As the drunken party people packed in The Aphrodisiac Academe cheered, groped each other and kissed to celebrate the beginning of another New Year, the D. H. Lawrence Room held Don in its empty embrace while he took one of his journeys back to Vietnam—one of many unwanted memories locked in his head for life.

On an even more depressing note, he had seduced Susan in this booth an hour after the dining room closed for the night.

That called for another sip of his orange-flavored cognac. After the conquest of more than a hundred young women, Susan had been his first virgin, and he’d married her three months later and divorced her before their first wedding anniversary.

Veronica’s husband appeared from out of the dark and slid into the booth. Javier set a bottle of Cacique Guaro on the table̶—a drink they’d shared before. It was clear like vodka, but sweeter and with a little less alcohol in it.

“Looks like you need more booze,” Javier said. Don finished the cognac in his glass and watched Javier refill it to the brim.

For the next few minutes, while they drank in silence, Don thought about his failed marriage to Susan. Before the marriage, she’d been a fascinating, unpredictable party girl—a passionate, flirty woman. After the rings went on and they said their vows, she started to turn frigid, until she wouldn’t let him sleep in the iceberg their bed had become. Several months later, she accused him of only marrying her for her body and sex. He packed a suitcase and left their apartment the same day. It was because of the failed marriage that Don joined the Marines and ended up in Vietnam in 1969.

He finished the Guaro and slid the empty glass toward Javier, who lifted a questioning eyebrow but filled the glass again.

Then Don stood. “I’ll be back.” He walked through the dining room, checking to make sure the empty tables were clean and that all the side work had been done. Satisfied, he stepped inside the busboy station and dimmed the lights for the D. H. Lawrence room.

The kitchen had shut down service to the dining rooms at midnight, but one cook remained to prepare appetizers for customers in the nightclub. One-thirty was last call.

Don took a shortcut through the kitchen; nodded at Carlos, the closing line cook; and slipped into the busboy station for the Lady Chatterley room, the largest of the dining rooms and the one closest to the lobby. There was one couple left in that dining room, holding hands across the table and looking like they were in a trance.

Veronica leaned against the wall outside of the bus station next to her busboy.

“When the second hand hit midnight and everyone in the club went wild, he asked her to marry him,” Veronica said. “She said yes, and they’ve been sitting there like that ever since. I hope they didn’t turn to stone.”

“Comp them a bottle of champagne to drink in the club, and it might snap them out of it,” Don said. “And mention that we rent out one of our dining rooms for a packaged wedding and reception. Offer them a discount.”

From there, he went to the front desk in the lobby. When he saw Teddy’s white silk shirt emerge from the mass of humanity in the club and come through the glass door into the lobby, Don stepped back to watch from the darkness behind the front desk, where he couldn’t been easily seen.

Teddy dragged his black girl behind him, and she was having trouble keeping up on her wobbly high heels. The cleaning crew had propped open the lobby’s front door, and, after Teddy was outside with the girl, he yanked her toward him and hooked an arm around her waist.

“Teddy, please don’t,” she pleaded, and her words were cut off as he dragged her out of sight.

Against his better judgment, Don followed. The Aphrodisiac Academe’s front door faced the parking lot. To the left was the Pacific Coast Highway entrance, where cars hissed by.

The shadows under the building eaves hid Don, and it was from there that he watched Teddy drag the girl toward his moss-colored Jaguar. The shadows of the Palm trees and shrubs that ran along the back of the parking lot, separating it from the boardwalk that ran beside the beach, looked menacing. Teddy stopped between his Jag and the palm trees. Don jerked at the sharp sound of Teddy slapping the girl across her face with an open palm. The girl whimpered, and her legs folded as she collapsed to the pavement. Teddy bent over and slapped her again.

“Listen, bitch, when I tell you to suck a dick, you do it.”

Subconsciously, Don’s legs started to move, and soon, he was standing by the corner of the Jag, right behind Teddy, who didn’t notice.

“Please don’t hit me again, Teddy. I’ll do what you tell me. I promise.”

Don watched Teddy pull a skimpy dress strap off the girl’s shoulder until one of her small breasts was exposed. He grabbed the nipple and twisted it. She choked back a scream, folded at the waist and vomited on her lap.

The child whore from the Well of Purity in Vietnam appeared in Don’s mind, asking him to help the girl, and he grabbed the back of Teddy’s shirt and yanked him off balance. Teddy twisted like a corkscrew and came up in a crouch. Don slid to one side and, with little effort, sent Teddy flying through the air in an arc until he landed hard on his face and right shoulder. Recovering, he rolled over with a small .25-caliber automatic in his hand.

“You better make the first shot count, Teddy,” Don said, staring into the pimp’s eyes without blinking. “Because once you pull that trigger, it will be your last act on this earth.” Don’s personal demons watched and kept score for the child whore, Susan and every other abused woman he’d known.

Don didn’t care if Teddy shot him. Maybe if he did, Don’s demons would go away for good.

When Teddy recognized Don, his eyes widened in shock, and the barrel of the .25 wavered.

Don knelt so he was level with Teddy’s face. “I’m very angry with you,” he said, so the girl didn’t hear him.

“It was just business,” Teddy said with a trembling voice. Their eyes were pinned now, and Don could smell the man’s fear. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to corner a wild animal, especially one with a .25-caliber automatic aimed at your gut, but caution wasn’t one of Don’s strong points. He didn’t give a damn if he died, because he thought maybe he deserved it.

“I wasn’t selling her services,” Teddy said. “I just wanted to give a New Year’s gift to a good repeat customer.” He started to stand.

“Don’t move,” Don said.

Sweat beaded on Teddy’s forehead, and he gave off a sour, wild animal scent from the fear that had him by the balls. “What can I do to make it right?”

Good question, Don thought. “Give her to me,” he said, surprised at his demand.

The surf beating on the sandy beach was the only other sound besides their harsh breathing. Someone rollerblading along the boardwalk flashed by on the other side of the palm trees. There was a snapshot of long, lean, tanned, muscular legs pumping hard, and then the girl was gone from sight.

“Sure,” Teddy said, relief flooding his voice. “Keep her for the next twenty-four hours.”

“Forever,” Don replied without hesitation.

The next moment was long as Teddy decided between using the .25 and losing one of his high-priced, reusable products.

“Sounds like a good idea.” Ben’s voice floated out of the dark like a vampire bat searching for blood. He was standing in front of the Jaguar. “That way, you will get to see the sun rise in the morning and watch the Rose Parade on TV.” Don thought about Ben’s trusty 1911 Colt .45 pistol—the one he slept with and always carried.

Clacking heels on the parking lot broke up the standoff. It must have been after two a.m., because people were oozing out of The Aphrodisiac Academe. Don saw Teddy’s other two girls in the growing crowd.

“You got a deal,” Teddy said.

“You can stand up, then,” Don said.

“Am I still welcome in your place?”

“Only if you come alone. Don’t bring any of your girls with you.”

Teddy brushed his pants with trembling hands. His .25 had vanished. He unlocked his car and ushered the other two girls in. His car was the first one out of the club’s parking lot.

“What you goin’ do with me?” the black girl asked with a brittle voice.

Don held out a hand, and she flinched. When she realized he wasn’t going to hit her, she took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet. Don studied her eyes and then took hold of each arm to examine them.

“I don’t do drugs, if that’s what you thinkin’.” She dropped her final g’s when she spoke, and some heat had returned to her voice as her fear evaporated.

“How long have you worked for Teddy?”

“This my first month,” she replied. “I’ve been trainin’. Teddy likes us to know etiquette. He brought me out tonight to test me.”

“Why did you say no to the blow job?”

“That man was a fat, ugly peckerwood. His nose look like a blob of pink bubble gum. I ain’t never goin’ let trash like that touch me.”

“A whore with a pimp has no choice when it comes to who she sleeps with,” Ben said.

She ignored Ben as her smoky eyes studied Don. “Now that you got me, what you goin’  do?”

An average man could easily be swallowed by eyes like hers. “I’m not going to be your pimp,” Don said, and he pulled a handkerchief from a pant pocket and tried to clean the front of her dress. In the process, he discovered that her body was hard under the thin, silky fabric. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on her fit and muscular torso.

“What am I goin’ to do without Teddy? I’ll starve. I don’t know nothin’ and can’t get no job, except maybe cleaning floors, toilets and making beds in some hotel. I already done that and don’t like it. I don’t want to work the streets. Never have, because I don’t want to catch somethin’ like HIV.”

“Shut up and let the man think,” Ben said.

Her eyes filled with fear. “You thinkin’ of lettin’ Teddy have me back? He’d beat me another shade of black and burn the bottoms off my feet. I see him do it to one of the other girls. I can’t go back. You know another pimp that will take me?”

Don shook his head and started to walk away. Except for a half dozen cars, the lot had emptied.

“Where you goin’?” she asked. “You can’t leave me. You responsible for me now.”

The little girl from the Well of Purity spoke inside Don’s head. “You think I’m going to forgive you if you don’t save this one? You should have saved me when you had the chance.”

Don looked over his shoulder. “You’re going to do what I say.” There was a rustling noise from behind one of the palm trees. A low-voltage warning ran down Don’s back, and he stared at the palm tree and the shrubs around it. When he didn’t see anyone, he decided it was just the breeze off the ocean.

She nodded. “Come on,” he said, and the whore followed him and Ben back to the Aphrodisiac Academe. 

The first 20% of this murder mystery is offered free every Sunday, one episode at a time for 15 episodes, starting September 27 and ending January 3, 2015. The e-book of the novel will go on sale December 5 to 7, 2015, and be offered for three days at $0.99 (75% less than the original price).