Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Nora shrugged away from Mateo and rushed toward Jennifer. She pulled the second chair up close to the girl and sat next to her to rub her back. “It’s okay, Jennifer. I promise. No one is going to make you go back to that man.”
Jennifer kept crying, but she muttered in between sobs, “He kept coming into my room at night… He would stare at me… Then he told me one day he was going to have friends over that night, and I should get pretty for them because I was a freeloader in his house, and, and, and…” She drew in a deep breath. “And he was going to let them pay him to…” She didn’t finish.
Nora wanted to cry now, too. She kept rubbing Jennifer’s back. She suspected on top of everything else, Pete Gruber was a drug addict. His erratic behavior certainly indicated so.
At a loss, Nora glanced at Mateo.
Mateo looked very sad and sympathetic. “Honey, how does your foster father know you’re here?”
“I don’t know.” She accepted a tissue when Craig handed it to her. “I don’t understand that part. I bet he called in that bomb threat, though. He was trying to flush me out.”
“Were you in the store at the time, Jennifer?” Nora asked.
“Y-yes. I hid behind some boxes in the storage room so no one would see me.”
“You didn’t leave the store when it was evacuated?” Mateo asked.
Jennifer shook her head. “I didn’t want anyone to see me. I…” She drew in a deep breath. “I didn’t care if there was a bomb. I figured it would be better if I died in the blast.” Her voice trailed off.
“Oh, honey…” Nora soothed before glancing at Mateo. “Why didn’t the police dog find her?”
“The dog was trained to sniff bombs. He didn’t care if there were people around. That isn’t his job,” Mateo responded.
That made sense.
Mateo’s eyes went wide. “Do you have a cell phone, Jennifer?”
“Yes, sir. It’s in my duffle. I charge it here at night. At least I can use it for some amount of entertainment.”
Mateo grinned. “That’s how he found her. I bet he has tracking on it.”
Jennifer gasped. “I never thought of that.” She stiffened and looked around at all of them. “Please don’t turn me in. I can get rid of that phone. I’ll be eighteen in two weeks. If I could just get to another town, I could start my life.”
“Don’t you worry,” Mateo promised. “We’re going to make sure you’re safe, but you have to let us call the police. If you don’t report Pete’s behavior, he’ll do this again to another young girl.”
Jennifer’s cheeks turned white. She was scared out of her mind. “They’ll make me go back. He’ll sell my body for sex. I…can’t. Please.”
“We won’t let him take you, honey,” Nora added. “I promise. You’re safe now. We’re going to help you.” As Nora rose, she met Mateo’s gaze and knew he fully agreed with her.
They trusted that Jennifer’s story was true. They would find a way to help her. She was a good kid who’d been dealt a bad hand. The evidence was all around them. She worked hard in the night to help out around the store for no money. There was no way Nora would let anything else happen to this girl. And neither would Mateo.
Chapter Twenty
A week later…
“How’s Jennifer doing?” Nora asked Mateo as she slid into her seat at the table. She was starving, and whatever Guille had sent home for them to eat for dinner smelled divine.
Mateo brought two steaming plates to the table. “She’s doing great. She’s a hard worker. Everyone in the restaurant raves about her. I started her out bussing tables, but she’ll climb up to waitressing in no time. She’s working on her GED. I set up a desk for her in the back of the kitchen so she can study when she’s on break and after hours. That way if she has any questions, she can ask one of us.”
Nora was thankful every day that Jennifer had chosen her shop to squat in when she ran away from her abusive foster father. Nora was fully committed to helping, and so was Mateo. Luckily, the police had arrested Pete Gruber. They’d also gotten a search warrant for his home. She and Mateo hadn’t told Jennifer what the police had found on the man’s computer because the girl had been through enough. The important thing was Gruber would not be out on any sort of bond, and most likely Jennifer would never need to testify against him. Gruber had far bigger problems than the fact that he’d intended to sell his foster daughter’s body.
Nora shook off the horror and smiled at Mateo. “And how’s it working out with her living with your mother?”
Mateo chuckled as he sat. “My mother adores her. She’s been lonely for the past few years since my father passed, and none of us kids are in the house. This worked out perfect. She’s convinced she will have Jennifer speaking fluent Spanish in no time.”