What the group saw was a smiling, attractive, young woman with short, dark hair sporting a sweatband and doing a stretching exercise with her foot up on a bench along the Tidal Basin.

“What’s the name of the medical registry?” Myra asked.

“Around the Clock Medical Registry,” Dennis responded.

“I know exactly what that is and where it is. Nellie used them for Elias when one of his caregivers would call in sick. No, they do not pay well. Nellie said she felt sorry for them and always tipped well. She did say she liked the people they sent to her,” Myra said.

“Maybe Miss Petrie is independently wealthy,” Alexis said.

“Nope. She said her father and mother are schoolteachers. She has no living grandparents and comes from a big family, four brothers and two sisters. I don’t see any extra money there. She must be getting it from somewhere else,” Dennis said.

“Blackmail?” Espinosa said.

“Those tabloids pay big bucks for inside information. They might say they just pay a few thousand, but in reality try fifty thousand. We did a series of articles on tabloids about four years ago, right, Ted?” Ted nodded. “Tabloid journalism is nothing like the kind of journalism we practice at the Post,” Maggie said virtuously.

Annie sniffed to show what she thought of Maggie’s comment in regard to tabloid journalism. “I think I can personally guarantee this is the last picture and article you will see in that particular tabloid or any other tabloid for that matter. The minute Lincoln Moss finds out, if he hasn’t already, it’s history.”

Charles weighed in. “I would not want to be Miss Jane Petrie right now. If she hasn’t already been grilled to within an inch of her life, she will be shortly. It’s a good thing, Pearl, that you cleaned out the clinic and sanitized it.” The others nodded. Pearl just looked miserable.

“Which now brings up the question of did Lincoln Moss find his wife or did his wife leave on her own. The reason I say that is think about this. Amalie and Rosalee have to buy groceries. That’s where the bulk of tabloids are sold. Do any of us really think that Lincoln Moss goes to the grocery store? I don’t. I think, and this is just my own personal opinion, that the ladies saw the paper at the checkout stand and took it on the lam. All on their own. Possibly with the help of Rosalee’s boyfriend, who works at the Home Builders Depot, where she also works,” Nikki said.

“Honey, I think you’re right. That makes more sense than anything else we heard. That means to us, at least for now, that the two women are safe and not in Moss’s clutches,” Jack said.

Pearl sighed mightily. “I so hope you are right, Jack. But how long can they stay where they are without any real help? Think about the resources that Moss has at his disposal.”

“Think young, people. Jason, that’s his name, right, doesn’t think like we do? He and his friends are social-media fiends. They live on the Internet. They know how to do things and stuff that just boggles our minds, and they have a whole army out there just waiting to help them with a simple request,” Jack said.