Page 60 of Tony

Sherrie kept the smile on her face while her mind was racing.He’s not happy about something. What the hell did I say that he didn’t like?

“Yes,” she agreed. “It seems you are too with the offer of food.”

“No one should go hungry. Betina and I just help out some kids. No obligation of course. I’d hate for you to put something in your report that would give the grocery any undue publicity.”

His words were taut and his eyes were cold. Glancing back at Betina, Sherrie could see his fingers flexing into the girl’s shoulder.

“Of course. I understand,” she said with a forced smile that was beginning to hurt her cheeks.

“Ms. Mullins, can you stay for dinner?” he asked.

While his question was welcoming, his tone was not. Smiling, she shook her head saying,

“Thank you but I must be going. Betina, your hearing will be coming up soon and we’ll need to meet at least one more time before that.”

The girl nodded nervously and headed back to her room as Marcella showed Sherrie to the door. Walking back to her car she could feel eyes boring holes in the back of her. Climbing into the driver’s seat, she saw Hernando standing at the window. His expression chilled her.I know something’s up. I just don’t know what. Yet…

* * *

Saturday dawned clear and the freezing weather gave them a small break, with the high reaching the mid-forties. Tony had insisted that they could grill out for their party, but she had been sure that the cold winter would never allow for that.

“I told you so,” Tony teased, as he reached around her in the kitchen, seasoning the steaks and chicken.

“I don’t see how you stand being out there,” she exclaimed. “I hate the cold weather.”

“But babe, cold weather is what brought us together.”

She could not help but giggle at the reminder of their winter storm cabin adventures. “Well, you men can go grill outdoors in the cold while us women keep warm inside.”

The house soon began to fill up with their friends as Gabe, Jennifer, Shane, Annie, Matt, Lily, BJ, and Suzanne came in bearing platters of food. Jobe came by himself and said that Vinny was picking up his date.

The men headed out to the patio to begin the grilling. After a few minutes of small talk, Tony asked Shane and Matt if there was anything new they were working on.

Sharing a look, Matt admitted that they had been pulled into some missing children investigations.

“What’s that got to do with vice?” Jobe asked.

“Maybe nothing,” Shane answered. “But ever since the Department of Justice gave a presentation on Human Trafficking, vice is now looking into missing child cases, especially if teens are involved.”

“I hate to ask a stupid question, but isn’t that the same as smuggling kids across the borders?” Gabe asked.

“Nah. That’s human smuggling. Human trafficking is exploiting persons for sex or labor.” Seeing the looks of confusion, he continued. “Basically, it’s luring someone into working for you, whether sex or just labor. You pay them shit and they are trapped.”

Shane picked up the explanation. “Could be sex or it could be working in someone’s sweatshop. Problem is that statistics show that there are a lot of kids and teens involved. Believe it or not, human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world.”

“Damn,” Tony growled. “We can’t even keep our kids safe.”

“Richmond is a huge area for it, with the crossroads of three major Interstate highways. We are on a connection from New York to Miami,” Matt added. “So, we are starting to patrol the bus stations and train stations.”

“And when the detectives working missing children cases think there might be a problem, they contact us,” Shane added. “We try to get the pictures up of the kids, so that the cops on the street will have something to look at.”

Matt added, “I’ve looked at those pictures so much in the last few weeks, I see them in my dreams.”

The men quieted as the back door opened and Sherrie poked her head out. “Hey sweetie, just checking on the grilling.”

“About another ten minutes, babe,” Tony called back.

“Vinny’s just pulled up,” she called. “I’ll send him out.”

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