Chapter 71

She didn't recognize the number, but she recognized the city. "Hello?"

"Vicky?"

"Mama?" Veronica asked, not believing who it was. She hadn't heard from her parents in...well, since that day.

"Oh my God, child, are you alright?" her mother said, worry in her voice.

"Yes, mama. I'm fine."

"Thank God. I didn't know what had happened. A cop stopped by the apartment asking questions about you and that man."

"What? What did you tell him?" Veronica asked, sitting down on the couch. She prayed her mother and father didn't say anything that Marsh could use against her.

"I didn't know what to tell him. I said that after you and your father got into an argument and he, well, he made you leave and you were living with that man for all I know."

"Mama, is that exactly what you said? Nothing else?"

"Yes, I believe that was it. I mean, I didn't know what to say, I hadn't heard from you in months. I just told him that your daddy didn't a