A.L. Jambor - Where's Audrey? Read Online Free PDF

her bag on the floor next to the sofa. She smelled food, but wasn’t sure if Vera had eaten already, or had made something for both of them. She sat on the sofa and waited for Vera to say something.
    “Are you hungry?” Vera asked.
    “Yes,” Mel said. “I didn’t have a chance to eat when I got here.”
    “I just had some soup and a sandwich. Would you like some?”
    “Please.”
    “Come into the kitchen and I’ll heat it up.”
    There was a tiny table pushed up against the wall with two chairs. Mel sat in one while Vera heated up the leftover soup.
    “I have some ham and cheese if you’d like a sandwich,” Vera said.
    “No, the soup will be fine.”
    Mel could see steam rising from the pot of soup. It smelled good, but she couldn’t discern what kind it was. She saw Vera ladle some into a large mug. As she hobbled over to the table, Mel noticed how much Vera’s hands shook. She stood, reached out, and took the mug before Vera got to the table.
    “Thank you,” Vera said. “But I would have gotten it there.”
    Mel looked in the mug. It was some sort of bean soup. Not her favorite, but it would be incredibly rude to say so after Vera risked her life to bring it to her.
    “Grace tells me you’re here checking up on Audrey,” Vera said.
    “Nana hasn’t heard from her in a while and got worried.”
    Vera made a face. “It’s just like her to go off and leave people wondering what happened. She has no respect for anyone else.”
    Mel was surprised by Vera’s words. She thought all old people liked each other, like a club or something. Vera’s voice dripped with anger.
    “Why do you say that?” Mel asked.
    “Because I know her,” Vera said. “She’s not a nice person.”
    “Really?”
    Vera nodded. “When she first came to Florida, I let her stay with me. She loved the park and decided to buy a home there.”
    “You lived in Holiday Oaks?”
    “I did. And I was kind enough to introduce her to all my friends. Soon, she became their friend, and I became the object of their ridicule.”
    “That’s terrible.”
    “Indeed. They shunned me after she came. I didn’t have a friend left. It got so bad, I had to move.”
    “Why would she do that?”
    “Because she wanted…my boyfriend.”
    “She stole your boyfriend?”
    “She did. His name was Tom, and we had been going together for over two years. That all ended the day he met her. Brazen hussy.”
    Mel suppressed a smile. “Well, if he went for her like that, he wasn’t a very good boyfriend.”
    “She turned his head. With her facelift and her tummy tuck. We all knew about her. He couldn’t help himself. She was Delilah and he was Samson.”
    “When did this happen?” Mel asked.
    “In 1997.”
    And she was still hurt. Wow. “I’m sorry to hear she treated you so bad.”
    “Badly, yes.”
    “Then I guess you don’t know what happened to her.”
    “I’m not privy to what goes on in that park anymore. But I wouldn’t worry about Audrey. She always took care of herself, no matter whom it hurt.”
    “Did you know her before she moved down here?”
    “We went to high school together.”
    Holy crap, Mel thought. “Were you friends then?”
    “I was friends with Grace .”
    Mel finished her soup and got up to take the mug to the sink. She rinsed it out and turned to look at Vera. “I’m kind of tired. Where’s the bathroom?”
    Vera used her thumb to point behind her. “It’s down the hall.”
    Mel went to the sofa and took her toiletries out of her bag along with her sleep shirt. She had to pass Vera on her way to the bathroom and noted the miserable look on her face. It was sad that she had never gotten over what Audrey had done, if that’s what Audrey had done. It seemed out of character for her to steal someone’s boyfriend. It also seemed out of character for her to have plastic surgery.
    When Mel came out of the bathroom, Vera was in her bedroom at the other end of the hall. Mel could hear the TV and wondered if she