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Back The Mother Next Door Save as PDF
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

“It’s a piece of jewelry.” I tugged at Barney, who had started to wedge his way into Mrs. Tressle’s bushes. “One that you don’t apparently like to wear much anymore, I’ve noticed.”

“Oh I’m sorry. Do you have a spreadsheet for that, too?”

I sighed, trying not to take the bait. “She’s not a vampire, for fuck’s sake. Besides, is it a terrible thing to have the wife of Woodard’s principal on our side?”

Bettina shrugged. “I just don’t like secrets, I guess.” She rubbed her upper arms. “Not now.”

I knew she wasn’t talking about Theresa anymore. “I’m sorry, okay? I should’ve told you about the message. Will you ever ever ever forgive me?”

The minivan stopped in front of Alice’s house, and a family hopped out, snapping pictures. Alice’s porch looked amazing. Bettina and I crossed the street to avoid the gawkers.

“I just want to make sure we’re all okay,” Bettina said.

The leaves crunched under our feet, and Barney sniffed the ground ahead, a dog with a purpose, never straying from his path. I didn’t blame him. I didn’t want to look to the side either. Into the night. I was afraid of what I might see.

“I do, too,” I finally said. I’d been contemplating our next move, since Jimmy-O was no help. He was either terrible at his job, or not taking us seriously. It wasn’t like Jackie was some master secret agent or survivalist. She couldn’t be that hard to track down.

“So what do we do?” Bettina asked.

I waited until Bettina met my eye, then said quietly, “We need to find her ourselves.”

Or, rather, I would have to find her. Because once again, Kendra was going to have to step in and get the job done. Kendra was going to have to confront our former friend and figure out what the hell she was up to. Why she wanted to ruin everything—again.

“And how do you think we’ll do that?” Bettina asked, stepping to the curb as the sidewalks narrowed. She had her guard up, I could tell, but unlike Alice, Bettina got stronger in a crisis. I remembered her steadiness that long-ago night. She could be hard to win over, but once she was your friend, she was loyal for life.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. I’d been stewing about it the past few days, poking at the problem with a big, sharp stick, and getting nowhere. “I can’t think of anyone she’d stay in touch with.”

When Jackie left, she cut all ties. Plus, if we asked too many questions of too many people, wouldn’t that look suspicious?