Looking For You All My Life Part 102

shoddy job of developing everything. I don't understand-"

"That's because you're basically a good person. You

don't understand that a lot of folks in this world only care

about the bottom line."

"But surely they still would've made plenty of money if

they'd done things right from the start. Then at least they'd

be able to sleep at night."

"Greed does strange things to people, Maggie. It can

really mess up your perspective. Believe me, I know first-

hand. I allowed myself to be pulled into this. But like I said,

the day comes when you have to look at yourself in the

mirror-" her voice broke, "or into your daughter's eyes."

"Your daughter sounds like a very sensible girl. I think

you're doing the right thing to get out of this."

"Yeah, I'm so thankful for Annie. She's really got her

head on straight. I could learn a lot from her." June pulled

up in front of the condo complex and stopped. "I'm sorry I

can't spend more time with you, but we're trying to get out

of here today. I'm driving the U-Haul and Annie's driving the

car. We have a ways to go before we reach my folks' place

by nightfall."

"Thanks so much for all your help, June." Maggie

handed her a business card from the newspaper. "If you're

ever in the neighborhood, stop in. And G.o.d bless you and

your daughter as you travel."

Maggie went immediately to work on her article for next

week's paper, calling room service to order a small dinner to

be sent to her room. She knew she couldn't enjoy using any

of the luxurious amenities in the clubhouse now, knowing

how these little niceties were created at the expense of the

unfortunate homeowners, not to mention being used as bait

to lure in even more unsuspecting buyers. To her dismay, she

realized she hadn't packed her computer modem for her

laptop and was consequently unable to access any informa-

tion online or check her email. She didn't expect to hear from

Jed, but she was still hoping.

Looking for YouAllMy Life161

As she finally prepared for bed, she dreaded the idea of

spending the entire day with Cohn tomorrow, but could

think of no real escape short of hiring a taxi to drive her over

a hundred miles to Las Vegas, which was the nearest city to

Desert Winds. Though she would never mention June's

informative tour to Cohn, she wanted him to know that she

was well aware of Desert Winds' unpleasant secrets-at least

some of them. June had intimated that there were more, but

seemed reluctant to say too much. Not that Maggie blamed

her. People like Cohn Byers' usually had a number of slick

corporate attorneys in their back pocket. June was smart to

get out while she could. Maggie knew that June had had

more than just a business relations.h.i.+p with Cohn, and her