He Gave Me Fifty Dollars to Live, I Left Him with Nothing novel · Chapter 17 of 32

Chapter 17: Terms

I went to his office that afternoon, and I did not call first.

His firm took up the fourth floor of a brick building on Westminster Street.

The receptionist knew my name before I gave it.

I walked past the glass conference rooms, past an associate who stopped typing, past a desk with a plant on it.

That desk had been mine once.

Somebody had kept the plant alive.

Tobias stood in his doorway when he saw me.

"Roz."

"In here," I said.

I walked into his office and shut the door.

Through the glass wall, ten people on the floor pretended to be reading.

"You went to the fraud unit," I said.

"I did."

"We made a rule. No rescue. Only help. I decide everything."

"I know what we said."

"Then why is my name on a state file?"

"It isn't." He held up both hands. "Mine is. The unit asked the firm to bring the six-year-old claim, because we reviewed it. I put Whitney's pawn receipt in their hands. I didn't use yours."

"You decided for me."

"The window on the old claim closes Friday." His voice stayed steady. "After that the unit can't touch the filing, whatever we prove. I had two days. You were in a courtroom."

"I could have said yes in a text."

"You could have."

"I could have said no."

"Yes."

"That's what it means to decide something."

His jaw worked.

"You're right," he said.

"Don't agree with me. Argue."

"I'm not going to argue about whether I should have asked you." He pulled a folded sheet from his desk and laid it in front of me. "That's a withdrawal. I signed it for the firm. It's dated today. You can tear it up and the unit closes the file on Whitney, or sign and leave it alone. Your call. I won't move it."

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