On Halloween, My Husband Kissed His Mistress, and Our Daughter Chose Her Over Me novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Tablet

Connor's hand came off Pippa's arm.

He did it slowly, in front of two hundred faces, and he kept the smile.

"Mother," he said. "Sit down. You're confused."

"I am seventy-four years old," Connor's mother said. "I know the sound of my son lying. I have heard it since he was four."

Nobody laughed.

Pippa took one step back from him, and then another.

She pulled the drawstring of the pouch open and took out the tablet.

"Dad said I could say whatever I wanted tonight," she said. "So I want to play you something."

"Pippa, give me that."

"No."

It was the first time I had ever heard her say it to him.

At the side of the stage the young man from the dealership stood with his hand on the board.

His eyes went to Connor, and then to the little girl.

He pushed the slider up.

The speakers hummed and the whole hall heard the tablet click.

Pippa held it up to the microphone and pressed play.

Connor's voice came out, in the Ellery kitchen, on the morning of Halloween.

It was low and reasonable and pleasant, the voice he used to sell trucks.

Listen to me, Pip. Tonight you stay with Brynn. If you run to your mother, I tell everybody she grabbed you. The police believe me. Judges believe me. Say 'Yes, Dad.'

A small voice answered. Yes, Dad.

Good girl. Mom's going to say some things. She'll scream. Don't look at her.

The tablet clicked off.

Nobody in the hall moved.

I heard someone's fork slide off a plate.

Then, near the front, a man in a grey suit said, quite loudly, "Good Lord."

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