Three, Two, One, I'm Gone novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Not on the List

Delia's POV

At nine o'clock on Monday the lobby of Easterling Group was full, and nobody pretended to be working.

The staff stood along the walls and on the stairs, and two interns sat on the edge of the planters with their phones out.

The woman from claims stood by the elevators with a granola bar in her hand and no intention of eating it.

Opal sat on the bench by the front desk in a navy coat, with her cane across her knees.

Grant sat beside her.

He had slept in her house, and she had put him in a clean shirt.

Wade stood beside me with a thin folder under his arm.

"Ready?" he said.

"I've been ready since Saturday."

The revolving door turned at nine exactly, and Paige came through it.

She wore a gray suit and dark glasses, and she carried a small leather bag.

The gold chain was at her throat.

She stopped in the middle of the marble and took in the room, the faces and the phones.

Then she took off her glasses and smiled.

"Mrs. Easterling," she said. "Delia. Wade. Good morning, everyone."

Nobody answered her.

"Here is what I have," Paige said, and opened the bag.

She took out a plain envelope.

"Three thousand one hundred dollars. It's all I could get this weekend. And the necklace, which I'll give back, because I'm not a thief."

"And the charm?" I said.

"I lost it."

"And the other eleven thousand one hundred?"

"It's complicated," Paige said. "It's tied up."

"In Phoenix," said Wade.

Paige's smile stopped moving.

"I'm sorry?"

Wade opened the folder and took out a single sheet.

He did not hand it to her.

He walked across the lobby and gave it to Grant.

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