Chapter 2

“Well…what! You’re making me nervous…!”

“Okay, here it is. Ready for this one? I saw Maddie.”

My mind can’t seem to wrap itself around her words. “Maddie?”

Cora shakes her head in impatience, causing a whoosh of motion in her cloud of hair. She shoves it out of her face with one hand.

“Maddie…you know…the ‘she beat you up you put her in jail and ran home to Louisiana’ Maddie.”

Still foggy, I reply, “Where? She’s here in the city? When?”

“Oh, Jesus Christ!’ is Cora’s reply to this. “No, she’s not here. I saw her on the news last night. Arrested for involvement in some big prostitution ring in Phoenix. Quite a story. Something about underage girls from Mexico…just thought you would want to know.”

I know this part is a lie. Cora did notthink I would want to know. In fact, she most certainly knows I never want to hear Maddie’s name again, much less see her smug face on TV. Suddenly I’m angry. And tired. Tired of Cora and her fake concern.