The Abandoned Wife novel · Chapter 6 of 24
Chapter 6: The Ring
"You knew," I said.
"I knew the second you came through the door." Lena rolled the cough drop to the other cheek. "You still walk like a woman counting exits."
"You didn't look surprised."
"I was too busy admiring the streak. Is that natural, or did you earn it?"
She said it warmly.
I had known Lena Renner for seven years, and I had never once heard her say a cruel thing in a loud voice.
That was her gift.
Her cruelty came at the volume of a lullaby.
"Move off my car," I said.
"In a minute."
She slid her hand into her coat and drew out a white envelope, thick as a sandwich.
"There's a check in here for two hundred thousand dollars, made out to Dara Salter, a name I looked up in the elevator."
"You looked me up in the elevator."
"I have fast thumbs." She held it toward me between two fingers. "It's yours to take and walk away with. Tell the board Friday that Gilchrist has lost interest, and the whole thing goes away."
"Two hundred thousand."
"And a nice letter of reference from Tom, should you ever need one."
I looked at the envelope.
Then I looked at her face.
"It's a lot of money to pay a stranger," I said.
"You're not a stranger. You're a very sad woman who has lost her way."
"Am I?"
"You are a woman with no past." She tilted her head. "Dara Kellerman died on State Road 46, and the state of Indiana has a paper that says so, with a seal."
"I'm aware of the paper."
"Have you one paper that ties Dara Salter to the woman in that grave? Anyone who isn't on your payroll to swear to it?" Her voice dropped even lower. "Because if you walk into that boardroom on Friday and tell six people you're a dead woman, I will call the police myself. I will say a stranger is impersonating my fiance's late wife to extort his company."
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