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 God 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 relationship with Cohn, and her