Chapter 10: The Offer

I dressed in the dark with my heart racing, in yesterday's damp jeans and Hayes's flannel shirt.

Downstairs, Hayes opened the shop door and stood in it, filling the whole frame.

Merritt Ames stood on the pavement in a grey overcoat with an umbrella and a leather folder.

He looked past Hayes's shoulder and saw me on the stairs.

His eyebrows rose very slightly.

"Good morning, Rhea."

"I'm sorry to call so early."

"I wanted to catch you before work."

"You didn't call," Hayes said.

"You knocked for four minutes."

"I'm told you don't answer a phone."

"I answer it for people I like."

Merritt gave a thin smile.

"May I come in?"

"No," Hayes said.

"But you can say it from there."

Merritt turned to me.

"Adele regrets how Sunday ended."

"She asked me to bring you this."

He took a long envelope from the folder and held it out.

I came down the last two steps and took it.

Inside was a bank check for fifty thousand dollars, made out to me.

Behind it were two stapled pages.

I read them standing in the doorway.

They were titled "Mutual Understanding."

I would never speak of the Ames family, the Ames Family Foundation, or the health and care of Adele Ames to any person or any press.

I would never say I had been a caregiver, a partner, or a member of the household.

I would be paid in full for my time.

I read the line twice.

"Fifty thousand," I said.

"For five years."

"It's generous," Merritt said.

"It's ten thousand a year."

"It's a gesture of goodwill."

"My father's money was one hundred and forty thousand."

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