She Sent Me Nudes of My Husband novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: The Last Recording
The recording played on.
"And whatever Leah's mother has left in that nursing home, I want it gone by Monday.
"She won't remember who moved her.
"The daughter can cry over an empty bed until she signs the letter."
A man laughed at the other end of the line, a nervous little laugh.
It was Adele's lawyer.
"Mrs. Halvorsen, with respect, there may be a limit."
"There is no limit," said Adele's voice. "There is only what's convenient."
The file ended.
The ballroom was so quiet that I could hear the chandeliers tick.
Adele stood at the podium with the remote in her fist.
She had gone gray under her powder.
"That's a forgery," she said. "A machine."
Nobody laughed this time.
The nurse in the cardigan said, "You said the same to me."
"Sit down."
"I took your forty thousand dollars," said the nurse, "and I have not slept in twenty years."
The bookkeeper took a step forward.
"I have the ledgers."
"I have the canceled checks," said the cleaning woman.
Adele looked at the three of them.
Then she looked at the room, at two hundred faces she had lunched with and lent money to and frightened for decades.
She was searching for one friend.
I watched her not find one.
The treasurer stood up.
"Adele," he said. "I think we're done."
Lukas crossed the floor.
He walked slowly, with his hands at his sides, and stopped at the foot of the podium.
"Mom."
"Lukas, darling, tell them. Tell them I've always..."
"Is there a baby? Is there a brother or a sister I never met?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Mom."
She did not answer.
His shoulders came down.
"Okay," he said.
"Lukas."
"I'm going to find them. I'll pay for whatever they need.
"And I'm not going to speak to you again until you've told every one of these women you're sorry."
"I won't."
"I know," he said. "That's why."
He turned and walked out.
Adele's hand jerked on the lectern.
Two men in suits who had been standing against the back wall came forward.
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