This story wants to get written. Bill is waiting for all the good stuff to happen in his life now. While good things are happening in this chapter, the timing of it all isn't great. I will warn also that what has happened to G.G. is upsetting.

28.

Rick clarified, an amused look on his face, "Or maybe . . . yes, the Scots have won. But then they are all part of the U.K., right?"

I love Rick, really I do. He's the best cousin/almost brother that a guy could have, but sometimes he takes his jokes a little too far, makes me wait far too long for good news. I was trying to process what he was saying, knew it had to do with G.G., but why couldn't he come out and say whatever it was, when I first saw him downstairs?

"Rick, are you telling me they found G.G. and that a-hole George? Why the heck didn't you start with that? What happened? What do you know?"

Elation swept across his face and he grinned. "The police got her Bill, him too!"

"Truly?" I felt confused but also a burgeoning excitement. "Are they sure? Are you sure?"

"Yup." Rick pulled out his cell. "Don't get me wrong. The situation isn't great, but they got 'em."

Rick held out his phone and showed me a picture of G.G. She was dirty, her hair was lightened to platinum blonde (with the roots growing out), a healing bruise was on her jaw, and she looked both surly and possibly drugged out, but it was her. Then he showed me a picture of George Wickham. George had a beard and his hair was dyed black, but I would have known him anywhere.

"How? What happened?"

We went and sat down in front of my still paused movie.

"Well, the P.I. in Edinburgh talked to the police there, explained about the email, showed their pictures. The authorities there have been aware of a prostitution ring for sometime, but in Scotland it is only illegal if the solicitation takes place in public, and then it's just a fineable offense for all involved. The age of consent there is sixteen, but pornography of children under eighteen is illegal. Apparently Scotland used to have these prostitution tolerance zones, but those are all gone now (although things are not always enforced)."

"Can you get to the point?"

"Well Police Scotland was preparing to do a bust that evening and the person in charge recognized the photos, said that he'd seen the two of them on the corner before. Our guy explained about G.G. disappearing from the boarding school, the child pornography George had been making of her since she was a little girl, etc. So given the info, they decided if they saw them out soliciting and could confirm that's what was going on that they'd pick them up (rather than just issuing a fine or something). Given how she disappeared, our guy was able to argue that George might be human trafficking G.G.

"The P.I. hung out in the police station while all of this was going down and saw when the cops came back with George and took G.G. He learned George tried to solicit for G.G. an undercover cop who was faking at "kerb crawling," that's what the conduct of guys trying to pick up prostitutes is called. George told the cop that he had a young one, barely legal.

"Now, this is bad, Bill." Rick tucked his head down and shook his head. Then he combed through his dirty-blond hair with his fingers, a gesture I know well as the both of us do it when we are upset. But this wasn't a quick ruffling of his hair, no he did this several times.

I anxiously waited to hear what had him so shaken. I had to know, even though I dreaded knowing.

"When asked more about that, George said 'My little Lolita's barely sixteen but she adores older men. She gives . . .' " here his voice trembled, broke. An icy fist gripped my heart and squeezed. I wondered what could cause such upset to a seasoned military man. I had the sense it was way worse than how she ended up bruised.

After some hesitation,. Rick sputtered out, ". . . I'm not even gonna say it, but he was offering for her to do several things and he told the price for each. That was enough to get them brought in."

I felt sick to my stomach wondering what all my sister had been forced to do. I also felt guilt, for if I'd sent her a gift card, maybe that would have meant one less guy she had to service.

"They were suspicious of George's passport (it was a fake one of course, for we know he never legally entered the U.K. and Brexit worked in our favor now, because you can't just enter from Europe as before) and decided to remand him while sorting this all out. G.G. apparently claimed to be eighteen, but of course didn't have any documents, so officially she's been detained for illegally entering the country. This led to me being contacted through the local P.I. there, as they wanted me to verify who they had (unofficially of course, because the official stuff will be up to the State Department, etc.).

"Dad's plane is being prepared and a flight plan filed as we speak. We won't be able to get her back to the U.S. just now, as they need to sort matters out, but they want us there. I came here to get you ready. We can probably get into the air by around 8pm."

It was all a lot to take in, but one thing was certain. I announced, "I'd better hurry and pack."

I ran upstairs and started gathering up my things and packing my suitcase and hanging bag (if there were court appearances, I would certainly want a suit, extra slacks, shirts and ties). I stuffed into a pocket of my leather folio both my certified copy of my paperwork, my passport and G.G.'s passport (which the school had returned to Rick when it was clear G.G. wouldn't be found anytime soon).

I hoped, rather than believed, that G.G. would be glad to see us and happy to be out of that situation. Surely by now, she would see that George wasn't worth being with and might be getting over her ridiculous infatuation with him.

As I worked, I heard the T.V.; Rick had apparently resumed watching my movie. I had seen the movie enough that I could almost see the scenes as they played out. I always loved the part where Andy visits the banks and takes all the ill-gotten money. It helped keep me calm (and I'm guessing was doing the same thing for Rick).

I was just about to carry my bags down the stairs when I got an alert on my phone that the gate was opened and then heard the doorbell ring. I hurried down the stairs, realizing it was Elizabeth and the others.

Our dinner plans had been the furthest thing from my mind once Rick told me about G.G. Recalling them, I felt regret at the timing. I had been looking forward to finding out what happened, basking in Elizabeth's presence (like a sunflower turning towards the sun), hoping for a hint that at some point Elizabeth might welcome a real date.

Rick opened the door before I could, but I joined him as quickly as I could, my suitcase thumping as I wheeled it down the stairs. I was halfway down the stairs when they all came in, Elizabeth at the forefront, carrying Chinese takeout bags.

I saw how Jane minutely stiffened upon seeing Rick at the door and how Charlotte took a step closer to her. I noted how Jane touched a silky light blue scarf she had tied around her neck that must have been there to cover up her fading bruises. I recalled she hadn't had that scarf on this morning when she ran away from Rick. Jane seemed to relax after reassuring herself that her scarf was still in place.

Elizabeth noticed me and gave me a lopsided smile, her eyes twinkling. Then I guess she saw my luggage for she asked "Where are you going, Bill?"

"Scotland," Rick answered for me.

I finished coming down the stairs, made a pile of my bags and then explained to Elizabeth, "You remember how I told you my sister G.G. was missing? She and the creep she was with were just found there."

"Wow, that's tremendous!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

Charlotte added, "Yes, I'm so happy for you all. I guess we should get the dog and our stuff and get out of here."

"So you're ready to go home?" I asked, glancing at first Charlotte and Jane. I didn't want to say anything Jane didn't want said in front of Rick.

"Yes," Charlotte said, nodding and smiling, reassuring me that all was now well. I hoped that meant Chuck had been arrested.

I knew we had to go soon, but I didn't want them to go yet. I turned to Rick. "We have time for a quick bite, right?"

Rick glanced over at Jane, who was standing more confidently now, and gently asked "I wouldn't be intruding, would I?"

Jane herself answered, "No, of course not. There's plenty. You have to eat before your flight, right?"

Rick grinned and before I knew it, we were all sitting down and eating. While I wished to know what all had happened on the situation with Chuck, instead we discussed the situation we faced in Scotland.

I did my best to eat the General Tso's Chicken which I had given myself a generous scoop of, knowing that Elizabeth had gotten it specifically for me, but my stomach didn't find that very appealing now, and I mostly ate the white rice under it, choking down only a couple of bites of the spicy meat, and also ate a bit of lo mein. Rick ate without any problem however. I noticed, though, that often when his mouth was occupied with chewing his eyes would drift over to Jane. I was pretty sure he had noticed how Jane kept touching the scarf at her neck.