Page 72 (1/2)
Was that where Allishon had gone all those nights and days she hadn’t coasp, Elise wrenched around
Her aunt was standing in the closet’s archway, and dear Lord … the female looked as if she had been in a car accident--ora motorcycle with her as the cyclist: her hair, once always coiffed and sprayed into a beautiful fall onto her shoulders, was a raggedthat were two shades darker than the streaky California blond so popular in the glymera And instead of a fashionable little Escada suit or St John knit, with plenty of pearls at her throat and on her ears, she was in a stained, wrinkled nightgown that once had been made of silk but now seemed to have more in common with a crumpled paper napkin
Her eyes ide and crazy
She wasn’t looking at Elise, however She was staring at the order of the hangers
"Did you do this?" the female asked in a wobbly voice
And as she came in a little farther, her steps were equally unsteady
"I’et it back in the box and shut the lid "I just … I didn’t knohat I could do to help"
And yeah, eavesdropping had been so frickin’ laudable
"Her things …" A frail hand reached out and brushed the clothing Elise had put to rights "God, how I hated these clothes of hers"
Elise pushed the safe back where it had been and got to her feet "I shouldn’t have coht You’ve done … a better job than I have"
"It wasn’t my business to--"
"We leased her that apart here all hours of the night Disheveled Drunk Drugged up The stench of sex on her"
An inner Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, started to go off in Elise’s head As did a refrain of Be careful what you wish for
This was not what she had iripped and twisted one of the short skirts "Her father felt certain that the banishment would be the corrective action for all her disobedience That she would get out there, realize her folly, and snap out of the behavior" The laugh was madness personified "Instead, she lived more on her own terms than ever before I couldn’t reach her He barely tried And all the ti us"
"Auntie, perhaps you should speak with Uncle--"
"I hated her" The female snapped the skirt free of its clips and threw it to the carpet "And I hate her even more in her death"
"I’m sure you don’t mean that--"
"Oh, but I do She was a filthy whore, then and always She got what she deserved--"