Free Louise: A New Beginning by Diana Nixon

very strange conclusion.
    “Do you think it was my father’s handiwork?” I asked incredulous.
    She didn’t respond.
    “Tell me! Did he kill Will’s father?”
    She stood up, opened her purse and took out a small, folded piece of paper. “I was going to give it to you a little later. . .but if you want to know more, find this person.”
    I took the note, unfolded it and read the name it contained, “ Debora Griffin. Who is she?”
    “She’s the woman who knows the real reason for Mr. Blair’s death. And I’m sorry, Louise, but this is all I can tell you. But listen to me – stop coming here. It won’t do you any good.”
    “But I can’t just drop out of Balero. I adore this place! It’s my life. Why would I need to leave?”
    The woman swallowed, shaking her head. “No more questions. I’ve already told you too much.” She turned to leave, but I stopped her.
    “Why are you trying to help me?”
    She stood still, refusing to look at me.
    “Tell me, please.”
    Her eyes met mine, and it was the first time since the moment I met the woman that she didn’t look angry. Her features softened, her lips twisted in a barely visible, sad smile.
    “Because I know how unfair your life has been, and trust me, when it comes to life being unfair, I know everything.” Then she walked to the door, and I didn’t try to stop her this time.
    I kept standing in the foyer, holding the note with another stranger’s name in my hand, with no clue of what to do next. Of course, I could call Will and ask him about Debora Griffin, but then I remembered the woman’s words about Will nosing into the secrets that shouldn’t be revealed, and changed my mind. I didn’t want to pull him into another trouble. But there was one person who could help me find Debora.
    I took my phone out of my pocket again and dialed Drew’s number. “I need a small favor,” I said into the handset. “If I text you a name, can you get me an address to find them?”
    “I can try.”
    “Good, I’ll send it to you.”
    “Okay.”
    I sent Drew a message and went back to my class where the kids had been waiting for me to start their training.
    Later that day, when I was back home, I got on the Internet and tried to find some information on Debora Griffin. I didn’t find anything other than a couple of Facebook profiles with the same name, which was hardly helpful. Then I opened my father’s pre-election campaign website and looked through the pictures. I had never done any research on him. I had never tried to find out more about his family or his other children, but now I suddenly wanted to know everything about his life. Not because I was jealous of the things his other children had, rather because I was simply curious if my follower’s words about his connection to the death of Will’s father were true.
    Living in Paradise I saw how jealousy ruined friendship, how it killed trust and made people hate each other. That’s why I never felt jealous of anything or anyone, because I did realize that some people might not have what I did, even if it was not much.
    There were many pictures of my father and his wife on the website. Her name was Stacy. On one of the pictures, I saw two girls standing on both sides of them. According to the article written under the picture, they were my so-called sisters, Audrey and Emerald. Will was right, they were about my age. For a moment, I wondered if I could ever meet them in person. What would they think about me? Would they hate me? Oh, yes, they probably would have. After all, I was just an illegitimate offspring of their beloved father.
    Angry, I shut the laptop down. There was no point in torturing myself with thoughts about something that would never happen. My father would never let his other daughters know about me, and I would never have enough courage to do it myself.
    Did I need to know them? No, I didn’t. We didn’t have anything in common, apart from a few drops of blood we shared, thanks to