Made to Be Broken Read Online Free PDF

and Sammi and Destiny weren't home. Yesterday morning, I went back, 'cause I was worried, but Janie ran me off, said Sammi was gone and good riddance."
    "Did Sammi say anything unusual when you gave her a ride?"
    Tess shook her head and blew her nose on the napkin.
    "New boyfriend?" I asked.
    Another head shake.
    "What about Trent? Did they get back in contact? Maybe she followed him out to Vancouver."
    Tess made a noise of disgust. "That asshole couldn't get away from here fast enough, get on with his new college life where no one knew he'd had a kid. Sammi would never lower herself to going after him. And even if he asked her to, she'd tell him where to stuff it."
    "Did she make a new friend? Acquaintance?"
    "No."
    "Did she say she wanted to leave?"
    "No more than usual. She mentions it, but it's the same old 'God, I hate this town' shit that we all say."
    "Had she said it more often recently?"
    She shook her head. "Since she's been working for you, she hasn't said it as much. She has a plan now. Her mom makes her pay rent, but almost all the rest goes in the bank and she figures by the time Destiny's ready for school, she'll have enough to move to Oshawa or Kingston."
    She circled a fry through her ketchup, then set it down and looked at me. "She's grateful, for the job and all. I'm sure she's never said so, but she is. It's just really hard on her. She wants to work, but she doesn't want to leave Destiny with a sitter. Sammi... she pretty much raised herself and I tell her it's not the same thing if she finds a good sitter, but to her it still feels like abandoning Destiny."
    "Maybe she saw your point and decided the problem was that she couldn't find good child care here. In the city, that wouldn't be as much of a problem."
    "I just... I don't think she left."
    "Did she give you anything recently? An unexpected gift? Something she owned? Maybe seem more sentimental than usual?"
    Tess paused to think, then shook her head.
    "Did she start taking an interest in other places? Buying the city papers, looking for an apartment or a job?"
    "No, she hates reading. She – " Tess lowered her voice. "She's not very good at it."
    "Okay, so – "
    "Wait. There was something. Not a job, really, but something she didn't want anyone else to know."
    I leaned onto my elbows. "What?"
    Tess glanced around, but no one was within ten feet of our booth. "There was this guy, a tourist, a few weeks ago when we had that warm spell. He saw Sammi and Destiny at the park. He worked for some modeling agency in Toronto. He told Sammi – "
    " – she could be a model," I finished.
    "No, not Sammi. Destiny. His agency works with babies. He took a bunch of pictures of her, then wrote down Sammi's number and said he'd call in a few days. Only he never did. She was real broken up about it. She'd hoped it might be a way to make extra money and get out of here even sooner."
    "Maybe she went to Toronto looking for him."
    "If she did, she would have taken her mom's truck. But that's not like Sammi, anyway. She doesn't go begging." She twisted her napkin. "I think someone took her."
    "Took her?"
    "You know. A serial killer. A rapist. I told her she shouldn't go walking the back roads at night, but she always laughed, you know. Said no one would grab a girl with a baby."
    My gut went cold. "When did Sammi do this?"
    "Every night, around dusk. Said it was good for Destiny. The fresh air helped her sleep."
    "But we don't know that Sammi went out Sunday night."
    Tess shot up straight, eyes gleaming fierce. "Yes, we do. That's what I told Don. Kira's mom saw Sammi walk past their place around eight. She went for her walk and she never came back. That's what I've been trying to tell everyone."
    After lunch, I dropped Tess off at her car and told her I'd keep in touch. Then I drove the route she'd said Sammi usually took on her evening walk, and found nothing.
    Next stop: talk to the person who'd last seen Sammi.
    Meredith Desmond was Kira's mother. They lived in a