Page 274 of Dark Love

Hopefully, it isn’t yet another dead end like the ones both Torment and I have been running into.

***

“You got me names.” Shock holds out a hand for the paper. “This has to be the worst documented women’s shelter that I’ve ever hacked into.”

Don’t ask. Don’t ask. “How many have you hacked into?”

“Dozens. Most keep terrible records and barely stay afloat. It’s sad that the people trying to do good in the world have such a hard time finding funding.”

After this, I’ll have Shock make me a list of the ones he’s found, and then I’ll fix that issue for the ones actually doing good in the world. “And did you find anything helpful?”

“Threads to tug on, but nothing conclusive. Plant only ‘volunteers’ at the one shelter. Since he’s been there, records show more than two dozen women are unaccounted for. Oh, this is interesting. Just a little after Plant arrived, a medical clinic volunteered to care for the women for free.”

Don’t most shelters have a clinic, hospital, or some medical professionals to do just that? “And why is that interesting?”

“Because all of the women’s medical records are on file with the shelter.” Shock taps on keys, making different images fly across the screens.

“So?”

“They aren’t supposed to be stored there.”

Huh? I lean forward to read the screens.

“The women’s medical information is private. With the exception of drug or alcohol use. These files contain everything from prior histories of pregnancy to hypertension. They even have extensive blood work results. And I’m talking about extensive.” He clicks through pages and pages of results, all with the same woman’s name on the top.

Why? We’re talking about human traffickers.

None of this makes sense. But it’s a thread. A weird one, but enough to waste the time. “Follow that. I want all the information you can get on these two women. And I want you to check other shelters to see if you can find any that are doing the same thing.”

“On it.” Shock nods.

“Any progress with Barb’s messes?”

Shock shakes his head. “Not yet. I’m running thorough checks on each of the people in her groups. It’ll take a while since there were more people accessing those posts than Barb thought.”

“Keep at it. Contact me if you need anything.” I need to go ask for a favor and talk to a Snitch.

***

Payne smiles as the elevator door opens to his place. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“Be nice to Vex. He’s having a hard weekend without Prue.”

It’s been a nightmare, not that I’ll admit that to Imogene. “Hello.”

She gives me a smile and a wave. “I’m going to finish putting the food on a serving platter.”

They’re both pretty dressed up. “You going out?”

Payne smirks at me. “To your woman’s party.”

Is literally everyone in the world invited to her party but me?

“It won’t be so bad.” Payne walks over and slaps me on the back. “I’ll bring you back a sampler pack of the cookies Prue has been making all weekend.”

“You know I could kill you for that, right?”

Payne walks over to the bar, chuckling.

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