. “Do you?”
“No way,” Vialpando said, laughing. “Anyway, you can narrow the field if you’ve got a make on a subject. Just use the subject’s physical description as your preference for what you’re looking for in a woman. Height, weight, age, hair and eye color, body size. For location you can search city, state, region, or you can go national or international if you like.”
“It’s as easy as that?”
“It gets you closer. Then you scan the ads, looking for suggestive content. A lot of them come with pictures. You can forget the ones that are posted with casual snapshots, unless they’re just totally shameless. Instead, concentrate on the professional or slightly provocative photos. We put two freelancers out of business last month by mining the personals.”
“How did