It wasn’t Mallory.
It was Kendra.
Mallory’s small silver pendant hung around her neck.
My blood turned cold.
“What is this?”
Kendra lowered her head.
“I wore her clothes for about twenty minutes.”
“Why?”
“So if anyone saw me from a distance, they’d think Mallory was still at the campground.”
I stared at her.
“You helped her leave.”
Kendra cried even harder.
“I thought she was coming back.”
“For one year?”
“No! That wasn’t the plan.”
“What was the plan?”
Kendra looked directly at me.
“She found out she was adopted.”
The words felt different when they came from someone else.
“She found your papers before the trip,” Kendra continued. “She was furious. She said you had lied to her her entire life.”
“I was going to tell her.”
“She didn’t know that.”
I shut my eyes.
Of course she didn’t.
Kendra explained that Mallory had searched the names listed on her adoption papers and discovered her biological parents, Dean and Corinne Mercer, living almost four hours away.
