1971, New York City

I scraped the heel of my boot on the concrete, afraid to look at what I’d stepped in on the dimly lit street that smelled of piss and booze. Sounds came from the shadows and crevices even a cop wouldn’t dare investigate. And especially that night, I kept my head down and walked with purpose, something I’d learned when venturing into the city's seedy underbelly.

West 42nd Street was part of my beat, and I didn’t want to be recognized. Truthfully, I shouldn’t have been there. We’d had a station full of hookers that night; their made-up faces and goods on display were designed to make men uncomfortable. If you're around this shit long enough, it's bound to affect you. Bound to.

It was easy to spot her — the hooker I was looking for. Even with her upper body stuck through a potential trick’s car window, I’d recognized the tight white leather mini skirt she always wore.

Helluva lot worse things on the streets than hookers, I thought to myself as I reached down, grabbed a used heroin needle, and tossed it in the trash. Times were tough. Why shouldn't people receive a little joy, and the dolls get a little money in their pocketbooks? Thanks to a big drug bust, I had a nice stash of bills myself. I rewarded myself for my hard work by pocketing some of the cash. The dealers didn’t need it — not where they were going. 

I walked up beside her, stuck my head in the window, and said, “This one’s taken tonight,” and pulled her away before the driver could respond. 

“Hey!” She jerked her arm away from me, then turned and calmed down, seeing it was me. 

“Well, hello, officer,” she purred. “Was he an undercover or something? You protecting me?”

I touched the bare skin on her lower back and steered her back against the wall. “I’m Ed tonight, doll. Just Ed.”

She smiled and fingered the collar of my leather jacket with her ridiculously long red-painted fingernails. “Well, Eddie, you got a message for Carlos? Any girls in trouble?”

“No, nothing like that. Terri was picked up tonight, but I cut her loose.” And I happen to know Carlos isn’t available. 

I admit I used to have a few misgivings about being a cop on the take, protecting pimps and prostitutes. But I have Alice and the kids to take care of, and cops weren't meant to have families, not on my piss-poor salary. So what was I supposed to do, turn down easy money?

And as for my relationship with Chastity, what can I say? She added some much needed color to my gray world. Made me feel alive.

“So, what you need tonight, sugar?”

I tucked a stray blond curl behind her ear. “Well, I thought maybe we could talk.”

Her voice pitched. “Isn’t this a nice surprise? You haven’t come around wanting to talk to me in a few weeks.” She looked up and down the street. “I don’t see your car.”

“I parked it about six blocks away.”

“I guess we can do it in the alley, then.” 

She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the shadows, but I stopped us. “Maybe we could find somewhere a little more comfortable.”

“Sure, sugar. We can go to my place if you’re up for a short walk.”

———-

Before I stepped inside her apartment, I’d expected the worst, but she’d tried hard to fix up her place and make you forget she lived in a one-room dump. Marilyn Monroe was obviously her idol with the movie star’s posters covering the cracks in the walls. But Breakfast at Tiffany’s was the one that caught my eye. Now, Audrey Hepburn… she was a classy broad, and the likes of her would never be caught dead in this part of the city. 

Chastity had the lampshades covered with scarves, dimming the light and setting a romantic scene in her own way. I took a good long look at her, and in lower light, and if I could get a few shots of whisky in me, I might say she resembled Marilyn. She had pin-up brows, a sexy heart-shaped face, and red lips that you wouldn’t mind staining you. 

“What did you want to talk about first?" she purred, interrupting my thoughts as her fingers worked on my belt.

Sirens sounded outside her window and made me nervous, so I covered her fingers with mine. “Maybe I better have a drink first. Got any whisky?" 

“Sure I do.” She walked a few feet to her kitchen and returned with a bottle and two shot glasses. I sat in a wobbly chair at the small round table and downed two shots in a row.

She sat down in the chair opposite me, lips upturning in a knowing smile. “You seem nervous tonight. Do you think I’ll bite?”

I relaxed back in my chair and answered her question with a question of my own. It might seem strange, but I wanted to get to know her better, or maybe I was just stalling. “How’d you get the name Chastity?”

Unexpectedly, she threw her head back and laughed, but it was a laugh tinged with venom. “You mean because I’m a hooker?” She looked away when she talked, and her fingers trembled while taking another puff of her cigarette. “Well, Mama named me, hoping the name would lead me to a righteous life.” She turned to face me with cold eyes before continuing. “It didn’t.” 

And then, she leaned toward me and whispered as if she was sharing some sort of big secret. “I’m saving money and going to move to Hollywood and be a big star one day. Everyone’ll see.” She pointed to Marilyn, “She came from nothing, too, and look where she ended up.”

I don’t know what was sadder to me, the girls having big dreams that’d never come true or the girl who had no dreams at all. I decided to see how much thought she’d put into her dream. “Have you acted before?”

For some reason, that question offended her, and she alternated between her whisky-filled glass and her cigarette before she answered in a pissy tone. “Honey, I act every night, becoming whoever my customers want me to be. You know, one guy told me to put him across my knees and spank him, scolding him like his mother. Can you believe that?” Then, she smiled as though suddenly proud of herself. “And I did it too. Made good money that night.”

She’d grown tired of talking when her toe slid underneath my pants leg. “The question is, Eddie, who do you want me to be tonight?" 

I knew the answer. “I want you to be the doll that makes me forget.”

“Forget what, hun?”

“Damn near everything.”

She rose from her seat and walked over, then straddled my lap. I looked into her thickly lashed blue eyes and believed that maybe she could make me forget.

I cupped her face, then slid my hands down around her neck and gave her a breathtaking last kiss.

———-

I didn’t look back but kept my head tucked down, and my jacket collar pulled around my face until I was outside the building. The new chief promised to clean up the smut on that part of town, round up the prostitutes, and uncover the dirty cops on the take. And so, I had to act fast — eliminate those who knew certain truths about me.

After all, what was one more dirty little secret in this town?