Chapter 20: I Knew

At six in the morning the clubhouse hall smelled of coffee and cold leather.

Forty patches sat along the tables, and the doors were shut behind us.

I stood at the head of the room with Rafe at my shoulder.

He had not said a word since the lot.

Norman Mabry sat at the president's chair with a faded envelope in front of him.

Dutch sat to his right with his arms folded and a patient look on his face.

Kendra stood against the back wall in the pink jacket, with her phone held low.

"Church is called," Norman said. "Every patch is here. The doors stay shut until it's done."

"Norman," Dutch said, smiling.

"Before we start, I'd like it noted that a man who was voted out is sitting in our room."

"Noted."

"And that his friend is about to make accusations she can't prove."

"Noted," Norman said again. "Ms. Ansel. Go ahead."

My mouth was dry.

I looked down the long table at the faces.

The four who had stood in the hall the day I carried a cake past them sat together near the door. They did not meet my eyes.

"I was married to Dutch Telford for ten years," I said.

"I painted every tank he sold. Nobody here ever saw my name on one."

Nobody spoke.

"On the sixth of December, I walked into this building with a cake."

"I found my husband with Kendra in the president's office, and four of you watched me walk past."

A man near the door looked at his hands.

"By the next morning my account was empty and my key didn't work. I want to know which of you knew."

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