Our Little Secret by Lisa Jackson

Author:Lisa Jackson [Jackson, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2024-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

Brooke heard a gasp on the other end of the wireless call. “What? Marilee knows? Oh my God, I can’t believe it!” Elyse Carelli’s voice cracked. “For the love of God, where is she?”

Glancing at her daughter, who seemed to want to melt into the floorboards, Brooke said, “Allison may be with a cousin.”

“What? A cousin? No way? Like Diane?” Elyse’s voice faded, as if she’d turned away from the phone. “Tony!” she yelled. “Tony! Get the hell in here! Marilee Harmon says Allison is with Diane.”

“What?” a male voice said faintly. Then, more clearly, “Diane? Are you shittin’ me? We talked to her! That little liar—”

“No!” Marilee cut in, shaking her head violently as she heard the conversation. “It’s . . . it’s . . . a guy cousin, I think. And that’s . . . that’s all I know.”

“Did you hear that?” Brooke asked. “Marilee said she thinks it’s a male cousin.”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t have any boy cousins. All girls . . .” Elyse muttered, her voice drifting off. “Oh fuck, is she talking about Robert?” she said on a gasp. “Holy shit! Tony! We need to check with Robert ASAP—no, better yet, go there! You drive over there. Just show the fuck up! That little son of a—oooh!”

Marilee slunk down further in her seat.

“And Allison. Why would she do this to us?” Elyse’s voice was clogged, as if she were fighting sobs. “Why would she put us through this? I thought . . . I mean I was almost sure that she was . . . that I would never see her again!”

“Tell them everything you know,” Brooke instructed her daughter as she put the phone on speaker.

Haltingly, shooting daggers at her mother with her eyes, Marilee repeated what she’d told Brooke a few minutes earlier amid gasps and expletives from the other side of the connection. She heard Tony say, “I’m going over there right now!” just before a door slammed, while Elyse started crying in earnest.

By the time the call was over, Marilee, pale as death, cowered against the window, where her heart drawing was disappearing. “Can we just go now?”

“I guess.” Brooke put the car into gear and pulled away from the curb.

“And I can still see Nick?”

“I can’t believe your priorities! Allison has been missing for what? How many days?”

“I don’t know.”

“And you—”

“But—” Marilee’s big eyes were round, pleading.

“Once we straighten a few other things out, we’ll talk about you seeing Nick.”

“You promised,” Marilee charged.

“I haven’t forgotten. Now, who else knows about this—about Allison?” she asked, still squinting; the rain wasn’t letting up and the windshield was immediately awash again.

“Just me and a couple of other friends. Zuri and Katie Chen.”

“And Nick?” Brooke prodded, seeing her daughter in a new light. Gone was the innocent girl and in her place was a scheming, sullen teenager.

How many other things had Marilee lied about? She prayed there was nothing as monumental or catastrophic as this.

When they reached the house Brooke noted that every

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