Chapter 112
IT WAS DOUBLE the size of our usual get-togethers at Susie’s.
Everyone was here. Including our husbands.
And I had brought Alain Creasy. He’d been out of the hospital for a full day and said he felt up to a pleasant happy hour.
When I picked him up from his hotel, he looked a little tired, but he was as well-dressed as usual.
He wore a blue sport coat over a nice button-down shirt.
Somehow he had convinced his daughter he was okay and not to cross the Atlantic.
We talked about the case. We’d recovered eight girls so far. And we weren’t finished looking. Sergeant Davis had new leads on Carly Nash and Katie Dharma. We also had a lead on a sixteen-year-old who’d disappeared from Oakland five months ago. It looked like she might be in Brussels, Belgium.
Alain said, “That is a huge success. Do you know how rare it is to actually save any of these girls?”
Sadly, I was starting to learn. I said, “Nicole Snaff said she’d been tired of living in a little town like San Julio.
Jason Cortlandt talked to her about the whole wide world out there.
It just made her want to leave even more.
She felt like her father was trying to control her.
But almost as soon as she fell in with the group in San Francisco, she regretted it.
San Julio to San Francisco is hardly the ‘whole wide world.’”
“Did she say why she stayed? Did anyone force her?”
“Not with violence. They kept talking about travel and sent her to a couple of parties. She eventually realized who she was working for. She did a few things she’s not proud of. She said it was a little like being in a cult. There was always someone checking on you and convincing you to work.”
Alain just nodded.
Lorraine came over with pitchers of beer and platters of jerked chicken. I leaned back with Joe’s arm around my shoulders. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. It was wonderful just to hear my friends laughing.
I’d closed out several cases. Yuki’s trial was over, even if it hadn’t ended the way she’d wanted it to. Claire had resolved her issues with Hope. And Cindy was getting an exclusive for the Chronicle. She was also really making progress with her book.
“I set up a little surprise for everyone,” Cindy told us.
“What did you do? Order us a cake?”
“Better.”
“Two cakes?”
Cindy giggled and then pointed toward the door.
I looked up and saw a couple walking toward us. As they got closer, I realized who it was: Nicole Snaff and her father, Eric.
I couldn’t believe it. They both looked great.
Nicole said with a smile, “Do you mind if we join you?”
One loud cheer told them to pull up chairs.
Now it felt like a real party.