Page 19 of Deliverance

"Yes, sir."

He stopped and turned. "And, Ric, truly get some sleep tonight. Saffron needs you at your best starting tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," I replied.

Frank left, and I turned to the sobbing woman. Frank didn't know that I somewhat knew Erin before she was taken, and after what I saw, I was going to make sure he never found out, which meant I had to come up with a plan to help her that wouldn't get me killed in the process.

Chapter Eight

Erin

Madam left me with Zell. Was she Madam's daughter? She didn't look like Madam at all. Madam had black hair, whereas Zell’s was golden blonde. Zell had blue eyes, and Madam had dark eyes that were almost as black as her hair.

Maybe she was adopted.

Or looked like her father.

"How old are you, Zell?" I asked as I watched her paint the cityscape out of her small window. Or at least try. She wasn't that good, but at least she had a window, unlike the rest of us.

"Eight."

"Is Madam your mom?"

"Yeah."

"Where's your dad?"

Zell's paintbrush stopped on the canvas, and then she shrugged. "I don't have one."

"Everyone has a father. Did he leave or something?"

"I don't know."

I was trying to come up with another question to ask that wouldn't be suspicious if Madam asked her what we talked about. Instead, Zell turned and asked, "What's a teacher?"

I blinked. Surely she had been to school before. "You don't know what a teacher is?"

She shook her head, her long blonde hair swishing back and forth. "No."

"You've never been to school?"

"What's school?"

"School is where you go to learn and get smart."

"Oh." Zell went back to painting.

How did she learn to paint? How did she learn anything? I looked around the tiny room. There were no books, no toys, no stuffed animals. The only things in the room were her twin bed, a nightstand with a small lamp on it, her easel, and a rack of clothes that only had a few items hanging on it.

"Who taught you how to paint?" I asked. "You're very good."

"Lana, but she no longer lives here."

"Where does she live?"

Zell shrugged and continued to paint the blue sky she was looking at. "I don't know. Madam said she moved."

"When was that?"