Salt Kiss novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Page 2021

Lorna kept the old ledgers in a floor safe under the manager's desk.

She opened it at two in the morning, after the last member had gone, kneeling on the rug with her glasses pushed up in her hair.

Skye sat on the desk.

Ford stood by the door.

Nolan stood by the other door, because it was his job, and because he had not decided where he was permitted to stand in this room.

Lorna drew out a thin green book, flipped it open, and turned it around.

"Third of March, two years and eight months ago," she said.

"Clifton Brantley.

"Expelled."

Skye's mouth went flat.

"I remember."

"Tell him," said Lorna.

Skye looked at Nolan.

"Cliff was a member for a year.

"Smooth, generous, well liked.

"He had a rule he kept to himself, which was that a stop meant nothing if he didn't want it to.

"One night a member told him to stop, and he did not.

"She said it twice."

Nolan's jaw tightened.

"She's the woman who passed you the note," Ford said.

"She hasn't knelt for anyone since.

"She sits at the bar with her husband and drinks tea, and tonight she walked into the middle of the room."

"I threw him out the same night," said Skye.

"I told him I'd have him thrown out of Charleston.

"He offered me two hundred thousand dollars to put the ledger away.

"I said no."

"And now he's bought your loan," Nolan said.

"Three years of waiting."

Skye slid off the desk.

"He doesn't want money.

"He wants the room.

"He wants the names, so every person who was kind to me in this place has to pay him to keep quiet."

Nobody spoke.

Then Lorna closed the green ledger.

"Well," she said, "now I'm going to bed.

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