Free Forever Blessed (Women of Prayer) by Darlene Shortridge Page B

“Ms. Ella, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.” Her eyes spilled over as she thought about what her elderly friend might have lived through. Even now, when she was finally supposed to be free, she was still suffering from her past.
    “I didn’t mean to upset you, dear. I just wanted to explain how much you and your children have come to be like family to me. In the short time I have known you I have come to love you like I do my own daughter. I want to help you, Laney. I am in a position to help you. Will you let me, please?”
    While Laney didn’t want to accept charity, she knew that denying this woman the opportunity to help would devastate her. She understood Ella’s need to do something, to make a difference in someone’s life, to atone for her supposed sins. “I would be very grateful for your help. Thank you.”
    Ella and Laney walked back to the shelter together, laughing and making plans. Ella would care for Melanie while Laney worked. The days she was at the shelter, she would watch Melanie there and the other three days a week she would watch her at home. Ella also made arrangements to pay Laney’s deposit and first month’s rent on the little house. It was the least she could do and she just knew Frank was turning in his grave. Giving his hard- earned money to a stranger, much less a woman who didn’t lie down and be a doormat to her husband like she "ought to." Ella kicked a rock. “Take that, Frank!”

 
     
                                                            Chapter Twelve
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Maintaining control was getting to be difficult. He’d checked everything, every lead he could think of, and still he couldn’t find her. He’d gone over every phone bill. Talked with every teacher at the kids’ school. He’d talked to the neighbors. He called their church, not that they’d gone in quite some time, to see if she’d met and talked with anyone. There was nothing. The only clue she left was she didn’t take anything. That meant she had a destination in mind. Someone had been waiting for her on the other end of the line. Someone had prepared for her arrival.
    Paul spoke out loud to the empty room. “Who is that someone, Laney?”
    The sound of the phone interrupted his tirade.
    “Paul, it’s Dave. Barbara remembered the nickname of Laney’s friend from college. Everyone called her 'Shera'. Sorry I can’t be of more help.”
    Paul ended the call quickly. It might not lead to anything, but the information was more than he had so far. He was going to need some help on this one. After making some phone calls, he set an appointment for later that afternoon with a local PI. Hopefully, this guy would be as good at getting results as he’d heard he would be.
     
     
    *  *  *  *  *
     
    Paul tried to skirt around the details as much as he could. The private investigator wanted information he didn’t want to give. Paul took a better look at the guy. He would be considered by most as good looking, almost too good looking.
     
    “Well, do you think you can find her?” Paul was losing his patience with this guy. Why did he have to ask so many questions? Did it really matter why she left? The only thing that mattered was she needed to be found, and fast.
    The private detective watched the man carefully. He was hiding something. He knew enough and had been around long enough to know a liar when he heard one. “So, you have no clue as to why she left? None at all?”
    “I already told you no, she up and left with the kids.” The PI was losing interest in the job, Paul could tell. He had to find her. He padded the story a bit. “I’m sure she was cheating on me, and I’m worried about our kids. She could be with him. What if this guy she’s with is a pedophile? These are my kids we’re talking about.”
    Austin studied the guy sitting before him. He was pretty good at reading people and he was sure this potential