Stranded by Jocelyn Shipley

Author:Jocelyn Shipley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459823914
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2020-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

What the hell just happened?

Lin says I’ve got the phone Reba gave Jian. What’s going on?

I’m starting to believe Lin and suspect Reba, that’s what.

After I finish detailing Reba’s car, I go downstairs to Ben’s room and google Reba. Guess I should have done that before I came to live here.

I find her firm’s website, which has stuff about the services they provide and the lawyers who work there. Reba’s bio lists where she went to school, cases she’s worked on, awards she’s won and bits about her community service. It mentions she was a volunteer at Cedarvale Youth Shelter.

Her profile picture must be about twenty years out of date though. She looks way older now. From our many dinner conversations, I know she feels really pressured by her work. Her clients are all high-profile and demanding. They don’t want to pay a penny more in tax than they need to. They don’t want to be charged with tax evasion. And they expect her to advise and protect them.

There’s nothing on her firm’s website that would make me suspicious. I even check out a website where people can rate lawyers, and she’s highly ranked. So why would someone like Reba lie about Jian?

Next I click on her Facebook page. And that’s where I find what I’m looking for. Her most recent post, from over six months ago, almost makes me throw up. It’s about her son, Ben.

Turns out, he’s not away at school. He dropped out of college. He’s been missing for over a year.

I sit there staring at his high-school grad photo. Reba’s post says, Before things went wrong. I scroll down through her earlier posts. After Ben left school he came home, but she kicked him out because he was into drugs. She cut off his funds, so he became a dealer. He ended up an addict, living on the street.

She doesn’t know where he is. She’s so sorry about losing touch and wants to find him, get him help. She begs anyone with any info at all to contact her.

I google Ben, but there’s nothing recent. Only old stuff, mostly about sports.

Holy crap!

This is unbelievable! Reba lied about her son! Just like she lied about Jian.

What have I gotten myself into?

I want to punch something. But the last time I did that, I got fired.

So maybe I’ll just get drunk or high. Or both. I thought I was past all that, but of course you never really are.

Reba’s got beer and wine in the fridge and a fully stocked bar. And I bet there’s Xanax or Ativan in her bathroom cabinet too.

She’d never notice anything missing. But then again, with her one rule, she might. She asks me every day if I’m clean. And I bet she knows the signs.

Guess I know where her rule comes from now though. Well, who cares about her stupid rule? She’s a liar, and she tricked me into living here.

I race upstairs.

Back when I lived with my uncle in Helston Bay, I tried lots of stuff, just to see what it was like.

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