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Back The Mother Next Door
Chapters (84)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. HALLOWEEN
  6. Seven Weeks Before Halloween
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. HALLOWEEN
  11. Six Weeks Before Halloween
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. HALLOWEEN
  16. Five Weeks Before Halloween
  17. SEVEN
  18. EIGHT
  19. HALLOWEEN
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. HALLOWEEN
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. Twenty-Five Days Until Halloween
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. HALLOWEEN
  29. FIFTEEN
  30. SIXTEEN
  31. SEVENTEEN
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. HALLOWEEN
  36. Eighteen Days Until Halloween
  37. TWENTY-ONE
  38. TWENTY-TWO
  39. HALLOWEEN
  40. TWENTY-THREE
  41. TWENTY-FOUR
  42. Eleven Days Until Halloween
  43. TWENTY-FIVE
  44. TWENTY-SIX
  45. Eight Days Until Halloween
  46. TWENTY-SEVEN
  47. TWENTY-EIGHT
  48. TWENTY-NINE
  49. HALLOWEEN
  50. THIRTY
  51. Four Days Until Halloween
  52. THIRTY-ONE
  53. HALLOWEEN
  54. THIRTY-TWO
  55. Two Days Until Halloween
  56. THIRTY-THREE
  57. The Night Before Halloween
  58. THIRTY-FOUR
  59. HALLOWEEN
  60. THIRTY-FIVE
  61. Halloween, Present Day
  62. THIRTY-SIX
  63. THIRTY-SEVEN
  64. HALLOWEEN
  65. THIRTY-EIGHT
  66. HALLOWEEN
  67. THIRTY-NINE
  68. HALLOWEEN
  69. FORTY
  70. HALLOWEEN
  71. FORTY-ONE
  72. FORTY-TWO
  73. FORTY-THREE
  74. FORTY-FOUR
  75. HALLOWEEN... NOW
  76. FORTY-FIVE
  77. Seven Months Later
  78. FORTY-SIX
  79. FORTY-SEVEN
  80. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  81. ALICE SWANSON’S
  82. Reader's Guide
  83. Questions for Discussion
  84. Booklist

She eyed me up and down. “The wise owl, huh? And Kendra McCaul. The sly fox.” Maggie laughed, her cheeks streaked with glitter makeup. “You know, you really should wear better shoes. Your feet are going to be killing you by the end of the night.”

I looked down at my ankle boots. She was probably right, but while flats were safe and comfortable, they were never going to get you any second looks.

When I didn’t say anything, Maggie got back to business. “Listen, I’m sorry about the story. I tried to get them to re-edit, but they wouldn’t do it. I hope Adam wasn’t upset?”

“It’s fine.”

“Do you want to hear what the second part of my story’s going to be about?”

I shook my head. “Nope.” The whole thing had already caused me enough trouble. “It’s okay. I can find out when the world does. But I need you to leave now.”

She didn’t stand. She let out a deep disappointed sigh. “So, they got to you, eh?” She rubbed her palms on her poufy pink dress. “I figured they would. I’d just hoped you were smarter than that.”

You know nothing about me, I wanted to say. But I kept silent. I wanted to go upstairs and crawl under our weighted blanket and sleep for a very long time. I didn’t want to play these games anymore.

“Okay, I’ll go. But isn’t there a part of you that thinks it’s odd? Why would Daphne leave all those kids up in the attic alone and go off to kill herself? It just doesn’t make sense.” Now Maggie did stand, tapping her index finger against her lips. She paced my living room like we were playing a murder-mystery game and she was in the role of the detective. “Why not wait until the moms came to get their kids? The party was wrapping up by that point anyway.”

“I have no idea,” I said.

“I’m talking to someone who knows what really happened. It’s all going to come out, Theresa,” Maggie said. “Don’t you want to be on the right side of history?”

Kendra’s words from last night echoed in my head. It’s just better for everyone if Maggie’s story goes away.

“Let it be, Maggie. It’s a sad thing. The girl was depressed. End of story.”

“But see, she was actually pretty happy.”

“And you have proof of this?”

A slow smile curled up Maggie’s face, but she didn’t answer my question. She slung her bag over her shoulder. I was relieved she was finally going.