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Pandora's Children - Part 17

He stared at his wife.

"There's a house a few doors down that has a lot of young women living there. They keep to themselves mostly, like they're in #isolation, but I've seen a few of them come and go. They always seem to come back with more women than they left with."

***

"Thank you, you've been a great help," I told him and rushed Jaci back to the car after we said goodbye.

"That tears it," Jaci muttered. "We have to mount a #rescue of those women."

"We don't have probable cause, only speculation, and George really wasn't that helpful."

***

Jaci didn't say anything to that. I knew we had to do something, but rushing in wasn't going to help anything. We had to have our ducks in a row, or else we would be no better than a #desperado of old, running roughshod over law and order. It wasn't an ideal situation.

***

As we drove down the #road, away from the house where we now knew Grace was, with Stevie, I began to formulate a plan. It would need to be perfectly timed but I didn't know how long we'd have to put it together. Stevie's life was on the line so it had to be fast and good.

***

"I know that look," Jaci said. "You have a plan."

"The beginnings of one," I replied.

"Care to share?"

"Not yet. That reminds me, we need to take a little detour to the Rock Ridge Women's #Shelter. I think someone there escaped from the cult. It's just down the road."

***

"I've got nothing else going on," Jaci muttered. "Hey, when you were fostering those two little girls, did you ever take them to a gymnastics or #tumbling class? I'm thinking of enrolling Charley in one."

"No, one of them played tennis, and the other played softball."

***

"What is the best way to socialize her? She doesn't make friends easily, but I don't want her to feel the #desolation of being alone. Another kid isn't going to happen at this point, so I thought a sport would help her integrate more."

"Ask her what she wants to do."

***

"She doesn't know what she wants to do. That's the problem," Jaci muttered.

With a sideways glance, I suggested, "You'd better do something soon, so she doesn't have '#arrested development.' Ba-dum-cha"

Jaci groaned. "Why don't you tell me about this woman you know?"

***

I parked in a strip mall that had seen better days. There was a restaurant without much foot traffic, a tax office, and a mobile phone store. There were also two boarded-up fronts and beside them was a shop with a #blue door. There was a sign in the window.

THRIFT & SAVE

***

"That's the place?" Jaci asked.

"Let me do the talking," I told her as we walked in.

It was a thrift store, with clothes and things everywhere. The actual open space seemed too small because the rest of the square footage was a women's shelter, hidden from the #street.

***

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