No More Husband, No More Son novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Cheque

Three customers at the folding table stopped folding.

One of them was a gray-haired woman in a church sweatshirt, and she slowly lifted her phone.

"Ladies," Cassidy said, smiling at them. "I'm sorry to interrupt your day."

"You're the one from the news," the woman said.

"I'm a friend of the family." Cassidy turned back to me. "Is there somewhere private?"

"Here is fine."

Roz came out of the back with a basket on her hip and set it down without a word.

Cassidy's smile twitched, and then it came back.

"I know you're angry," she said. "I'd be angry too. So Brice and I want to make this right."

She laid the envelope on the counter and slid it toward me with one gloved finger.

I opened it.

Inside was a cheque for one hundred thousand dollars, and under it a typed page.

I read the cheque first.

It was drawn on the account of Orchard Holdings Trust.

"That's the trust that bought my mother's house," I said, loud enough for the table.

"It's a gift," Cassidy said, quickly. "Sign the statement and it's yours."

"Read it to them."

"Leona..."

"Then I will."

I held up the page.

"I, Leona Pennington, was confused and unwell at the prison gate. I withdraw every accusation I made against Brice Pennington and Cassidy Cordell. I agree that my son is happy and safe in his father's home. I will not speak about my case to any reporter, ever."

The room had gone very quiet.

"Ever?" said the woman in the church sweatshirt.

"Ever," I said.

I tore the page in half, and then in half again.

I dropped the pieces in the trash can beside the counter.

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