Page 105 of Is Anyone Listening?
"Tom called me. Let's not do this here. I'd like you to come into my apartment."
"Fine," I said, following her into the inn, past the reception desk, down the hall to her apartment.
She opened her door, then paused. "I'd like to talk to my granddaughter alone," she told Finn.
"Not a chance," he replied. "I'm not leaving Cassidy alone with you or anyone until we know everything."
She took a frustrated breath, then opened her door and motioned us inside.
"Can I get you some water or tea?" she asked. "Maybe some ice? Your face is swelling."
"The only thing I need right now are answers," I said as I took a seat on her couch, with Finn right beside me. I was glad to have his support because I was still feeling shaky, and I needed someone with a clear head to make sure my grandmother didn't get away with anything. "Jeff told me you and Tom have been trafficking women for years, that he simply took advantage of your operation to sneak a few for himself, and one of those was Natalie Warren. He apparently intercepted her up at some drop-off point."
Ellen shook her head, her face pale, her lips tight, her gaze hard and pinched. "We haven't been trafficking women."
"You can't keep making excuses," I said wearily.
"I'm not, Cassidy. Tom and I have been helping women escape from terrible, abusive situations. It started a long time ago, but it grew bigger in recent years as some women we helped sent others to us."
"What are you talking about?"
"An underground railroad," she said.
"A what?" I asked in shock.
"A system that allows us to help move women out of dangerous living situations. It's why I created the health and wellness programs here, so that it wouldn't seem unusual that so many troubled young women were making their way to Stonecross. They stay for a few days. We get them medical care from the doctor in town if they need it. We get them new identities, and we move them along to others, who set them up in their new lives."
"Are you serious? Tom is helping you do this?"
"Yes."
"Tom, the person who allegedly beat up his girlfriend, Lily, a very long time ago? A man who has anger issues and runs this town as if it's his personal kingdom?"
"Tom did hurt Lily," she said. "He was eighteen at the time. And he'd been beaten by his father and watched his dad hurt his mother. He was in all kinds of pain and all kinds of trouble. What he did to Lily was enough of a turning point for him to want to change his behavior, but it didn't happen right away. It took almost a decade before he finally cleaned up his act and tried to become a good husband and a good father."
"His wife left him, and his son hates him. It doesn't seem like he's good at either job."
"Well, maybe he's just gotten better at being a good person," she said. "He's been hard on Cole because Tom doesn't want Cole to turn out like himself. Tom didn't get himself together until his dad died and he became the sheriff. He believed the law saved him and that it could save Cole if he followed in his footsteps."
"They're not the same."
"I know, and I've told Tom that holding on too tightly never works. It only makes the person you're trying to keep close want to leave more."
I had a feeling she was talking about my father, but I couldn't let her derail me with a tantalizing glimpse of their relationship. I had to stay focused on what she'd been doing. "Tell me more about the railroad. When did it start?"
"Unofficially, a very long time ago. But in the past fifteen years, it has become a bigger operation." She paused. "I had no idea Jeff knew anything about what we were doing."
"He thought you were trafficking women."
"I don't know how he came to that conclusion. We've kept our circle incredibly tight. Only me, Tom, Ray, and Dr. Garrett. Our other contacts are all outside of Stonecross. We have a social worker in New York and another in Boston. A woman who runs a shelter in Chicago is also in the loop. They send women here who need our help, who are often afraid for their lives." She paused, swallowing hard. "I honestly thought that Natalie had made it to her next location. But I don't have contact with the women after they leave here. It's too dangerous for us to know where they go."
"But someone had to know that Natalie didn't show up."
"They probably thought she changed her mind. That's happened a few times. Women want to leave, but once the immediate threat goes down, they get drawn back to their old lives."
"That's not what happened to Natalie. Jeff intercepted her and killed her in Dorothy's basement after doing God knows what to her. She didn't find the peace she was seeking; she found more violence. I don't know what he did with her body, and I don't know how many other women there were, but her locket was at Dorothy's house. And there were other items, belonging to other women there, too."
"I can't believe he used her house," she said with painful regret.
