Chapter 17: Paid Back

Crispin's POV

I came off my shift on Thursday and went straight to the bank without sleeping.

The teller knew me by now.

"Two cashier's checks," I said. "Five thousand each."

"Out of savings?"

"Out of savings."

I had put eight thousand dollars of my own into Lacey's account in August, beside her parents' money.

This took ten more.

When the teller slid the checks across, I looked at the amounts and felt lighter, not poorer.

For four days I had walked past my mother's door on the second floor without knocking.

The brass key with the green cap still sat on the little table inside my door, where she had left it.

My mother had stopped speaking to me on Monday, except to say my name in a way that meant fool.

She was right.

I should have told Lacey in August, with the checks in my hand.

I'd thought I was protecting her from the knowledge, and what I'd really protected was the version of me she liked.

At four that afternoon I rang the bell at her father's condo.

My mother had the time of the meeting from Lacey, who had it from Hattie.

Curtis opened the door in his socks.

Behind him a man in a blazer sat at the dining table with a legal pad, and Denise sat across from him with her purse on her knees.

The girlfriend was not there.

"Crispin," Curtis said, and for once his smile didn't come on. "This isn't a good time."

"It won't take long."

I walked past him into the room.

Denise stood up.

"You have a nerve."

"I do," I said. "Sit down, please. I have something for both of you."

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