She Tried to Poison Me novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Parking Lot

The silence in the ballroom lasted about three seconds.

Then two hundred people started talking at once.

A man in a county uniform stood up from a front table with his napkin still in his hand.

It was the sheriff.

He walked toward the dais, slowly, without looking at anyone but Fern.

"Mrs. Kessling," he said. "I'd like you to come with me."

"I will do nothing of the kind."

"Ma'am, I'd like you to come quietly."

Fern drew herself up to her full height.

Her pearls shook at her throat.

"This is my lodge," she said. "This is my dinner."

"Yes, ma'am," said the sheriff. "And you just said something in front of two hundred witnesses."

Nobody helped her.

Not the mayor, who looked at his plate, and not the banker, who studied the ceiling.

Fern took her handbag off the chair.

She walked down the steps in her silver dress with her chin up, and the crowd parted for her without a word.

At the door she turned and found Seth with her eyes.

He didn't look away.

"You always did look just like your father," she said, and went out.

My shoulders came down, the tension breaking at last.

My knees felt like water.

Seth's hand closed over mine.

"I'm all right," I said.

"I know you are."

"I need air."

"Come on."

We pushed through the crowd.

People touched my arm as I passed.

One woman whispered, "I'm so sorry, I believed the video."

I nodded without stopping.

The parking lot was cold and dark.

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