The Summer I Left novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Where the Money Went

Nate pressed the screen and held the phone against the microphone.

Brynn's voice filled the basement.

"Nobody says a word about the letter until after my interview. Do you understand, Nate?"

The hall went still.

"If you tell them the man was Drew's father, they'll see Drew as his son. Then the whole house falls apart."

Nate's voice, small and far from the phone. "But Drew is not him."

"It doesn't matter what's true. It matters what they believe."

Her recorded voice turned soft and kind.

"Let them be angry at Drew. Angry people give things. Do you want to go to a facility? Because that's where boys like you go when nobody believes them."

Nate pressed the screen again.

Silence.

Brynn stood at the podium with her mouth a little open.

Mom lowered her hands from her face. She stared at Brynn.

"You told him that," Mom said.

"It's edited," Brynn said fast. "He can make a recording say anything. He's autistic, he can't..."

"I do not edit," Nate said. "I do not know how."

Somebody near the back laughed, once, and stopped.

I stood where I was and kept my hands at my sides.

My legs were not working right.

I looked at Nate.

He was already looking at me, waiting to see what I would do.

I wanted to be sick, and I wanted to scream, and I did neither.

A chair scraped near the side wall.

A thin man in a cardigan stood up with a ring of keys in his hand.

"I'm Grace Church's treasurer," he said. "Brynn, I'd like to ask about this."

"Not now," Brynn said.

"The page for tonight says this church is the fiscal sponsor of Nate's Road. It says every dollar passes through our account."

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