Finders Keepers by Fern Michaels Page A

one to drive to New York. The car would be registered in Sophie’s name. Sophie had secured an apartment for her on her last trip to New York and paid the rent for six full months. Another debt she owed her best friend. Starting in September all correspondence would be sent to Sophie’s apartment while she attended classes at Tulane. It was an intricate system of subterfuge, one Sophie insisted would work.
    For starters, her best friend had not only lent her the money for the apartment, but also for the first year’s tuition. She had also said she was taking care of the school-transcript requirements, so her parents couldn’t trace her through the university. Sophie was so worldly. Sophie could do anything. Sophie was her friend. The Rolands thought she was going to Georgia Tech, where she had also been accepted. With a 4.0 average she could have named the college of her choice. She knew in her heart the moment she left for college her parents would start making plans to move back to Atlanta. She wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find out they had already done just that. Weren’t they going to be surprised.
    Plain and simple, Jessie was going to disappear. With Sophie’s foolproof plan she would have a week’s head start. The first thing she was going to do before she left for Atlanta in the morning was to go to the bank and take a healthy hit from her trust fund. Sophie said she needed to take enough to live well for the first year. “Your parents won’t realize what you did for at least a month or until the next bank statement comes in,” Sophie said in her authoritative voice. She’d gone on to say, “Trust me.”
    It all came down to planning. For days now she’d been shopping, buying clothes that students were wearing in New York, according to Sophie, who was knowledgeable on every subject in the universe. “No matter what, Jessie, you can count on me.” It was all Jessie needed to hear. The plan moved forward. Tomorrow phase one, as she thought of it, would go into effect.
    Jessie stretched out her legs. It was going to be so wonderful to get away from her obsessive, domineering mother. She would miss her father, though. She would miss Ellie, too, but she wouldn’t miss her mother at all. In fact when she drove away she knew she wouldn’t look back. Nor would she ever return. She was young, strong, healthy, and she could make it on her own. It was her plan to work while attending college. One way or the other she was going to make it on her own. She had a brain and had proved it by skipping the ninth grade and going straight into her sophomore year. She was on par with Sophie now, who was also a sophomore at Tulane.
    Life was going to be wonderful, but if she didn’t start moving, something was going to go awry. She shoved her treasure trove to the small doorway and pushed it through. Then she backed out and closed the door. Within minutes she had her things secured in the trunk of the BMW along with all the new clothes she’d purchased, still in their shopping bags. The trunk was full. The best part of everything was, she wasn’t taking a thing her parents had bought her. She was going to make a clean break and never look back.
    Back in her bedroom, Jessie took a shower and dressed for the morning. There was no way she would sleep tonight. She would sit up and read and perhaps go downstairs to make a cup of tea. Bright and early she’d be ready for her trip to Atlanta.
    Instead of reading, Jessie found herself rocking in her favorite chair. An overwhelming feeling of sadness swept over her, and she didn’t know why. Just earlier she’d been elated at the prospect of her freedom. Maybe it was the picture of her parents on her dresser that had appeared one day right after her tenth birthday. When she opened her eyes in the morning it was the first thing she saw. When she was younger she’d wished that someone would