The Eight Year Ledger novel · Chapter 8 of 32

Chapter 8: The Key

The parents under the arch went quiet.

Somebody's phone was still recording. I could see the red dot.

Gabe's hand went tight in mine.

Dottie's went tight in the other one, because Gabe's had.

I let go of them both, gently.

"Go get a muffin," I said. "Both of you. The blueberry ones are on the left."

Dottie looked at Kelsey, then at me.

"Come on," she said to Gabe, and pulled him away by the sleeve.

I waited until they were at the muffin table.

Then I walked up to Kelsey under the orange arch.

She held the megaphone in front of her.

"I'm sorry," she said, loud enough for everybody. "I just think the kids deserve the truth."

"So do I," I said.

I unzipped my jacket pocket and took out the receipt.

"The district says the eleven forms with my name on them came off the PTA pad,"

I said.

"That pad lives in my kitchen drawer. The only people with a key are me, my husband, and whoever he gave the spare to."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I held the receipt up so the people in front could read it.

"Two copies of a house key. Cardholder, K. Talley."

Kelsey's face went white, then pink.

"The key had a tag on it," I said. "In my handwriting."

There was a sound from the crowd.

"That's," Kelsey said. "That could be anybody's."

"It's yours. It has your card number on it."

"I copy keys all the time. For my apartment. For my mom."

"Does your mom live on Hillcrest?"

She opened her mouth and nothing came out of it.

I turned around to face the parents.

Thirty or forty of them. Some I knew. Some who'd asked if I was the treasurer.

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