Chapter 6: The Card in the Sewing Drawer

"You can't be here," I said. "If Mom finds out."

"She thinks I'm at the gym." Lacey pushed her sunglasses up into her hair.

Her eyes were red.

I pulled off my rubber gloves and stepped out into the alley, and I let the kitchen door close behind me.

We stood by the dumpsters with the smell of fryer oil around us.

"You posted the statement," she said.

"Yes."

"Mom threw a plate when she saw it."

"Good," I said, and then I felt bad, because Maisie lived in that house.

"Is Maisie okay?"

"She's fine. She's hiding in her closet with the tablet." Lacey's mouth twisted. "She keeps asking if you're coming back for art."

"Did you know?" I asked.

She didn't ask what I meant.

"Did you know the money was mine?"

"I thought," Lacey said, and stopped.

She tried again.

"I thought Dad got a bonus. Mom told me the necklace was his bonus."

"You thought a bonus paid for four years of private college."

"I didn't think about it, Hazel. Okay? I didn't think about any of it."

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