Page 55 of The Masks She Wore

?One ring sounded. “Abernath.”

?My heart skipped a beat. I forced a smile across my lips and rolled my shoulders. “Good day, Mr. Abernath. My name is Rae Charlie Bennett, and I am calling in regard to this number and your name written in the margin of a paper I found in Marla Bennett’s case file.”

?“And?” he asked impatiently.

?Just keep calm, confident. “And…I was wondering why. What were you and my mother involved in?”

?There were soft voices in the background and then a grumbled ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ from Abernath before he sighed. “Alright, tell me this then. Are you as good at lying as your mother?”

?My smile faltered, my brows furrowing. “Lying? Lying about what?”

?“Everything.”

?He didn’t elaborate further than that.

?Something was going on. I knew my mother would have her secrets. She was gone most of my life, of course she would have secrets, but this? She didn’t just have a separate family, she had a separate life. “Yes,” I replied evenly. “Why was your name on this paper?”

?“What paper is it? You’re asking me all these questions, giving me nothing in return.”

?Right. I pulled the paper closer. “It’s a letter from a man namedGregory VanHouten. He was telling her about some art deal happening in central London.”

?“Art deal, eh?” He chuckled. “And here I thought you were taking up reins.”

?“Reins?”

?“Look, I’ve got things I gotta get done, so expect a guest this afternoon. They’ll walk you through it.”

?“Wait, through what? What guest? What’s going on?”

?Click.

?I looked at my phone screen in disbelief. What the fuck?

?I frowned and looked at that name again, the man who wrote the letter. What great help Scotland Yard was.

?Marla Alascer? She did have another family, didn’t she? Aside from Max, aside from me. There was someone else.

?I chewed on my cheek and pulled my laptop forward, googling Gregory’s name, wanting to do something to keep me from thinking about the fact that my mom might have had yet another family she loved and cared for.

?Clicking on the first link I saw, I read through it studiously. He had been sentenced to prison for raping and murdering seven girls.

?Why was mom doing business with a guy like that? Maybe she didn’t know. Maybe she truly was just selling art to him and found out about that later.

?But then why work with Scotland Yard? Was it just this case shehad helped them on or was she on the payroll?

?With a sigh, I leaned back in my chair and looked across my apartment. It wasn’t the cleanest it could be.

?I guess today I was cleaning. I groaned inwardly. Had to prepare for myguest.

?How he knew where I lived did concern me, but after these last few weeks, I didn’t have the energy to concern myself with the worry. At this point, I should just move. Move to the middle of the woods where nobody could reach me ever again. I’d become a creepy old witch with a caldron in Louis Vuitton heels.

?I’d make a hot forest witch.

?Okay, first things first, I put away all of the case files neatly into boxes, sliding them into the pantry for safe keeping. I didn’t need any prying eyes, even if they had worked with my mom.

?I couldn’t help but wonder what her secret life entailed. Maybe she been an art dealer with this family. Maybe she had been a detective, a secret agent of some sort. A CI.

?Maybe I had been the secret family, the cover. What if I was a result of going into witness protection?

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