“Anything from Lou?” Terry asked, smiling up at Butch. One thing about Terry was that, regardless of his mood or stress level, the man had an almost permanent smile attached to his face. While Lou seemed to be buckling under the pressure of their predicament and Butch wasn’t far behind, Terry’s demeanor was unchanged. He looked like he was waiting on the results of a horse race as opposed to information that could send him to jail for the rest of his life.

“No,” Butch said, turning back to the window and beginning to feel the alcohol permeate his bloodstream. He pressed his forehead to the glass and closed his eyes.

The ring began on November 17, 1993.

As with many instruments of evil, it started innocently enough. Terry Grimes was celebrating his fortieth birthday, and Butch and Lou wanted to do something fun and memorable to mark the occasion. By that time, Butch’s marriage was all but over, and Lou had been divorced for years. Meanwhile, Terry, ever the politician, maintained a delightful public image with his beautiful wife, Doris, a platinum blonde with Dolly Parton–size breasts, and their three golden-haired daughters, all of whom would one day be elected homecoming queen of Giles County High School. In November of 1993, Terry had just been elected to his first term as county commissioner and already served on the board of directors of almost every financial institution in Giles County. He had also become the owner of the local Ford dealership, which allowed him to buy a nice condominium in Orange Beach, Alabama, for his family.

But despite living what most would consider the American Dream, Terrence Robert Grimes had a weakness. Terry, for lack of a better term, was a pervert.

And Terry’s two best friends, Butch Renfroe and Lou Horn, knew it. Hence, on the evening of Terry’s fortieth trip around the sun, Butch and Lou set up a VIP room extravaganza for their pal at the Sundowners Club with several willing dancers. Though the girls were supposed to only fondle each other, once the whiskey started flowing, Terry found his pants around his ankles. When the show was over, Terry, ever the salesman, confided in his two friends that perhaps other hardworking men might like to enjoy the pleasures that he had experienced.

“For a reasonable price, of course.”

Keeping his lids shut tight and gritting his teeth, Butch thought back on that infamous night. How could he possibly have known that a birthday present to a friend would evolve into a prostitution scheme that would spread out over eight counties and two states and last over twenty years, bringing in more than $5 million in cash?

Or that it would eventually involve the trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors?

But it had and did.

And now, after all that time, they were finally paying for their sins.