Chapter 11: The Coat

Brynn had asked Dale to blame the brakes, and she had walked into his house expecting the family to accept her excuse.

She stood near the doorway while the relatives gathered beside me.

One of them faced her across the room.

'Why did you still want Dale to blame the brakes after you knew he caused the crash?'

Brynn looked at the relative who had asked.

'I wanted the family to stop looking at my parents' deaths as a crime.'

Her voice stayed soft, but the room heard her.

'I thought people could remember them without turning everything into an accusation.'

She glanced toward Dale after she spoke.

I watched the relative's hands close around the edge of a chair.

The answer had not given Brynn the comfort she had come to Dale's house for.

Dale pushed his chair away from the table.

'You asked me to keep saying the brakes failed,' he said.

Brynn faced him.

'I know what I asked.'

'I kept lying to the family because you asked me to.'

Dale's voice was low, and he did not look away from her.

Brynn held her hands together in front of her.

'You agreed to do it.'

'I did.'

He paused, then kept his eyes on her.

'You still asked me to.'

'You could have said no,' Brynn replied.

Dale's fingers pressed against the table's edge.

'I should have.'

That answer reached the relatives too.

They had heard him admit his part, and they had heard why he kept at it.

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