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CHAPTER ONE

‘But Leigh, you’re the private detective, not me,’ Debra pointed out firmly to her stepsister ‘I’m a tax accountant’

‘A tax accountant who is just about to start a week’s holiday and who doesn’t have to attend a business h interrupted quickly

Although there were six years between theh was the elder, it had always been Debra who had been the calh the impulsive cause of family chaos

‘Look, Debs, you kno ily now ‘After Paul left h my whole life was over Now, since Jen and I started up Secrets, I feel as though life actually has soain I wouldn’t ask you to help if there were anything difficult or dangerous involved It’s si a few days in an es and goings, that’s all

‘He won’t even know you’re there We’ve persuaded his next-door neighbour to go and visit her sister so that we can use her house I pro other than—’

‘Keep a twenty-four hour surveillance over so husband,’ Debra interrupted drily ‘Look, Leigh, I disapprove of men who cheat on their wives and families just as much as you do, but—’

‘This one isn’t cheating on his wife,’ Leigh told her flatly, her nor to seduce a seventeen-year-old into leaving ho to live with hi of woirls’ Her htened in distaste

‘According to her mother, Ginny is co either of her parents has to say They felt if they could present her with concrete evidence of the kind of h it will hurt her now, it will save herrun

‘She’s a clever girl, Debs, university material, with her whole life ahead of her, but thisclever young girls like her’

Debra sighed She could feel herself weakening And was it really so le her stepsister had had since her e broke up Deserted by her husband and with two sht froht, breezy, bubbly personality into a withdrawn, tornised

But since she and a friend had set up this detective agency specialising in handling cases mainly for other women she had recovered all her lost self-esteeh moderately successful, was still quite precariously balanced and very much in its infancy With her partner away on aoffered the opportunity to expand into a wider h should feel it was so essential that she not

Equally she could also understand why, having organised events so that a twenty-four-hour watch could be kept on thewith her to take her place in the next-door house and watch him for her

‘You won’t have to keep watch on hi her coaxingly now ‘I’ve arranged for Jeff to watch the house fro from a car outside’

Jeff was Leigh’s boyfriend, a solid, placid h, whoht an ideal partner for her more volatile stepsister

‘Look, I wouldn’t ask you if I weren’t absolutely desperate,’ Leigh told her ‘The parents are going to have the girls for me, but you’re the only person’

‘Soft enough to be persuaded into helping you out,’ Debra finished drily for her ‘All right,’ she agreed, adding under her breath, ‘I just hope I don’t end up regretting this’

‘You won’t,’ Leigh promised her ‘Look, I’ll have to take you round to introduce you to Mrs Johnson You’re her god-daughter and you’re staying at the house to keep an eye for it while she’s away