A Paper Plate at My Own Table novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: Every Cent
Meredith's POV
The chief executive of Harlow Home Supply was sitting in my lobby with his coat still on, and he stood up so fast his knees knocked the table.
"Ms. Slade. Please. About the account."
"I haven't cancelled it."
"You haven't?"
"I cancelled Dean," I said. "Lanternway has hauled your freight for six years and I'm not going to punish a few thousand stores for one man's lies."
His shoulders sagged.
"I was prepared to beg."
"I know. Joyce said you'd brought a pastry."
He had.
It sat on the lobby table in a white box.
"Keep it," I said. "I have a court date."
The courtroom was full.
The video of the open house had passed two million views by Sunday night, and half the people in the gallery were strangers with phones turned off.
The club women had come, in the same pearls, in the back row.
The choir was there.
So was the notary, with her cane, next to the detective.
Timothy sat on my right in the one suit he owned, with his father's brass key in his breast pocket.
Joyce sat on my left with a leather folio and reading glasses on a cord.
"All rise," said the bailiff.
Dean came in through the side door in a county jumpsuit, with a lawyer I'd never met and a face the color of putty.
He didn't look at me.
Norma came in on bail, in a gray suit, with her silver bob combed neatly.
She looked straight ahead.
The judge was a thin, unsmiling woman who read the filings without speaking for a long time.
Then she took off her glasses.
"This is a clear case," she said. "The sale of the property on Ashby Ford Road seven years ago is void. The signature of Mr. Timothy Ellery was forged, the notarization was obtained by deception, and the witness was paid."
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