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“No, I won't, there’s no way you would trust any of us with the little one. Congratulations.” I let the rest of the family talk to Cain, and I walk to the kitchen.

How can I talk to him now? But I have to, this is Cain he’s not going to let this news get in the way of business.

I turn around when I hear footsteps, and I know without turning around that it’s Cain. “I have a feeling you want to talk.” I lean on the counter.

“Maybe tomorrow…”

“Now.” Well at least I know I was right; nothing will come before business for the man.

“You could have told me this job was for Lincoln, I would have looked for his girl first.” All he does is nod. He fucking nods. "Renee Park, second cousin on his mother's side. That's why you took the case. That's why you gave it to me and told me to go slow and didn't tell me what I was actually looking for."

A pause.

"Yes," he says.

"I've been working on this, Cain. If I'd known she was connected to Lincoln, I would have built the search differently. I would have looked into her first…”

"Lincoln didn't want you to know."

"Why?"

"Because he didn't want the case worked as a favor." Cain looks at the window. "He wanted it worked properly, without the bias of knowing whose name was in the file."

"That's not his decision to make about my investigation."

"No," Cain says. "It was mine."

"I need you to tell me everything," I say. "All of it. Whatever Lincoln told you, whatever you know that isn't in those files."

Cain is quiet.

"Cain, I know what's on those videos. I've watched all three of them. Over and over, frame by frame, pulling them apart, looking for something I can use. I’m the one watching them being raped repeatedly, beaten, sold, crying, and screaming." I stop. "You know how that fucks you up, watching that shit over and over hoping you find something, fucking anything? The least you can do is tell me something.”

The room goes quiet behind me. I realize too late that my voice is loud, and everyone is looking at us. Cain looks at me, then at the room.

Lileah looks at me, her hand moves to her bracelet, I can see that she finally understands the gift I gave her and why.

“There’s nothing else to say, Lincoln wants his niece found, but he thought if you knew that then you wouldn’t work on all the cases, and you’d only focus on her. The answer to whatever this is, isn’t just about her, it's about all of them and I need the best hacker I know to find answers.” Cain stops and looks over his shoulder, before turning back to me. “You’ve already got more than I did. I couldn’t find the videos that you did. I need you to link something, give me a name and I will get information from them.”

I stare at him for a moment, and all I can do is nod. “I’ll see if I can get the name of a person who is lower on the ladder, it might not be a lot but I’m working on it.”

“Can we put business to the side and celebrate now?” I hear my mom and I smile walking back to the family.

Cain lowers his voice on the way back to the room. “I would never have given you the envelope if I didn’t think you could handle it. Talk to me if it gets too much.” I give him a nod and sit back down as the conversation has already moved on to the baby nursery. But my head is in two places right now, one is the girls and how I need to get back to work, and two is on Sadie hoping she's thinking about me.

Seventeen

Sadie

2 days later

The library is quiet, which for a weekday afternoon, is surprising. Don’t students have work to do?

I’m sitting at my usual table, on the second floor east, my laptop is set up, and I pull out the contact sheets from last week's shoot and try to remember what I was thinking when I took them.

Photography assignments require a lot of attention, not just to the images but also to the intention behind them. I've been staring at the same three shots for twenty minutes and I'm not getting closer to the answer.

It might be because I’m not focusing on my work. I’m focused on my phone. I’ve not had any new messages, not for the last two days.