Stolen Lives Read Online Free

she heard the sound, the woman screamed.
    The sound was high and shrill and penetrated the tinted glass. The woman cringed away from Jade, cowering in her seat, arms flung up in defence.
    Her face was ghostly pale, her features twisted with terror.

4
    The woman peered through her raised hands at Jade. Looking more closely, she took in her faded baseball cap and sweaty ponytail, her white t-shirt and her old running shorts. Then she lowered her arms. She glanced over her shoulder, reached out an unsteady hand, and buzzed the window down.
    “I’m looking for Jade de Jong,” she said, in a high, tense voice.
    Jade stared at her, surprised. Although this woman obviously knew about her, Jade had no idea who she could be. She’d never seen her, or her car, before. Jade guessed she wasn’t from the area, because people who drove regularly on the rough country roads in her neighbourhood tended to buy big, high-riding suvs or trucks, not low-slung sportscars.
    Sandton, she decided. Everything about this woman screamed Sandton, from her big, gold-framed sunglasses and the silver Patek Philippe watch on her left wrist to the oversized diamond rings that sparkled on her red-manicured fingers. A wealthy woman from Sandton, asking for her.
    “I’m Jade de Jong,” she said.
    The window buzzed down all the way.
    “You’re Jade?” The woman moved her elbow onto the door-frame and regarded her more closely. “I phoned you just now, but you didn’t answer. I need your help urgently. Please.”
    Jade’s legs were starting to stiffen up, and she was conscious of the sweat dripping off her hair and onto the back of her neck. She took the gate buzzer out of her pocket and pressed the button.
    “Shall we talk in the house?” she said.
    The woman clearly thought this was a good idea. The Corvette’s engine roared again and gravel sprayed out from under the tyres as she accelerated through the gate without waiting for Jade. The car skidded to an abrupt stop in the shade of a syringa tree next to Jade’s vehicle, a small entry-level runabout which she’d hired from a company called Rent-a-Runner. Every month Jade took her car back to them and switched it for a different model.
    Right then she was driving a Ford. Or perhaps it was a Mazda.
    At any rate, parked beside Jade’s hired car, the Corvette looked like a crouching silver dragon next to a little white mouse.
    The woman climbed out, slammed the door, and hurried across to the cottage. Her high-heeled sandals were the same colour as her car. With the extra height they gave her, she was slightly taller than Jade.
    Catching her up, Jade unlocked the security gate and the front door, and they walked inside.
    The interior was gloomy after the glare of the morning sun, and the temperature dropped ten degrees instantly. That was thanks to the high, thatched roof. Although it made the place unbearably cold in winter, it kept it pleasantly cool in summer.
    Jade shut the front door behind them and glanced at her cellphone, which she’d left on the kitchen counter. A blue light was flashing, indicating she had missed calls.
    “Take a seat.” She gestured to one of the two sofas in the small living room. Pink floral upholstery, stacked high with a multitude of lacy scatter cushions in varying shades of pastel. When she first moved in, Jade had planned to stash these annoying items somewhere out of sight, but decided against it when she realised that they would take up most of the available storage space.
    For a moment she was slightly embarrassed by the décor. She was tempted to explain to the woman that it wasn’t her choice; that she’d rented it furnished.
    Jade didn’t, though. She just watched while she moved three cushions aside to clear an area large enough to sit in, and then took a seat opposite her, shoving the rest onto the tiled floor and reaching for her notebook on the coffee table.
    “I’m sorry,” the woman said. “I haven’t even … I came here in such a