He Shielded Her, So I Left the Club novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Every Word

Delilah came to the clubhouse on Sunday at four with a deputy.

He was a heavy man in a tan uniform, and he took off his hat at the door, which told me he knew where he was.

Her mother walked behind them with Hattie by the hand.

The long tables were full, thirty patches and every wife, and the new window glass shone in the late light.

Jared stood at the back wall, and Gage sat at the end of the farthest table, with no rank on his vest.

"Mr. President," the deputy said. "Miss Haskell has made a complaint against one of your people, and she asked me to hear her say it here."

"Then say it," the president answered.

Delilah lifted her chin.

"Five years ago, Jared Slattery forced me in his shop," she said. "I was afraid to speak. I'm not afraid anymore."

The room was very still.

Then Dot got up from her chair by the kitchen door with her phone in her hand.

"Deputy," she said, "before you write anything down, would you listen to something?"

"Dot," Delilah said sharply.

"It won't take long, honey."

I went around the bar to the old amp and plugged in the cable.

Dot pressed play, and Delilah's voice came out over the speakers, low and tired and pleased with itself.

"Mama, listen. Nobody can check it. He's an ex-con, and the club hates him. I say he forced me, and Gage comes back, and the girl gets a father with a name."

"Delilah, that's a sin," her mother's voice said, thin.

"It's a plan."

The deputy had stopped writing.

The recording went on.

Delilah told her mother she had known about November since the week she missed her period.

She told her she had sworn to Gage that the baby was his.

She said Jared was going to jail, and Gage had a house.

She said she had told the wives the shooter was after Mara because a stranger in the room needed a reason.

She said she had let Hattie burn with a fever in Kentucky for a night rather than give a doctor her name.

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