The Warlord Returns novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Payee

We got out of the house by seven.

Nobody stopped us.

Wyatt stood on the front steps in his dressing gown and watched the truck pull away.

I kept my eyes on the mirror until the gates closed.

Jack drove with both hands on the wheel.

He said nothing for six blocks.

Then he turned into an empty church parking lot, cut the engine, and sat with his head back against the seat.

"I'm sorry," he said. "You should have heard it from me before the nurse called. Your mother is safe."

"Is she?"

"She's in a private room on the fourth floor with an agent at the door. I'll take you there after we finish."

"Finish what?"

He nodded at the green book on my lap.

"Let's see what you stole."

I opened it.

I had forgotten how heavy the pages felt, thick with handwriting.

Jack read in silence, one finger moving down the columns.

I watched the corner of his mouth tighten.

"Harbor Fund," he said. "Disbursements. Every line ends in an initial. W.E., W.E., M.E."

"Wyatt and Margaret."

"And here." He turned the book toward me and tapped a line near the bottom of a page.

I read it.

Then I read it again.

14 March. J. Pinkett. Family assistance. $40,000.

"They put me in their book," I said numbly.

"They paid you out of the Harbor Fund," Jack said. "The money was meant to house veterans. You were a line item."

My ears began to ring.

"That's what he meant by a book of bad handwriting. He didn't care if we had it."

I put the ledger down.

"He knew it had me in it. If I testify, I'm not just a liar. I'm a woman who took stolen money meant for soldiers."

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