Page 204 - My Home on the Earth

‘Hello, Mrs Cooper. Long time, no see. Which gutter did you crawl out from?’ seethed Elise.
‘Now, that’s no way to speak to your mum’s best friend. Speaking of Emily, how is she?’
Elise paused and replied: ‘She’s better than you. What about your beloved son? What’s he up to these days?’
‘Jake! He is fine. I’ll be seeing him soon and he’ll be sorry to have missed you,’ Melanie replied sarcastically.
‘Will you travel by train or will you go by broomstick to Scotland, Mrs Cooper?’ she asked. ‘After all, it’s a long way to walk.’
Melanie’s face dropped. Elise smiled as she realised from her blank expression that Melanie didn’t know about her son or her husband’s intentions.
Flashing her eyes at everyone, Melanie gave a half- smile. ‘Ha! You won’t fool me. You always pretended to know more even as a little kid. If it hadn’t been for you and your mother lying to the police, my son wouldn’t have gone away. I hope it satisfied you.’
‘Gone away?’ retorted Elise. ‘Call going to a children’s home, “gone away”? I expected him to get a long prison sentence for what he did to my brother.’
Melanie’s eyes bulged and her lips widened. ‘He did nothing!’ she bellowed.
‘Then, who did?’ asked Alice calmly.
‘What?’ Melanie stared at the four faces waiting for an answer.
Cara stood up. ‘We are referring to Robin’s death. If
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