The Devil's Daughter

Saving Grace

Mayfair and I ran through our plan before she stood up from the table. I watched as she walked toward the bathroom, just as the girl made her way back to our table. I tore my eyes away from her as I looked back down at the menu.

"Here are your drinks." She placed the cups down on the table with shaking hands.

"Thank you. Listen, I hate to pry, but are you okay?" Her eyes flashed across my face with fear.

"Absolutely, sir. Why wouldn't I be?" She played with a hair tie on her wrist as we conversed.

"You just seem nervous, that's all."

She looked around nervously before settling back on me with a weak smile.

"I'm alright. I'll give you a minute to look at the menu."

I watched as she turned away from me rather quickly before walking back toward the kitchen. As soon as she reached the door to the kitchen, Mayfair walked up to her and directed her toward the bathroom. I wasn't sure what her plan was, but all I could do was wait.

...

About forty-five minutes went by and Mayfair still hadn't returned. I was getting a few glances from others behind the counter. Many of whom I assumed to be in the same position as that girl. Suddenly my phone began to buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a new message from Mayfair.

I got a confession from her. Apparently all of the girls here are the same as her. I called in backup to escort these girls out of here. ETA is two minutes.

I let out a deep sigh as I began to reply.

Great news. I've got an eye out here.

I continued to keep an eye out, that is, until I saw someone come into the restaurant that immediately caught my eye. The greasy, slicked back hair was hard to ignore, especially with the despicable grin plastered across his menacing face. The sight of him made me want to slap him right then and there.

I watched as he approached one of the servers with a sleazy grin just as she recoiled back in disgust. I immediately went up there to prevent him from anything further.

"Excuse me, I've been waiting for a server for thirty minutes."

Tobias and the girl looked at me as I stood there in front of them. He turned to look at her with a disgusted look.

"Well, you heard him. Give him service!" She quickly grabbed a notepad from the counter to take my order.

"I just want chicken tenders, with fries. To go."

She quickly wrote it down before walking away. Tobias looked at me with a devious look upon his face.

"I do apologize for your wait time. Our staff can sometimes act...out of character."

"No worries. I understand it gets busy." I said softly.

"Yes, well, I'll be sure to handle that." His eyes grew dark, leaving me with anger rising inside of me.

"There's no need." He looked at me oddly before sticking his hand out.

"Tobias Jones. I'm the owner of this here establishment." I hesitated for a moment before reaching my hand out.

"Darryl." We shook hands before I pulled away from him.

"Feel free to come back any time." I nodded my head with a tight-lipped smile.

"Absolutely."

He looked at the men he came in with before exiting the restaurant briskly. I turned around to see them getting into a car and leaving. I let out a deep sigh before waiting around for backup to arrive.

Within the next few minutes several squad cars pulled up outside and entered the restaurant with ease. Every person in here left at the sight of the amount of officers in here, all except for the servers and cooks. Mayfair appeared from the bathroom, along with the girl who looked like she had just seen a ghost. I pulled Mayfair to the side after she sat the girl down with some other officers around her.

"What did you find out?" She shook her head in disbelief.

"Her name is Grace Morello. She's thirteen years old. Tobias picked her up about six months ago and has put her through more hell than what one person could conjure up." I ran a hand over my face.

"Does she have parents?" She nodded her head.

"I called them and asked for them to meet us at the precinct. Grace also mentioned how most of the other servers here are the same age as her, with
the oldest being fifteen. They were all picked up and put through a trafficking ring before working here as a way to bring in more income for Tobias." I shook my head in frustration.

"Did she say anything about the ring? Location? How it works?"

"She said that when she was picked up, she wasn't aware of where she was going. However, she did say that the location moved around a lot. There were people from other parts of the world that were involved in this. She's been about as far as Shanghai." She said solemnly.

"Oh my god." I couldn't believe any of this.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad. Seems like all of these girls were in the same situation. All of them have families too. It's a wonder that they're not already dead."

"I agree. We need to get numbers from each of them so we can make calls to their families. I want their parents to be at the precinct when we return."

...

After we returned to the precinct with all of the girls, the parents happily met us there with tears in their eyes. It made me happy to know that out of all of the girls taken in the area, we were at least able to find several and return them to their families. The restaurant is under investigation and has been shut down.

I grabbed each individuals' statements, as well as the parents' statements, before returning back to my office to go over today's reports. A knock on my office door brought me away from my task.

"Yes?" I said as I looked up to see Doug standing in my doorway.

"Care to run me through what's going on out here?" He motioned to the surplus of people leaving the floor.

"Just found several girls that were kidnapped. Tobias Jones was behind it." He nodded his head.

"Anything else?" He asked curiously.

"We've questioned them all and have gathered enough information to begin the process of building a case against him." I leaned back in the chair as he made his way into my office.

"Good work. How are we on the Parker Chandler case?"

I wish I'd forgotten about that.

"We're still looking for him. Things have been quiet lately."

"Keep an eye out. Just because things have gone quiet, doesn't mean they're completely dormant. Chandler is dangerous so be careful."

If only he knew.

"Yes sir."