"Don't tell him nothin' about me, not a goddamned thing."

I understood his fear - if he caught another felony conviction he could go back to jail for the rest of his life.

I said, "No one cares about you unless you know something about Faustina. Do you?"

"No!"

"Then that's all you have to say. The police are going to talk to Stephen. If he tells them you drove and you say you didn't, what's that going to look like?"

"I ain't sayin' nothin' to nobody! I can NOT be part of this!"

Dana's eyes worked up to full-scale tears.

"Stephen said we gotta."

"Fuck Stephen! You leave me out of this and do NOT even mention my name! I don't want to hear my name, not ONE TIME!"

Thomas jabbed the air to show her what one time meant, then stalked around the corner into the dining room. Suddenly, after all the shouting, their apartment was silent. Dana wiped at her eyes and cleared her throat. She spoke softly so Thomas wouldn't hear.

"Stephen says it'll be all right. He said to cooperate."

"This is a homicide investigation, Dana. The police won't be here to bust you - or Thomas. They just want to know about Faustina. You see?"

She glanced to make sure Thomas wasn't listening, then lowered her voice still more.

"Thomas took those pictures. He's a really, really good photographer. We're doing a pay site and he's taking the pictures of me. He's even building the web site for me. He knows all about that stuff."

I nodded, and knew why she told me - all her dreams with Thomas were riding on the hope that Stephen had told her the truth-that everything would be all right.

"Dana, I want you to look at this."

I showed her the morgue shot of Faustina and walked her through my questions exactly as I had with the others. Faustina paid Dana to pray for his forgiveness. He told her nothing about himself and his reasons for being in Los Angeles; they did not have sex; and, when they finished praying, he walked her to the door. During their hour together, he never mentioned where he was from, why he was in Los Angeles, how long he intended to stay, or any other person or place. The only difference with what I heard from the other escorts was that Dana had asked Faustina why he needed to be forgiven. I guess Dana wasn't yet so hardened that she no longer cared.

I said, "Did he tell you?"

"He said for loving too much."

"You asked him why he wanted God to forgive him, and he said for loving too much?"

"Isn't that sad?"

"What or who did he love too much?"

A woman he met once and never saw again? A son he never knew?