In Plain Sight Read Online Free PDF Page A

that Amalie was married to Lincoln Moss, and as Dennis said, everyone in the world knows who Lincoln Moss is. He had, according to Rosalee, been beating and abusing Amalie for years. She said Moss would never let Amalie out of his sight, and there was always security around her. There was no way for her to get away. Rosalee said she was worried that Amalie was going to do something to herself because she’d finally given up.
    “It wasn’t easy, and I can give you the details later, but we managed to get her and Rosalee to safety. Rosalee didn’t want to go into the program, but we convinced her, knowing what we all do about Lincoln Moss, that it was in her best interest to go with Amalie.
    “Right off the bat, we moved both women to Boise, Idaho, by way of our underground railroad. They stayed there decompressing for eight months. Over the next four months we transported them through four different states, and they stayed one month in each state, so we could monitor Moss’s activities—which, by the way, were none. A year to the day, both women signed in to the Good Samaritan Clinic for just enough surgery to alter their appearances. Amalie was particularly hard because she is so beautiful. She is still beautiful, but she no longer looks as she did when she lived with Lincoln Moss. Rosalee was easy. Over the course of the year, she dropped thirty-five pounds. She was a bit . . . ah . . . overweight when she came to us. We changed their hairstyles, hair color, the usual. Add giving them colored contact lenses, which doesn’t sound like much, but factor in the minor surgery, and you’re looking at entirely different individuals.
    “During all of that time, we had speech therapists working with Amalie so she could rid herself of her French accent. She now speaks English better than any of us. But . . . if she stresses out, she reverts to French, which is not a good thing. She loves American slang and excels at it. Rosalee was no problem even though she’s of Mexican descent. She was born here, and English is her natural voice.”
    “After the surgery, where did you put them?” Myra asked.
    “In plain sight, in Arlington, Virginia. We had a little house we rented for the two of them. We got both of them part-time jobs, so they would blend in with the neighborhood. They drive ten-year-old Honda Civics. Rosalee works at the Home Builders Depot part-time, and Amalie works in the local library part-time, in the reference department. They never go out to eat or to the movies or anyplace where they can be scrutinized. No one really pays attention to salespeople or librarians. In their spare time, they do a lot of gardening, raise some vegetables, grow a lot of flowers. They painted and decorated the little cottage to meet their needs. They were happy. Truly happy. Rosalee even had a boyfriend of sorts, a young man she met at her place of work. Nothing romantic, just good friends. Yes, the young man was vetted up one side and down the other, and he is exactly who he says he is, a college student working during the summer to help with his tuition.
    “There is no computer at the cottage. We explained that the temptation was too great, that Amalie might want to contact her family, what’s left of it, back in France, even though she said she wouldn’t. She swore to us on her mother’s soul that she would not use the computers at the library. We lied and told her we would be able to tell if she did. As far as I know, she honored the promises she made to us.
    “They attend church services every Sunday and blend in well in the little community they live in.”
    “I guess you gave them new identities,” Harry said. “What are their new names?”
    Pearl swallowed hard. When Kathryn banged her fist on the table, Pearl almost jumped out of her skin. “Amalie is now Patricia Olsen. Everyone calls her Patty. Rosalee is Emily Appleton. Before you can ask, the young man she is seeing is Jason Woods. He is studying to be an