Then Carrie looked up and saw that her mother had walked over to the enemy camp. Rose was smiling encouragement at her, waiting for her to give the toy back to Angel. Carrie stayed still as long as she dared. Rose continued to smile. Finally Carrie capitulated and walked slowly across the room. She held out the dinosaur. Angel's mother took one look at Carrie's face and stopped her son from grabbing the prize, but Rose said softly, “Carrie wants Angel to have it, don't you, darling?” Her eyes were shining. Carrie nodded her head. Angel grabbed the dinosaur and it was at that moment that the photographer who had been hired to record the shelter's first Christmas for the cardinal's holiday bulletin got a sweet shot of little Carrie Manning in her Santa hat handing over one of her very own toys to a kid named Angel Rodriguez. Angel clutched his booty and gave Carrie a sneer of triumph. Carrie wondered how hard she'd have to kick him to make him bleed.

But then the photographer got a second picture that was even sweeter than the first one when Carrie's beautiful mommy scooped up her little girl in her arms and said joyfully, “That's my girl! You're going to be so happy you did this, Carrie.”

No one knew it yet, but those shots were the beginning of Rose's career as a humanitarian. They also started Carrie's career as a fraud.

Chapter 4 - New York City 2008

CARRIE SHIFTED ON her stoop. After all the years, she still wondered what would have happened if the photographer hadn't been in the exact spot to take those first pictures. Because somehow those shots of Rose and Carrie were leaked to a little freebie newsletter that grocery stores and shops on the Upper West Side handed out to customers. Rose and Father Xavier never did find out how it happened—the photographer swore she hadn't done it—but the pictures caused a stir. Part of the reason was that the story of the mother-and-daughter philanthropists was so heartwarming. But most of the buzz was about Bobby Manning's widow, who had been out of the public eye for so long, suddenly resurfacing as an angel of mercy. Several other newspapers and a couple of talk radio shows picked up the story (“The society queen who became Lady Bountiful” was the way one of the radio shows led off). So many people wrote to the archdiocese to ask about Rose that she and Father Xavier created a boilerplate letter with her signature on it, which provided information about the shelter. People started donating money after reading about the suffering of the residents, and the higher-ups in the church took notice. Rose was asked to make a speech on behalf of the shelter at a luncheon given by the Starling Enterprise, one of the biggest charitable foundations in the city