Free Lynn Osterkamp - Cleo Sims 03 - Too Many Secrets by Lynn Osterkamp Page A

we
didn’t. Unfortunately there were other people in her life who were more than
willing to play the needy role.”
    “Could you tell me about one or two of them?”
    Diana laughed. “Where to start? Her ex? Worthless
boyfriends?” She shook her head. “No. Let’s start with her sister
Brandi. Sabrina’s been taking care of her since their mother died when she was
eighteen and Brandi was twelve. Their dad was a total workaholic and he left it
to Sabrina to keep Brandi out of trouble. Which she couldn’t do. Brandi got
pregnant at seventeen, manipulated the guy into marrying her, then lost the
baby. She went back to her wild crowd and got a divorce. Sabrina convinced
their dad to support Brandi even though he thought she should learn to take
care of herself. It went on and on like that. Brandi would get into trouble,
their dad would threaten to disown her, and Sabrina would come to her rescue
and persuade their dad to keep supporting her.” Diana stopped, got up and
got us each a glass of water from a dispenser in the corner.
    I thought about Brandi telling me about the strong bond she
and Sabrina have, versus Gayle telling me Sabrina didn’t want Ian left
permanently with Brandi. What to believe? “How do Sabrina and Brandi get
along now?” I asked.
    Diana scowled. “Brandi’s thirty-four now and Sabrina’s
forty and they’re still doing the same dance. Brandi lurches from one disaster
to another and manipulates Sabrina into rescuing her. Sabrina feels sorry for
her, feels responsible for her.”
    A grin replaced her scowl. “But their dad got the last
laugh. Two years ago, when he died, they found out that he had deducted all the
money he’d given Brandi from her share of the estate. Sabrina got most of the
money. Moxie had to work hard to convince her not to give half to Brandi. She
was so resistant, we finally had to do an intervention. She only agreed because
of Ian.” She shrugged. “But now Brandi is living with her, sponging
off her, taking everything she can get.”
    “So your intervention convinced Sabrina not to give
Brandi half of her inheritance, but didn’t persuade her to stop taking care of
Brandi?”
    “True, but a few weeks ago, we got her to give Brandi an
ultimatum about finding a job and getting her own place. So the gravy train was
finally coming to an end.” Diana put her arms behind her, interlocked her
fingers and pulled her arms up to stretch her shoulders. I could almost feel
the tension roll off her.
    Bells and whistles were going off in my head. Had Moxie’s
intervention led Brandi to get rid of Sabrina in hopes of getting control of
her money before she was pushed out on her own? “Do you think Sabrina’s
relationship with Brandi has something to do with her disappearance?” I
asked.
    “Actually, no. Much as I dislike Brandi, I think she’s
too disorganized to pull off anything like that. I mostly told you about Brandi
so you’d get how co-dependent Sabrina is. Where I think that’s significant is
with some of her worthless former boyfriends. Especially this guy, Erik, she
was with last spring. He was such a liar and a con man, totally using her, but
she couldn’t see it.”
    “How was he using her?
    “He had some holistic healing business and a deal where
he sold people kits to grow herbs that they were supposed to be able to sell
back at huge profits. She invested money and connected him with other people
who invested money, but the whole thing turned out to be a scam. They all lost
their investments.”
    I gasped. My heart raced as I struggled to speak. “You
say his name was Erik?” I finally asked in a jittery voice. “What was
his last name?”
    Diana hesitated. “It started with a “V.’ Maybe
Vane? No, Vaughn. That’s it. Erik Vaughn.”
    Omigod! Erik Vaughn. A wave of dizziness washed over me.
Sabrina was involved with the sociopath I met last summer when I was helping
Elisa’s friend Sharon find out who murdered her husband? Erik didn’t do it,