Page 54 of Secrets in the Attic (Secrets 1)

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over the place looking for me," she said. "People will

forget or want to forget, especially after my mother

moves away."

"How can you be so sure she will?"

She smiled. "I know my mother. Believe me,

she's not going to be happy wallowing in this too

long. She's very aware of how people, especially men,

look at her. What available unmarried man is going to

want to get seriously involved with a woman whose

daughter is being hunted by the police for killing her

husband? Someday, years and years from now, I'll

ring her doorbell wherever she is and give her a heart

attack," she said.

"You mean it?"

"Not really a heart attack. She'll be so shocked

she might faint, but that's all. She'll have to take me

in, give me money, do whatever I want her to do to

help me, or I'll tell her new husband everything. I'm

sure whomever she meets will not know the story. My

mother is an expert when it comes to hiding the truth.

You know that."

"I don't know that."

"What do you mean, you don't?" she snapped at

me. "I've told you everything, how she's buried her

head in the sand, how she did the same thing with my

real father. I've told you."

"Oh, yes, you have," I said.

She relaxed, looked at herself in the mirror, and

then glanced at me. "You know, if we had gone

through with our plan exactly as you suggested, you

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