Ex-Convict Nanny and Billionaire Single Dad novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Insurance

My mother turned and walked toward the curtain fast.

"Shelby, honey, you're concussed. Lie down."

"Don't touch me."

I followed.

The police officer had straightened up off the wall. The two nurses had come around the end of the station.

My mother tried to pull the curtain shut behind her.

I put my hand on it and held it open.

Shelby was sitting forward on the bed as far as the cuff would let her, her face white under the bandage.

"Tell her," she said to our mother. "Or I will."

"You don't know what you're saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying. I've known for four and a half years."

My mother's voice dropped to the one she used on the phone with the bishop.

"Sweetheart. There's a police officer right there."

"Good," Shelby said.

She looked at me.

Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot, and for the first time since we were kids, she didn't look away.

"The morning after," she said. "After the hospital. After you told them you were alone. Mom got up at six and put on her navy suit and drove to the police station on Mercer Island."

I didn't move.

"She asked for the detective on your case," Shelby said. "And she told him you had a drinking problem. She told him you'd been drinking since high school. She said you called her at noon that day, slurring, and she begged you to lie down."

The curtain rings rattled under my hand.

"I didn't call her," I said.

"I know you didn't. I was there when she made it up." Shelby's mouth twisted. "In the kitchen. The night before. She practiced it on me. She asked me if it sounded true."

"Shelby," my mother said. "Stop this."

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