The Liar

Read The Liar for Free Online

Book: Read The Liar for Free Online
Authors: Nora Roberts
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance, Mystery & Detective
decided she’d keep that to herself, just return them or keep them, depending on what seemed best when this was all said and done.
    “The place is immaculate.” The realtor beamed at Shelby, gave her a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. “Your cleaning crew did a terrific job.”
    Shelby thought of her midnight scrubbings and polishings, and only smiled. “I want it to show well.”
    “Believe me, it does. Short sales can be tricky, and will put some potential buyers off, but I’m confident we’re going to get offers, good ones, and quickly.”
    “I hope you’re right. I wanted to say, I’ve got someone coming in Monday morning to see about the furniture, but if anyone who comes in is interested in buying it, any of it, I’m going to price it to sell.”
    “That’s excellent! There are so many wonderful pieces. I’ll make sure we let people know.”
    She took a last critical look around herself, thought of the gun, the papers, the cash she’d locked in the safe in Richard’s office.
    Then she hefted the big bag she habitually carried.
    “Callie and I are going to get out of the way. I have errands to run.”
    And a minivan to buy.
    •   •   •
    H ER DADDY MIGHT NOT have approved that she didn’t buy American, but the five-year-old Toyota she’d found through CarMax got high ratings on safety and reliability. And the price was right.
    The price got better when she made herself haggle—offering cash. Real cash.
    Her hands wanted to shake as she counted it out—half now, the rest when she picked the car up the next afternoon—but she bore down hard.
    Maybe she had to pull over three blocks away, rest her forehead on the wheel. She’d never in her life spent so much money in one place. Never in her life bought a car.
    Now she let herself shake, but it wasn’t from nerves, no, not now. It was from stunning delight.
    Shelby Anne Pomeroy—because that’s who she was down into it, whatever the legal papers said—had just bought a 2010 Toyota minivan in happy cherry red. By herself. On her own.
    And had shaved a thousand dollars off the deal because she hadn’t been afraid to ask for it.
    “We’re going to be fine, Callie,” she said, though her daughter was deep in her
Shrek
zone. “We’re going to be just fine.”
    She used her cell, called the leasing company and arranged for them to pick up the SUV. And bearing down again, made herself ask for a ride to pick up the minivan.
    Might as well deal with the insurance while she was at it, and Callie was in her zone. She’d just consider the SUV her office, temporarily.
    Once she arranged for the car insurance to be transferred, she checked the online site where she’d listed the wine for sale.
    “Oh my goodness, Callie, we’ve got bids!”
    Delighted, fascinated, she scrolled through, adding in her head, and found over a thousand dollars already bid.
    “I’m going to put another twelve bottles up tonight, that’s just what I’m going to do.”
    Since it seemed her luck was running hot, she geared herself up for the drive into Philadelphia. Even with the GPS she made three wrong turns, had her belly knotted by the traffic. But she found the fur shop, hauled the never-worn chinchilla and her daughter inside.
    To her surprise, no one looked at her like she was pathetic, or made her feel small for returning the coat. And that carved away a major chunk from a credit card, knocking the principal down to not-quite-as-scary, and lowered the painful interest rate.
    She’d sat frozen for too long, Shelby admitted, and treated her little girl to a Happy Meal. Way, way too long. She’d broken the ice now, and damn it, she intended to make a flood.
    She waited until she was out of the city again, gassed up the car—cursed the cold and the price of gas—then drove aimlessly for a while as Callie had fallen asleep.
    Twice she drove by her own house—or the lender’s house—and kept going when she counted the cars out in front. That was good,

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