Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Do you live at home?”
“No, I have an apartment.”
Good. If her family decides not to stick by her when she’s already so vulnerable, she at least has a place of her own. “We’ll give you a number. If you need any kind of support before or after the baby gets here, you can use it. They can help you get anything you might need or just offer advice if you have questions.”
“Thank you.”
I nod, then ask, “How long have you been working for dispatch?”
“Almost three years. A friend of mine from church worked there and told me I should apply, because they were hiring. I was going to school, so it was nice, because they worked with my schedule.”
“Are you still in college?” Tucker asks, and she drops her eyes.
“No. Patrick didn’t like me working and going to school. But I’d already moved out of my parents’ house, so I needed the job. He offered to give me money for rent, but—” Tiffany shakes her head. “—it felt wrong taking it from him.” Tears well in her eyes. “Especially because he was…” She shakes her head again. “Is married.” She looks between us. “You must think I’m the worst kind of person, to have an affair with a man who is married.”
“I think I can speak for both of us when I tell you that is the furthest thing from our minds,” Tucker assures her gently. “If anything, I think he likely took advantage of your age and his position in your life.”
A single tear trails down her cheek, but she wipes it away quickly.
“Can you tell us a little about your job at dispatch?”
“I basically just answer calls coming in on the emergency line. It’s not exciting—or not in a good way.” Tiffany nibbles her bottom lip. “I know you want to know about the calls coming in about the church and its higher-ranking members.”
“We do.”
“I only ever had one come through to me. In high school I took Spanish for four years and was... am pretty fluent. The girl was a young Spanish girl who claimed she was being held against her will and that—” She drags in a breath. “—that she needed help. She needed someone to help her. When I put the address into the computer and asked for an officer to go to the address, my boss took over the call. They said they were familiar with the girl.
“A couple of days later, I went to check up on her in the system. I… I normally don’t do that when I get a call, no matter what it is, but she sounded so scared, so I just wanted to check to see what happened, if she was all right. But there was no report, and the call was erased. I thought it was strange, so I asked my friend about it, and she got weird… and then she told me that I should just leave it alone.”
Her brow furrows, and she looks down at her mostly empty plate when she continues, “I couldn’t. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t, so I asked my boss. He didn’t get weird. He got mad. So mad. I thought I was going to lose my job. I didn’t ask any more questions after that, but I paid more attention and noticed that more than once a call came through, and that same thing would happen. My boss would take over the call. There’s an older lady who works with me, and every time it happens, she gets a look like she knows what’s happening and doesn’t like it. I’ve never asked her about it. I’ve always been too scared to because I can’t lose this job.”
“Can you give us her name?”
Tiffany looks up. “Yes, but you have to promise you won’t bring my name up. Patrick knows a lot of people who work there, and if he finds out I….” She gulps. “I just don’t know what will happen, and right now….”
“We won’t bring you up,” Tucker assures her softly, seeing the same panic in her eyes that I do before she drops her eyes to her plate again.
She might have been angry enough to come here, but now what she’s told us is sinking in, along with what that could mean, as far as a consequence goes, if her name is brought up.
She doesn’t touch what is left of the food on her plate. Instead, she gives us the name Sally Gus, then attempts to hand us some cash for her breakfast, which we refuse. Before she leaves, we make sure she has Holly’s number. She runs Clay’s non-profit organization that helps women who are typically in the process of leaving their abusers or pimps, and also those who have been trafficked. Tiffany might not fit into any of those categories, but Holly will still be able to get her whatever she needs, and if she can’t, she will find someone who can.