Clawback by J.A. Jance Read Free Book Online

educational, physical, and emotional needs of the cult’s traumatized survivors, many of whom could barely read and write and who had few, if any, marketable job skills.
    As for the children? The cult’s so-called homeschooling had been appalingly deficient, leaving the kids completely at sea in grade levels commensurate with their ages.
    Having lost patience with only the most recent of several unhelpful school functionaries, the one in Albuquerque, Ali had resorted to bringing out her big gun—Governor Dunham herself.
    â€œHey there, partner in crime,” Virginia Dunham said cheerfully, coming on the line. “How are we doing in the exploding microwave department? Any more electronic casualties to report?”
    Exploding microwaves weren’t exactly a laughing matter among The Family’s struggling refugees. As the women moved first into emergency housing and now into more permanent facilities, coping with modern appliances had become a major problem. There were no electrical appliances back home at The Encampment, and the women were at a loss as to how to use them. Microwaves in particular had been a problem. To date four of them had been lost—three to meltdowns caused by overheated tinfoil and one to a very messy six-egg explosion.
    â€œNo,” Ali said with a laugh. “The microwaves are all fine as far as I know. This is a school enrollment problem.”
    Governor Dunham sighed. “Another of those? I’m guessing that means we’re up against the old missing-birth-certificate bugaboo.”
    â€œYup, that’s it,” Ali replied.
    Governor Dunham’s tone went from cordial to all-business. “Who’s the client?” she asked. “And where’s the school district?”
    â€œChristine Johnson is the client. The school district in question is Albuquerque Unified, and the woman dragging her bureaucratic high heels is one Adele Harris.”
    Ali heard the governor keying information into her computer. Ali and the governor worked with a shared Dropbox file devoted to The Family’s refugees. It contained the names and current addresses for all the affected women and children. It also included medical, dental, and vaccination records. Getting all the kids vaccinated had been another roadblock to enrolling them in schools. Once Ali had seen to that, she thought they were home free, but the missing birth certificates had proved to be an equally pressing issue.
    â€œOkay,” Virginia Dunham said. “Got it. Christine Johnson. It says here that she and her children, ages seven, five, and three, were taken under the wing of an older sister, Edith Fletcher, who somehow managed to escape from The Family several years ago.”
    â€œThat’s correct,” Ali said. “From what I can tell, the sister landed on her feet and is now pretty squared away. She’s made arrangements to have learning assessments done on both of Christine’s school-age kids. She’s also arranged for private tutoring this summer to bring them up somewhere close to appropriate grade levels.”
    â€œAre we paying for that?” Virginia asked.
    â€œI offered,” Ali answered, “but Edith said there was no need—that she would handle it.”
    â€œGetting back to Ms. Harris, it sounds like I’ll need to find a way to go over her head, then,” Virginia observed.
    â€œI was hoping you would,” Ali answered. “Thank you. But before you go, can you tell me what’s happening on the financial front? Any news on that?”
    Governor Dunham had personally taken charge of overseeing the untangling of The Family’s complicated financial situation. “Not much,” she said. “We’re still working the problem. With the help of your husband’s firm, we’ve managed to locate many of the offshore accounts, but getting the money back from those and then sorting out the distribution of funds to the