SHORTS FROM THE SHELF features short serialized fiction by author Shannon Muir, administrator of SHANNON MUIR’S THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF, that may be later released as part of e-book or print collections. The story line featured currently is “Blacke and Nu Beginnings,”  that will appear on Saturdays and Sundays over the next several weekends, and then a special daily run from March 21st to March 27th, 2020. This is Part Eight.

“OK, now that I’ve decided I’m OK with you helping, do you have any suggestions?” Cait asked Marcel.

Saundra watched him ponder a moment, then respond.

“Does she like the internet, social media, stuff like that? That’s where I’d check first. See if there is anything in her posts that might give us a clue. That’s where I’d start,” Marcel suggested.

“Vallie loves social media,” Cait quickly let Marcel know. “She met her child’s father on a dating app her brother helped develop. While she’s got the most tech sense of us, Vallie doesn’t have the most common sense sometimes.”

“Are either of you actually connected to her on social channels though? We really need to see what she’s posting to her friends, not just publicly.”

Saundra whipped out her phone.

“Cait’s not into social media much, but I follow Vallie on every major media.”

“Hhmph,” Cait responded. “It’s not that I don’t like it, I just see it as more of a business tool than a way to keep up on my friends.”

Saundra half-listened as she started flipping through the posts and showing them to Marcel, trying to forget for a moment or two that the two of them might be siblings. Right now, she needed to concentrate on helping to find Vallie. No fair that she might discover family while Cait could lose part of hers.