What a Mother Knows Read Online Free PDF

screamed at the locked door. “Nikki?” Michelle burst into tears. “Nikki!”
    â€œShe’s gone.”
    â€œWhere?” Michelle was shaking so hard she could barely stand. Had Nikki been in the accident? Had she been—Michelle couldn’t even say the word in her head. Maybe she was still asleep and this was a nightmare. Wake up, she told herself. But Drew was still there. And from the look on his face, she got the feeling that the nightmare was just beginning.
    He put his arm around her. “Calm down.”
    â€œCalm down? What are you not telling me?”
    â€œShe ran away.”
    â€œNo. Why are you saying that?” Michelle pressed her hand to the wall for support. He was making it up. And she had proof! She hurried to the bedroom.
    Drew followed her. “It was after the accident,” he said, following her. “She just…disappeared.”
    â€œNo, she didn’t!” Michelle yanked the drawer of her bedside table out so hard that it fell. Postcards went flying across the floor. She fell to her knees to collect them. “Look! The Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, Manly Beach…” She held one up to show him her handwriting in purple ink. “See? Thinking of you. Love, Nikki . She even made a flower dotting the i .”
    Drew reached to help her up, but she was too angry to accept his hand. He pointed at the smeared postmark.
    Michelle blinked back her tears. “What? I can’t read that tiny writing.”
    â€œIt says Los Angeles. They all do. They were mailed from here.”
    Michelle squinted to decipher the print. It was true. She knocked it from his hand, then sunk to the edge of the bed while he gathered the rest. She glared at him through her tears. The liar. “Where is she, Drew? What are you doing to find her?”
    Barking drowned out her voice as Bella dragged Tyler into the house. Michelle pushed herself up from the bed and shuffled to the doorway. “Tyler?” He peered down the hall, but looked past her to his father. He led the dog out of sight. The back door slammed shut and the barking grew faint.
    Michelle started after him, but Drew caught her shoulders. He spun her around like a lifeguard saving a drowning swimmer, then steered her back to the bed. He shut the door, then went into the bathroom. She heard the faucet gurgle, then he returned holding a cup of water out to her left hand.
    She took it, but she wasn’t thirsty. “What did the police say? Could she have been kidnapped?”
    â€œNo. There was no ransom note. Hundreds of kids run away every month.”
    â€œNot my kids!” Michelle slammed the cup down. Water spilled on the quilt.
    â€œOur kids,” Drew said.
    â€œYou know what I meant. I read to her every night, took her to every checkup, scheduled extra driving lessons for freeways and canyons—”
    â€œYou’re a good mother.”
    â€œThen why would she run away?” She felt as if someone had carved out her insides. And that someone was standing right in front of her. “How could you let this happen?”
    Drew crossed his arms. “Don’t put this on me.”
    â€œDid you put up fliers and freeway signs and post a reward on Facebook and everything? Are the police still looking?”
    â€œEveryone is looking,” Drew said.
    Michelle pushed herself up. “So why are you just standing there!”
    â€œI’m doing everything I can.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, everything? Nikki’s not here! She could be lying in an alley off Hollywood Boulevard, for all we know, shooting up heroin on some urine-stained mattress. She could be selling her body for food!” She punched his shoulder, then felt a shooting pain across her shoulders, rippling down her back. She squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered, her whole body collapsing, until Drew caught her. She whispered her worst fear. “What if she’s dead?”
    Drew