Reborn: I Let My Mother Suffer the Price of Her Favoritism novel · Chapter 23 of 32

Chapter 23: The Ledger

Everett opened the door, and he kept one hand on the frame.

"You can come in the kitchen," he said. "You stay at the table. Callie's phone is recording."

"Fine."

Dale walked in with the black book and sat down at the maple table across from me, where the laptop still showed the times in my mother's slant.

He saw them.

I watched his eyes go down the column, and then I watched him go gray.

"That's it," he said. "That's the page. I only ever saw the bottom."

"What did you think it meant?"

"I thought it was a doctor's schedule." His voice was rough. "She said it was for Sloane's medication. 'Two hours between doses.' I never put it together."

"You tried to lock the doors, Dale."

"I know."

He put the leather book down in front of me.

It was a pocket ledger of the kind insurance men carry, with a rubber band around it, soft with handling.

"I write everything down," he said. "It's what I do. Every client call, every claim, every date. It isn't a decision. It's a habit."

I slipped off the band.

The first page said, in his neat blocky hand: Refill, 3/9. Pharmacy, Main St. Picked up for M.H. Told pharmacist: nerves.

The next page said the same, for April.

It went on for twelve years.

"I started it after the fourth one," Dale said. "I thought something was off. I kept going back for the bag and writing it down, and I never asked her once."

"Why?"

"Because if I asked, I'd have to know."

Everett said nothing.

I turned the pages.

Beside each refill there was a second line, in a different color of ink.

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