Free Ask a Shadow to Dance by Linda George

and plugged in the cord for her.
    Candy booted the notebook-sized computer. It beeped and buzzed, then settled on an island landscape scene. Candy typed for a minute. She typed some more.
    While waiting for her to find what she was looking for, David wondered how he was going to tell her tactfully that history wasn’t exactly what they needed in this case. Straight out was probably best.
    “The family I’m trying to find lives in Memphis now. Maybe I’m slow, but how is history going to help me find the Morgan family?” He tried hard to keep sarcasm out of his voice, but didn’t have much luck.
    Candy answered, still staring at the screen. “If Jacob Morgan is as important as his daughter seems to believe, and his company has been around since 1850, it might have another name now. We’ll work backward until we pick up the name.”
    “Good idea.” It couldn’t hurt. And it couldn’t hurt David to make nice either. “Thanks, Candy. I’ll appreciate anything you can dig up.”
    Candy hesitated. “Joe told me about her being abused. I’m really sorry, David.”
    The memory of Lisette’s bruises flashed through David’s mind. “Let’s find out who she is. The more information I have, the better my chances of helping her.”
    With Candy serving as guide and narrator, they delved into the sources she’d brought, then dialed a library network to see what else might show up. For more than an hour, they found nothing within the past ten years to correspond to the information David had. Working backward in time, he was ready to give up when they reached the forties. Nothing in the past sixty years—then seventy-five. When they got to the turn of the twentieth century, David was ready to quit.
    “If we haven’t found Morgan Enterprises—”
    “Found it.”
    Joe and David sat on either side of Candy on the couch to see what she’d dug up. Candy didn’t let her knee touch David’s.
    “Morgan Enterprises. Manufacturer of rifles and ammunition. Founded in 1850, prospered until the first part of the Civil War, but ceased production in 1862 after the Union Army captured Memphis. Switched to production of cotton clothing six months later, but didn’t do as well. The name change came early in 1886. Westmoreland Enterprises.”
    “Westmoreland! Are you sure?”
    “Do you want to check my work?”
    Joe laughed. “Why? It has to be right. The pieces fit, right, Bro? Candy did good.” Joe must have sensed the tension between David and Candy. True to form, he was trying to dispel it.
    “We’re in the wrong century, remember?” David gave him a look he hoped would keep Joe from putting his size eleven foot in his mouth before the evening was over.
    “Listen to this, guys.” Candy pulled her legs up beside her on the couch, a gesture David knew well. “Jacob Morgan died in 1885 and Westmoreland took over the company. Within a year, the company went into bankruptcy.” She set the computer on the coffee table. “He either ruined the company after Morgan died, or took over a failing company and was unable to bring it back. I can’t tell from what I have.”
    “Jacob Morgan? Are you sure?”
    “Yep. Here’s where it gets interesting. Jacob’s sister, Portia, is listed as co-owner and manager after 1873. There was a bad yellow fever epidemic that year. Maybe Morgan caught the fever and his sister had to step in. No way to verify that either. Speculation. There’s no wife’s name listed, but there is one child. Jacob Morgan had a daughter.”
    David knew what Candy was going to say, but still couldn’t believe it.
    “Her name was Lisette.”

Chapter Four
     
    “Lisette, wake up!”
    Aunt Portia’s voice penetrated the fog in Lisette’s mind and the residue of the dream. She opened her eyes. “Doctor Stewart?”
    “It’s time to get up. We have to go to the police station, remember?” Aunt Portia poured water into the bowl on the sideboard. “This cool water should feel good on your face this