Chapter 5: What Grace Found
Grace called back in forty minutes.
Dex was parked outside the chapter house — a converted auto shop on the edge of town that the club had used as a meeting point for twelve years.
Through the window he could see Lila inside, sitting at the big table with a blanket around her shoulders and a mug of something warm in both hands.
Rourke's wife, Diane, was beside her, talking quietly.
Lila wasn't crying anymore.
But she wasn't relaxed either.
She sat the way a child sits when they've learned that calm doesn't always mean safe.
His phone buzzed.
"I found three properties registered to a care placement organization called Clearview Family Services," Grace said.
"Two of them are legitimate — inspected, licensed, active caseloads.
The third one is different."
"Different how?"
"It's registered under Clearview but the address runs back to a private LLC.
The LLC is owned by a holding company.
The holding company is registered in Delaware.
It took me four layers to find a human name attached to it." She paused.
"Marshall Greer."
Marsh.
"Address?" Dex said.
She gave it to him.
Rural route.
About sixteen miles east.
He wrote it on the back of his hand.
"Grace.
Is there anything else attached to that property?
Any complaints?
Any flags?"
A long pause.
The kind that meant she'd already found something and was deciding how much to say.
"There was a welfare check requested eighteen months ago," she said finally.
"A neighbor called it in.
Said she'd seen children at the property but hadn't seen any adults come or go in several days."
"What happened with the check?"
"It was closed.
No findings.
The officer who responded noted that the property appeared well-maintained and that a representative of Clearview Family Services met him at the door and confirmed the children were enrolled in a home-school program." She paused again.
"The officer's name is on the report.
He retired four months later.
Full pension.
He was forty-one years old."
Dex stared at the window.
Lila had set down her mug.
Diane had said something that made her look up.
"Marsh told me he has judges and sheriffs," Dex said.
"I believe him," Grace said.
"Dex — be careful with this.
If he's got that kind of coverage, going at him directly is going to get someone hurt."
"I know."
"So what are you going to do?"
He watched Lila through the glass.
She had pulled the blanket tighter.
Diane reached over and tucked the edge of it around her shoulder.
Lila looked at her like she wasn't sure the gesture was real.
"I'm going to the house," Dex said.
"That's not what I meant by careful."
"I'm not going to break anything.
I just want to see it." He paused.
"And I want to know if Nora was ever there."
Silence on the line.
"Who's Nora?" Grace asked.
He told her.
Briefly.
The version without the parts that still hurt.
Grace listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she said: "If she was connected to that property, there'll be a record somewhere.
These organizations have to file placement documentation.
Names, dates, case numbers.
If Nora was ever listed as a guardian, a resident, a contact — it'll be in the filings."
"Can you get those?"
"Not legally.
Not quickly." A beat.
"But I know someone who might be able to.
It'll take a day.
Maybe two."
"Okay."
"Dex." Her voice shifted.
Quieter.
"If this girl is who you think she might be — you understand what that means.
You understand what you're walking into."
He looked at the window one more time.
Lila had turned her head.
She was looking straight at him through the glass.
Not afraid.
Just watching.
The same way she'd looked at him on the road when she was deciding whether the world still had one safe person in it.
"Yeah," he said.
"I understand."
He hung up and went inside.
Diane looked up when he came through the door.
She gave him a small nod — the kind that meant the girl was okay, for now, but fragile.
He pulled out the chair across from Lila and sat down.
"I'm not sending you back," he said.
"I want you to know that first."
She looked at him.
"How do I know that's true?"
"You don't.
Not yet." He folded his hands on the table.
"But I'm going to ask you some things, and I need you to tell me the truth even if you think it'll make me angry.
Can you do that?"
She considered it seriously.
Then she nodded.
"The house with the blue door," he said.
"Were there other children there?"
"Yes."
"How many?"
"It changed.
Sometimes four.
Sometimes more." She looked at her mug.
"We weren't supposed to talk to each other much.
Marsh said it caused problems."
"Did anyone ever come to check on you?
Someone official?"
"Once.
A man in a uniform.
Marsh talked to him outside.
We were told to stay in our rooms." Her voice was flat, reciting.
"We were told that if we said anything, we'd be separated and sent somewhere worse."
Dex kept his face still.
"Lila.
Did anyone ever mention a woman named Nora to you?
At the house, or before?"
She went very quiet.
Her fingers moved to her wrist.
To the bracelet.
"The lady who had this before me," she said slowly.
"I don't know her name.
But Marsh told me once — when I asked where it came from — he said it belonged to someone who didn't need it anymore." She looked up.
"He said it like it was funny."
The room was very quiet.
Diane had stopped moving entirely.
Dex looked at the bracelet on Lila's wrist.
The small engraved letters.
The metal worn smooth in one spot from years of being touched.
He said nothing.
But something in his chest settled into a hard, cold place that he recognized.
May you like
He'd been in that place before.
It was the place he went when he'd already made a decision and was just waiting for the moment to act on it.
