The Encore of Us novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Ingrid's Offer

Ingrid Brandvold arrived on the dialysis floor at five minutes to seven.

She came in with a man in a charcoal suit who carried a leather folder.

She wore the same camel coat as the night before.

The nurses' station went quiet.

Eight children sat in recliners down the long room with their lines run into the machines.

Their parents sat beside them with bad coffee and worse sleep.

I was in the chair beside Tove's recliner, braiding her hair with my fingers.

Anders was asleep on the couch in the lounge. Rhea had promised to wake him if anything happened.

Nothing had happened yet.

"Miss Nordahl," the man in the suit said. "I'm Mrs. Brandvold's attorney."

"This is a dialysis ward."

"Then we'll be brief."

Ingrid stopped at the foot of Tove's recliner and looked down at her.

Tove looked back with her mouth full of dry cereal.

"Are those real pearls?" Tove asked.

Something moved in Ingrid's face and was gone.

"They are," she said.

"They look like teeth."

"Tove," I said.

"What? They do."

Ingrid straightened.

"You have your grandfather's eyes," she said, and she meant it as an accusation.

"I don't have a grandfather," Tove said. "I have Rhea."

The attorney cleared his throat and opened the folder.

"Miss Nordahl, Mrs. Brandvold is prepared to offer you four hundred thousand dollars, paid today, in return for your signature on this agreement."

He turned the page toward me.

The check was already made out.

I read the amount twice. It had five zeros after the four.

"What does the agreement say?" I asked.

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