They grew fainter the moment Claudia continued speaking. “The first time I saw him it was just after dark. He was cruising Weld Square. A lot of the girls on the street knew him on sight as a regular, he cruised the square three, four times a week. I hadn’t worked that area in a long time and I’d only just started working it again, so I had no idea who he was, but a lot of the girls liked him, said he was an easy date, never any hassle, always paid and usually just wanted head or a straight lay. They all saw him as the harmless lonely heart type, you know? The kind who’d take you out to breakfast afterward or try to be your friend. The kind you can string along, work for extra cash or whatever. I was in his car ten seconds and figured him for a pure mark, and let me tell you something, Plato, I’m not wrong very often. I had way too much experience to misread people, especially men, and in that world a fuck-up can cost you your life. But I was wrong about him.
