EXCERPT FROM BETRAYED - A romantic suspense novel | Page 51

BETRAYED

ELEVEN
If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to
bloom? ~Khalil Gibran
The relentless pounding in Maude’s head made her ears
ring. She knew in her heart Laurie wasn’t going to walk through
the door like the police said. The ringing got louder. With a
start, Maude realized the jangling noise was the telephone.
“Mrs. Murphy, this is Detective Barry Larson. We think we
may have found your daughter.”
Anger surged through her. All this time she’d been worrying
about something bad happening and now it looked like
everything was okay after all. She was so mad at having been
caused such an awful fright she could hardly speak.
The detective bellowed into the phone, “Mrs. Murphy? Did
you hear me? I said I think your daughter may have been
found.”
She said, “I heard, I heard. So you finally found that darn
fool girl. Well, Detective Larson, you just bring her home right
now. She has a lot to answer for. Imagine her upsetting Mary
Margaret and me like this. “
Even when he tried to tell her the bad news, Maude was so
mad she kept talking over him.
“How’d you find her? Was she with that Sherry? Was that
it? Was they together?” At last, she had to stop to catch her
breath.
The detective cleared his throat. “Mrs. Murphy, please calm
down and listen to me. I was going through reports from
hospitals, when one jumped out at me. An unidentified young
woman was beaten and raped, then left for dead in a vacant lot
on the South Side. I think there’s a good chance this Jane Doe is
your daughter.”
In a heartbeat, her anger turned to shock.

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