Deadly Embrace by Jackie Collins (best 7 inch ereader .TXT) 📗

stared at them. ‘Why’d you havta say that? This is my grandma’s funeral.’

‘Why’d I say it, sonny?’ she said, exiting the house and standing on the sidewalk. ‘’Cause it’s true. Before the Eyetalian came along, I was your dad’s girlfriend.’

‘I didn’t know that,’ he said. ‘You never told me.’

‘We was gonna get married,’ she continued. ‘Only Miss Italy got herself knocked up, an’ forced him to dump me. So don’t go off on me if I’m mad.’

‘You shoulda told me about you an’ my dad. I shoulda known.’

‘Aw, shit, it’s old news. Anyway, don’t start feelin’ sorry for me–I did a lot better than Vinny Castellino.’

This new information was confusing. Mamie and his dad. A couple. It didn’t seem possible, and yet she wouldn’t make it up.

‘Uh…Mrs G, you shouldn’t talk about my mom that way,’ he ventured.

‘Why not?’ she said defiantly. ‘It’s the goddamn truth. You didn’t know her, Mikey, but believe me, she was a tramp. She tricked Vinny into marryin’ her.’

‘Don’t say that.’

‘Everyone knows about the way she carried on behind Vinny’s back,’ Mamie said, her eyes narrowing vindictively. ‘The story goes that she set up the robbery with a boyfriend she had on the side, an’ it backfired on her. So here’s the truth–she’s the one responsible for Vinny bein’ in a wheelchair. You can blame her.’

‘I…I can’t believe that.’

‘Well, it’s true. Beats me why your dad didn’t fill you in.’

‘I gotta go,’ he said, trying to keep a check on his emotions. Mamie seemed so secure in her knowledge, and yet Vinny hadn’t told him shit about any of it.

‘Sorry I hadda be the one t’tell you the truth,’ Mamie said, reaching up to touch his cheek with her long painted nails. ‘Y’know, I’m very fond of you, Mikey, an’ I hate to see you hurt, only it’s better you know, isn’t it?’

Why? he wanted to yell. Why would I want to know that my mom was a tramp who set my dad up?

But he didn’t say a word. Instead he turned and walked off down the street, leaving Mamie standing there.

He couldn’t go back inside. As far as he was concerned, the funeral was now over.

Chapter Ten

Dani: 1964

Dani was right about never seeing Emily again. They searched for months, failing to come up with any leads. Sam even took a trip out to the ranch to find out if Dashell had abducted her. Dani wanted to go with him, only Sam didn’t think it was a wise idea, and rightly so, because what he discovered when he got there shocked him. The ranch was abandoned, everyone gone, the place in complete disarray as if they’d left in a mighty big hurry. Even the horses were gone.

‘What do you think happened?’ Dani asked, when he got back and told her what he’d found.

He was as puzzled as she was. ‘Dunno,’ he said. ‘All I can say is it was dead creepy out there. I’m glad you weren’t with me.’

‘Should we tell the police?’ she ventured, her active mind imagining all kinds of terrible things.

‘Tell ’em what?’ he said irritably. ‘They’re not interested in findin’ out shit. Emily’s just another missing person to them.’

And, as usual, he turned to the bottle–his one solace since Emily’s disappearance.

Dani couldn’t stop him drinking, although she tried. He refused to listen to her, preferring to wallow in his own misery. The problem was that he seemed content to stay there, which meant that she had to spend all her spare time looking after him, making sure he got to his job on time, cooking him meals, cleaning his apartment and washing his clothes. He wasn’t an abusive drunk, he merely became maudlin, talking about Emily non-stop.

Eventually he got fired from his job, and after that his drinking really escalated. Dani didn’t know what to do. Fortunately, she still had her job, and since she was rarely at her small apartment, she gave it up, saving on the rent, because now she had to support both of them. She slept on the couch at Sam’s place, while he stayed in the bedroom. She didn’t mind. Sam had saved her from a life of purgatory, and now it was her turn to save him.

One day she decided it was time to go through Emily’s things, pack them up, and get them out of Sam’s sight. She’d noticed that at night he kept on picking up one of Emily’s sweaters or her old robe, holding it close to his face and rocking back and forth. It simply wasn’t healthy, so after work Dani purchased a large travelling bag, brought it back to the apartment, and began filling it with Emily’s things.

‘What’re you doing?’ he demanded, attempting to stop her.

‘Emily’s not coming back,’ she said, determinedly shoving him away as she continued packing.

‘Yes, she is. I know she is,’ he argued. ‘She wouldn’t leave me like this. Not my Emily.’

Dani shook her head. ‘I don’t think she’s coming back, Sam.’ His miserable expression forced her to add, ‘But you know what? We’ll keep her stuff. I’ll put everything in the bag and store it in a closet. How’s that?’

‘Do whatever you want,’ he said, giving up and reaching for the bottle.

In the bottom bureau drawer, hidden under a pile of underclothes, she discovered a journal. Scrawled across the front of the book were the words: PRIVATE–DO NOT OPEN.

Her heart started pounding. Could this book contain a clue to Emily’s disappearance?

She agonized over whether she should read it or not. Was it right to read someone else’s journal? Yes, if that person was your missing sister it certainly was.

The following day she took the journal to work. She didn’t tell Sam, in case there was something in it he shouldn’t see.

On her break, she sat in the tiny dinette where the maids spent their time off, and began reading. She soon discovered that the journal was not about days and