Runaway Mistress by Robyn Carr

nothing so much as a change of scenery and a chance to start over. I went to over twenty schools. That probably accounts for me being such a loner. After my grandparents died, my poor mother lost the only anchor she had and took her own life. I know she was crazy and sometimes miserable, but the fun times were so fun. And she was a dear. A lovely, kind, sweet but wacky woman. She loved me so. It made her feel so guilty that my life was so dysfunctional. But there were times when life seemed almost normal. You’d have liked her.
    I didn’t think I wanted ever to talk about that, but thank you for asking.
    Love,
    Doris
     
    Dear Doris,
    You are truly a remarkable young woman. I can’t imagine all you must have learned from that experience. What wisdom and tenacity! I’m sorry for the hard times, but so glad you knew your mother loved you.
    Now that you don’t have to be a caretaker to an ill parent, how do you suppose your life will change? Louise
     
    Change? Jennifer realized that Louise had the impression her mother had died recently, that Jennifer was poised on the brink of a new life.
    Well, maybe she was.
    We’re friends, Jennifer realized. Girl friends. This was something she’d never had. Every time she began to get close to a friend while growing up, she would be snatched away again and it would be lost. There were a couple of women she began to get close to in her twenties, but she couldn’t sustain the friendships because she was too private, too solitary. Women have to exchange personal items and secrets in barter for friendship and Jennifer hadn’t been up to the job. But now…With her eighty-year-old mentor, she was learning.
    She depended on the e-mails to sustain her.
    After writing to Louise, she would begin her Internet search for any news about Barbara Noble, but there had been none. She watched the Palm Beach news, subscribed to vital statistics networks, and read online news sources. Every once in a while Nick’s name would pop up, or he’d have his photo in the paper, which could be viewed online. He played in a charity golf tournament in Miami and bought a new yacht. He gave money to political campaigns and cut the ribbon on yet another new office building. His wife was never at his side, yet this didn’t seem to raise any alarms.
    But…if he was in Miami being a big shot, he was not in Las Vegas. It was possible he had people looking for her in his stead, but there was no one she feared recognizing her as much as Nick.
    Here’s how her life was going to change—she was going to get this business with Nick Noble behind her somehow and create an entirely new life for herself. She made up a new screen name on Louise’s Internet account and sent an e-mail to the Las Vegas Metro Police Department: Nick Noble of Palm Beach, killed his wife, Barbara Noble, in a Las Vegas hotel and disposed of the body. She hit Send, then deleted the screen name.
    She began to tremble. Could that be traced? She thought not. But the PD might connect Nick’s name with hers and the fact that she was missing. She thought about repeating the process with the Florida authorities, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was too afraid of being found out.
     
    Jennifer was taking the trash out of the diner’s back door and into the alley when she just about collided with Hedda, who was in a serious lip-lock with her boyfriend. Hedda giggled and separated herself from the boy. “Doris, this is Max,” she said.
    Jennifer said hi and Max hung his head shyly, looking up cautiously. She assumed he was sixteen, like Hedda. Boys that age came in all shapes and sizes, and this one was about six feet tall, thin as a noodle with size-twelve feet and spiked hair that had been bleached white. And black eyebrows. She almost said, “I was thinking of doing my hair that way,” and caught herself.
    It was also hard to tell with kids these days whether they looked like they were on welfare, or whether they were on welfare. Max