Perfection

Alice was full of nervous energy. Could this be the one? The guy she’s been looking for? She couldn’t remember how many dates she had been on in the last month, all duds. She was ready to be done with dating apps, and hopefully tonight’s date would finally put an end to all of the disappointment and creepy messages.

Everything had to go perfect, so Alice had to look perfect. She had gently curled her long blond hair, pinning one side back to expose her long graceful neck and toned shoulder. Her black dress was simple but still showed off her figure, hugging her body until it flared at her waist. Just the right look for the upscale steakhouse her date, Chad, was taking her to. The doorbell rang and Alice took one last glance in the mirror before answering. Not a hair out of place.

“Wow! You look amazing! Even prettier than your profile! You won’t believe how many times I’ve been catfished on apps,” Chad greeted, a bit clumsily.

“You look great too!” Alice lied. Chad had clearly not put as much effort into tonight’s outing. Blue jeans and a wrinkled button up. At least he wasn’t wearing tennis shoes, Alice thought.

Chad opened the door to his shiny sport car and Alice slid in. For a man who clearly has money, he sure didn’t dress like it. But that didn’t matter to Alice, the rest of the date would be much more telling.

The couple engaged in polite conversation on their drive, trying to evolve past the point of being relative strangers. Chad seemed dodgy with his answers. “What do you do” should not require a moment of thought and a vague “I handle acquisitions”.

“Oh, you mean like for a company? A friend of mine does acquisitions for a local brewery. She seems to like it. What company do you work for?” Inquired Alice.

But Chad only muttered something about it being complicated, and she wouldn’t really get it anyway. Not off to a great start. Maybe he was just nervous, and things would be better at the restaurant.

Things, in fact, did not improve. Chad asked about her family and friends and Alice told him her family was small and lived in a different state. She was new to the city, so she didn’t really have a lot of friends yet. But, when Alice asked the same questions, Chad was evasive again. This date was not going as planned at all. Alice excused herself and headed towards the bathroom. She stopped their waiter when he passed by. Chad had ordered a glass of merlot, and Alice instructed the waiter to keep it full. Maybe a little liquid courage would make him more talkative.

As Alice returned to their table she saw Chad suddenly sat up straight and glanced around suspiciously. Yes, more wine would help him calm down and then Alice could get some actual information about the man she was sitting across from.

How is your cocktail?” Chad asked, his gaze was suddenly very intense.

Alice hadn’t tried it yet, so she took a sip of her gin martini. “Perfect,” she reported as their waiter refilled Chad’s wine glass without him noticing. That was one skill specific to waiters at high end restaurants, they knew how to provide customers with what they need while somehow remaining nearly invisible.

Their dinners arrived and Chad slowly began to loosen up, not realizing quite how much wine he had consumed. Finally, the plan was starting to work. He gave more information on how he made his money, informing Alice that if she ever needed help finding items not sold in the most legal of ways, he knew quite a few shady people. That, it seems, was the type of acquisitions he was part of. If someone needs, or wants, something that they can’t buy legally, they go to him. And if he couldn’t find the item, he knew people who could. By the end of the meal Alice’s martini glass was empty and her eyes had glazed over. She looked completely drunk but had only had one drink. Chad payed the bill and made a joke to the waiter about her being a cheap date and helped her back to his car. She was no longer steady on her feet and seemed barely conscious.

Chad drove them through the city to a seemingly abandoned building in an old, rundown part of town. Two other cars were parked on the block, spread out so as to not call too much attention to the building which was their true target.

Half carrying Alice’s limp body, Chad greeted his accomplices as he entered the back door of the former residence, “Good job tonight boys.” He dropped Alice on the ground next to two other unconscious women, “The Boss gave us instructions to get these girls out of the city by tomorrow. He seems concerned that we were sloppy last time and may have tipped off the cops or something. Let’s make sure they’re out, tie them up, and then load them for transport.”

Alice had been right, this guy was the one, and the evening had gone exactly as planned. As her SWAT team bust into the house, blocking all of the exits, she pulled a gun which had been holstered on her hip underneath her flippy skirt. “FBI, we have you surrounded!” she proclaimed.

Chad and his accomplices looked dumbfounded as they were arrested. The expression never ceased to fill Alice with a warped sense of pleasure. She had expected Chad to attempt to drug her, that was part of the plan. He was at the center of a sex trafficking ring which the FBI had been trying to break up for months. She had gone on countless bad dates as bait trying to get a lead and had finally succeeded. Not only did they have three of the scumbags who were abducting women, they had also saved two young women from being taken. Chad and his crew didn’t seem the most devoted of cronies, so they would likely make a deal swapping information for a lighter sentence. But even if they didn’t, Chad had revealed enough on their date to give the investigation a boost. Alice quietly thanked Dionysus, the god of wine, and her waiter for helping loosen Chad’s tongue.

After the girls had been taken to the hospital, Chad and co. had been taken to jail, and Alice had been debriefed, she pulled out her cellphone and deleted those dreadful apps. No more bad dates, no more creepy messages, and three fewer abductors on the loose. Perfect.