Chapter 11: Did She Stop It

The phone went dark on the table.

Paula lifted her head and looked at it.

Then she looked at me.

Her face was blotchy, and her mascara had run to her jaw.

"Sonya."

"That's my daughter," I said.

"I know."

"She asked if I stopped it." I pointed at the black screen. "Stopped what, Paula? What did June know about a house?"

Paula pressed her lips together.

"Say it."

"I can't."

"You can't."

"I promised her." Her voice was a thread. "I'm not going to break the one promise in this whole mess that I didn't make to him."

"She's eighteen."

"I know how old she is."

"When did she ask you to promise?"

Paula shook her head.

She was crying again, silently, with her mouth open.

"Ask June," she said. "Please. She's the one who should say it."

I stood up so quickly that the chair slid back and hit the wall.

Sullivan was waiting in the hallway outside the conference room, holding the empty folder against his leg.

He took one look at me and straightened.

"What happened?"

"I need to go home."

"Do you want me to drive?"

"No." I took the car keys out of my bag and found them in my fist already. "I have to see my daughter."