Blind Faith: Lost Mountain

Blind faith: Lost Mountain, 349 pages (print length), 99,500 words

Page 33
Carlee knew she was going to Landreys Fork before she hung up the phone. Business gossip, as well as truth, had her at a homeless shelter in New York, not a good recommendation, or a good address, when seeking a high paying position with a responsible company. At least she did have a house in North Carolina. She hoped desperately her unemployment check would be enough to buy a bus ticket with a few dollars remaining for sundry expenses. Goodness knows, it wouldn’t cover a plane ticket.
She found herself hating Bernard Madoff all over again for the despicable circumstance he had put her in.
Page 303
Carlee found herself at Lum’s.
It seemed the old woman was sitting on the rock wall watching for her to show up.
“Didn’t think you would get here this quick, but I was waitin’.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“I take it you’re here about the diary and not about Jason.”
“You take it right. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Lum cocked her head sideways. “Because it needed to come from your mother, not from me.”
“You could have told me about the diary.”
“You found it didn’t you?”
“You didn’t tell me it was there.”
“Thought you needed to adjust to Lost Mountain and your people before you got shocked good and proper. Besides, everybody told you that you were one of us.”
Page 322
Carlee knew whom to blame for her own poverty. She blamed Madoff as well as herself. Never again would she let greed destroy her. She would never risk everything she owned again; never believe she was so secure she wouldn’t get bulldozed over. Blind faith was a foolish thing.