Chapter 16: The Committee

The harbor hall held about a hundred folding chairs, and on Monday night almost every one was full.

The committee sat at a long table under the big blank screen, seven people with name cards.

Colleen sat in the center in her pearls and a navy suit, with a thin folder in front of her.

Gavin sat on her left, looking wounded.

Sabrina sat on her right, filming nothing, with her phone face down on the table.

Teagan squeezed my hand as we found seats in the third row.

"Bring me," she'd said, and she had, along with a battered canvas bag she wouldn't let go of.

Elias sat on my other side with his camera on his knee.

"Item four," Colleen said, in her clear, soft voice. "A matter concerning Bradlee Marine, a founding business of this harbor."

The room went quiet.

"My son's company has been the victim of a theft."

I felt Teagan's whole body go rigid.

"Over five years, a family member with access to the books took money from the company."

She opened the folder.

"I'm sorry to say that family member is my daughter-in-law."

Heads turned.

A woman behind me whispered, "The library girl?"

"Eleven thousand, four hundred dollars," Colleen said. "Gavin discovered it last week when he finally had the accounts reviewed."

Gavin looked down and rubbed his eyes, a man bravely hiding grief.

"I would ask the committee to note it before the portrait is hung," Colleen went on. "We do not hang thieves on the harbor wall."

A few people murmured.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Five Years Outside Their Photos, So I Finally Walked Out Forever from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.