Ферн Майклз - Truth and Justice

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Truth and Justice: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

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**Fern Michaels is a national treasure, and her latest in** **the Sisterhood series finds the stalwart friends bringing justice --and hope--to families devastated by a greedy con artist.**
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**The Sisterhood: a group of women from all walks of life bound by friendship and a quest for justice. Armed with vast resources, top-notch expertise, and a loyal network of allies around the globe, the Sisterhood will not rest until every wrong is made right.**
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When Alexis Thorn and Joe Esposito encounter a young woman sobbing alone in a restaurant, they step into action and offer their comfort and sympathy. They soon learn that the woman's husband was recently killed in action in Afghanistan. Before he reported for duty, they took steps to preserve their chances of having children. But when Bella visits the fertility clinic, she discovers her eggs are no longer there--and the...

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Myra was stunned when Annie and Avery both said they agreed with her.

“All right then, we’ll keep this to ourselves for now. Why don’t we go upstairs and see about a late lunch. Those pancakes Maggie made were a long time ago.”

“Weenies?” Annie asked hopefully.

“Spot on, sister.” Myra giggled.

“I like hot dogs,” Avery said.

“Then let’s do it,” Annie said, rushing to the stairs. “Boiled, fried, or grilled?”

“Grilled,” Myra and Avery shouted at the same time.

“Three dogs coming right up,” Annie shouted happily.

* * *

The girls sat in the Post van outside Sara’s house in Kalorama. The rain was pounding down. “We’ll be soaked before we get to the door, which means we’ll be leaving puddles all over the house,” Kathryn said.

“I don’t think any of us care, Kathryn. Can you tell if the alarm is on? If it is, it will be glowing red. She left in a hurry, so hopefully she forgot to set it. I can pick this lock, but before we open the door, we need to know about the alarm. Look through the side window and tell me what you see,” Nikki directed.

“It’s green,” Maggie said.

“Hot damn,” Nikki said, working the pick-lock the way Annie had taught her.

“Move! Move! Move!” Kathryn shouted to be heard over the heavy rainfall. “Quick! Lock the door. Let’s split up and go over this house with a fine-toothed comb. I know that’s an old, tired cliché, but this woman is one smart cookie, and we do not want to miss anything. This house has to be at least six thousand square feet. Almost a mansion. If you let your mind jump ahead with seven or eight sperm donations, this would be a house for seven or eight kids.”

“She hasn’t furnished it all yet. It’s giving off a kind of temporary feel to me,” Yoko said.

“I’m picking up on that, too,” Isabelle said.

“Considering her life these past years, I think this is how she lives. There is no permanency to this place, at least not that I’m feeling,” Maggie added.

“Let’s branch out. I’ll take the second floor with Maggie,” Nikki said.

“Yoko and I will take the kitchen and dining room. The family room is empty, no furniture, nothing on the shelves, no carpeting to rip up. Just closed blinds on the windows. Did you all notice that all the blinds are closed?” Kathryn asked. The Sisters all said they had noticed. Sara with a million aliases was a very private person.

“I’ll take the makeshift office, which is here off the kitchen in this alcove. That’s where her computer is,” Isabelle said.

“I guess that leaves the garage for me,” Alexis said. “Let’s get to it, girls. For all we know, the urgent care facility could release her and just order bed rest. Maybe someone should turn down her bed just in case.”

The Sisters hooted and hollered to show what they thought of that idea.

It took only an hour before the girls met up in the kitchen. “Let’s hear it,” Maggie said.

“Refrigerator is full of healthy food. There’s a row of vitamin bottles on the windowsill over the sink. Prominent among said vitamins is a bottle of prenatal vitamins. Everything appears to be new. Nothing looks used. Very little in the way of pantry goods. No alcohol to be seen. Cleaning supplies under the sink. That’s about it.

“The master bedroom is all girly and fancy, lots of ribbons and doodads. To me it looked like the bedroom of a seventeen-year-old. Lots of perfume bottles, lots of jewelry, looks real to me. All kinds of clothes, designer and off-the-rack plus rummage-sale items. She’s ready for whatever comes her way. All the bedrooms are empty. All have bathrooms. Nothing. But there are paint and cloth swatches, both pink and blue, in one of the bedrooms. There was nothing on the second floor of any interest to us.

“Garage is clean as a whistle. You know, like someone just moved in who didn’t have anything to put in a garage but a car. No paint cans, no Weedwacker, nothing. A lightbulb, that’s it, plus an oil stain on the garage floor,” Alexis said.

Isabelle held up Sara’s laptop. “I can’t crack this here. We have to take it with us. I’m going to need Phil’s help. There are a few receipts in the cubbyholes in this little desk. All in the name of Sara Nolan. Everything I’ve seen says Sara Nolan. I wonder if she actually changed her name legally.”

“Where’s her stuff?” Maggie demanded. “Where’s her life? You know, the stuff you never leave home without. Like my backpack. I would never leave that unless my house was burning down and I couldn’t get to it. It’s not here, so she must have taken it with her. Someone text Avery and have him ask his people if they saw her take anything into urgent care? If she didn’t, have him tell them to ransack her car. And tell them to hurry it up.”

“I’ll do it,” Kathryn volunteered. She started to tap the keys on her phone in a near frenzy.

Twenty-five minutes later, Kathryn received a text from the old spy. “She went into urgent care empty-handed. Her car is clean. The only thing they found was a box of tissues and a pair of sunglasses. Okay, girls, fan out and search every inch of this house. There’s a bag or a box here somewhere with, as Maggie said, her stuff. For all we know she could have a built-in safe somewhere. Fine-tooth comb, inch by inch. Take your time and be careful.”

The Sisters muttered and mumbled as they searched the house Sara with a million aliases lived in. Two hours later, they once again met in the kitchen, hands up in the air to indicate nothing had been found.

“I don’t believe this. I don’t think she’d bury it outside. Every time she wanted something, she’d have to dig it up to get it. Maybe she rented one of those oversize safe deposit boxes at a bank. But that is more or less like burying something outside, she’d have to get in her car, go to the bank, and get into the vault. No, it’s got to be here. She’s no fool. In fact, I think she’s supersmart. Let’s all just stand here, close our eyes, visualize all the rooms, and ask ourselves where you would hide your stuff,” Kathryn suggested.

The girls did as instructed. Ten minutes went by, then another ten, before Maggie bellowed at the top of her lungs. “There is no place. She hid it somewhere else. We’re beating a dead horse here!”

“No, we’re not! I think I know where it is,” Nikki said, excitement ringing in her voice.

“Where? Where?” the girls shouted.

“Look around, girls, what do you see?” Nikki asked.

“Well, since we’re in the kitchen, a table and chairs and a bunch of basically empty cabinets. We went through them all. Canned soup, macaroni, cereal,” Maggie said.

“What’s under the sink? What did you see?” Nikki asked.

“Cleaning supplies, trash bags, dishwasher soap, dust mitten, duct tape. That’s it. I have that same stuff under my own sink at home,” Alexis said.

“How much duct tape?” Nikki asked.

“Maybe a quarter of a roll. There wasn’t much left on it.” To prove her point, Alexis opened the sink cabinet and pulled out the remains of a roll of gray duct tape. “So what are you saying? She taped something somewhere? But we took this house apart and didn’t find a thing,” she said.

“That’s because we didn’t look in the right place. Girls, grab hold of the kitchen table and be careful, it’s solid oak and heavy, turn it over, and tell me what you see!” Nikki said, bubbling with excitement.

The expletives rang loud and clear in the cavernous kitchen as the Sisters stared at all the ziplock bags duct-taped to the underside of the table. They ripped at them in a frenzy. “I always put my roasts or a big chicken in this size ziplock bag and put them in the freezer so they don’t get freezer burn,” Nikki said.

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