When the Road Went Silent novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Founder's Vote

Cade was already in church.

He sat at the head of the table in my father's chair.

When the door opened he started to smile.

Then he saw the lawyer, and Ward, and the ring on my thumb.

The smile didn't finish.

"Out," he said. "All of you. This is a closed meeting."

"It's my meeting," I said.

Boone came in behind me, red and sweating, and took his seat without a word.

The other men in the room watched him do it.

I walked to the head of the table and stopped beside Cade's chair.

"You're in my father's seat," I said.

"I'm the president."

"Get up."

"Maxine." He laughed, high and tight. "You're making a scene."

"Get up, Cade."

He didn't move.

I had expected that, and I had expected the room to stay quiet.

It didn't.

At the far end of the table, an old man in a faded leather vest pushed back his chair.

He was the one who had shaken his head at me yesterday.

He had ridden beside my father for thirty years, and his knees cracked when he stood.

"Get up, son," he said.

"Mind your place."

"I'm minding it. It's standing."

The man beside him stood.

Then the man beside that one, and then all five who had voted for me.

They stood with their arms at their sides and their eyes on Cade.

Nobody said a word.

Cade looked around the table.

Boone and his four men stayed seated, and Boone's face was dark red.

"This is a coup," Cade said.

"It's a funeral," said the old man. "You've been sitting on it four years."

Cade stood up fast, and his chair banged into the wall.

"Fine." He jabbed a finger at the lawyer. "Whatever that man is selling, it doesn't take effect until Thursday. My proxy stands until midnight. I cast her vote, not her. Sit down, all of you."

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