No Safe Secret by Fern Michaels Read Free Book Online Page A

ham, and a good salami. She picked up two jars of preserves—apricot and strawberry. To her, this was a meal, but when dealing with such a large group, as she knew from experience, one could never have too much food.
    She took a red velvet cake from the enclosed glass case. There wasn’t enough time to make something from scratch.
    She finished her shopping and stopped to chat with Gloria before heading to the checkout. “I’ll use the pasta and pesto for tomorrow night’s dinner. I’ve already got enough food here to feed a small army,” she explained, gesturing at the small cart she’d exchanged for the basket she had picked up when she first arrived.
    Gloria laughed. “You love every single minute of the prep, right down to the last detail, and don’t try to tell me otherwise. As I’ve said in the past, anytime you want to come and work for me, a job is yours.”
    Molly laughed out loud, the sound foreign to her ears. She didn’t have much to laugh about these days. “I don’t think Tanner would approve, but thanks for the offer. I have that fancy kitchen, you know. We just remodeled last fall. I’m still searching for some of my pots and misplaced gadgets.” She and Gloria always made small talk, but other than the fact that they shared a love of cooking and each had a daughter, Molly knew virtually nothing about the woman she’d been acquainted with for at least fifteen years. Looking at her watch, she realized she had lingered much too long. She would need at least three hours to prep and prepare dinner. Maybe she would enlist Kristen’s help tonight, though she felt sure her daughter had other plans. At seventeen, and it being the summer after her senior year, she rarely spent an evening at home. Tomorrow, Kristen would be leaving for Europe, where she and her best friend, Charlotte, would spend the next two months on a bike-and-barge tour. Tanner didn’t approve, but Kristen had begged and pleaded until she got her way. And tomorrow was the big day.
    Molly loaded her car with the recyclable bags, careful to arrange them so they didn’t topple over. Once she was satisfied, she closed the door. She didn’t dare store the fish in the trunk.
    Driving back to their house on Riverbend Road, she thought back to the day that she’d first laid eyes on Tanner.

Chapter Four
    A fter three days of rest, Maddy/Molly was ready to get back on the road. She had no clue where she would go, but she hoped to go as far north as her money and the old Mustang would take her. Boston, she thought. She’d often dreamed of attending Harvard.
    When the money was gone, then she really would have to settle down and find work, and the Wilkins Motel would be nothing more than a distant memory. She’d packed the clothes she’d purchased at Walmart in the shopping bag they’d provided when she’d purchased them. She put her few toiletry items in a clean wastebasket liner. Promising herself she would burn her prom dress, she removed it from the bottom of the closet and stuffed it in another clean wastebasket liner. She made a promise: as soon as she was settled, she would set fire to that dress. That way, maybe she could burn that night from her memory.
    She glanced around the room that had been her home for the past three days, making sure that she had left nothing behind. She scanned the room, then searched the bathroom. The only sign of her was the small sliver of bath soap placed neatly in the soap dish. She’d soaked in the tub twice daily and used her shampoo as bubble bath. She’d loved staying at the motel in spite of the circumstances that had brought her here. Mrs. Wilkins’s cleaning crew changed the sheets daily. Fresh towels were given out to all the guests whether they needed them or not. And just as she’d told her when she’d registered three mornings ago, there was fresh coffee from six in the morning until