The Perfect Husband's Darkest Secret novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Behind the Glass

The county jail had a visiting room with a long counter and a pane of scratched glass.

Dalton sat on the other side in an orange shirt.

His hair was uncombed, and he had not shaved.

It was the first time in seven years I had seen him look like anyone else.

He lifted the phone as soon as I sat, and I lifted mine.

"Em," he said, in the old soft voice. "Thank you for coming."

"Say what you came to say."

"I'm going to plead guilty."

I waited.

"The poisoning, the forgery, all of it. No trial. Poppy won't have to testify. You won't have to sit through a single day." He leaned toward the glass. "I'll sign over my twenty-four percent, the house, the boat. Everything I own. It's yours."

"Why?"

"Because I want one thing back."

"Say it."

"I want to see my daughter."

My hand tightened on the phone.

"Once a month," he said, quickly. "Supervised. Behind glass if you like. I'm her father, Em. That's not nothing."

"You want me to bring Poppy here."

"A little girl needs her father."

I looked at him for a long moment.

He had put his hand flat on the glass.

"She poured your tea into a plant," I said.

His hand stopped.

"She is six, and she hid it from you. She has already told the detectives, and a judge will hear it."

"She's a child. She doesn't understand."

"She understood enough to keep you out of her cup."

Something moved behind his eyes.

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