We walked to the back of the store where a woman stood at a till counting money. Every now and then she would moisten a finger with a #dab of water to help her flip through the bills.
"Can I help you?" She asked without looking up.
"I'd like to see Sarah Dean," I said.
***
"Sarah isn't here," she said.
"I know she is," I replied, handing her my card.
She recognized my name. "My apologies. I know you understand why we have to be cautious."
"I do," I muttered, ignoring Jaci's look of surprise.
"Let me get #Ruby. She'll take you through."
***
Ruby still had multicolored bruises on her face, partially hidden by her hair, and she led us through the door behind the till, round a corner, and through another door.
We could hear the #radio in the background, and then I saw Sarah.
She didn't look happy to see me.
***
"Why are you here?" Sarah asked.
"I need your help," I told her. "Your story is an #oddity. There are things that don't make sense. We never found the man you said attacked you. Do you know a woman named Grace?"
Sarah's expression told me everything I needed to know.
***
"I need you to tell me the truth. I have someone undercover."
Sarah nodded. "Almost everything I said was true. You saw what Grace did to me when I got the courage to leave. The physical #damage she inflicted on me has healed, but I'll never forget what she made me do."
***
"What did she make you do?" Jaci asked as two kids ran by her.
She reached out, grabbed them by the collars, and stopped them. "No running in here. There's not enough space."
"He took my #mittens," one child said.
"There's enough for both of you. Go get another pair."
***
The kids walked away and Sarah looked Jaci in the eyes. "She made me perform for her, and her friends, and she forced me to find women for her. I became her #heavyweight champion, doing better than anyone else in what she wanted. It was degrading and I had to get out."
***
I had to ask the question, knowing what Grace asked of her followers. "Did you kill anyone?"
Sarah shook her head. "#killing was one thing I told her I'd never do. That's why she made me do the other stuff."
"How did you get out of there?"
"She beat me really badly."
***
"She beat me badly enough that I had to go to the hospital," Sarah elaborated. "There was someone there from #Resurrection. The same people that run this shelter. They helped me disappear."
I nodded. "Now you need to help us."
Sarah sighed. "What do you need me to do?"
***
"I need to know everything you can tell me about Grace. We need a weakness to exploit, and quickly."
Sarah stood there for several minutes before an idea came to her.
"One of the women is in a band, plays the #guitar. Grace lets her play once a week at a local club."
***
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