Daddy, Can You Teach Me Some Naughty Night Things? novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Dessa's Reckoning

"Dessa," Lyle said. His voice had gone soft. "Put that away, honey."

"No, sir," Dessa said.

Her hand was shaking, but she held the phone up high enough for the front rows to see it.

"I've kept every voicemail you ever left me for two years," she said. "I didn't know why. I think I always knew I'd need them."

The auctioneer's microphone was still live on its stand.

Dessa walked to it. She laid the phone against the grille, and she pressed play.

Lyle's voice filled the barn.

"Doyle's got the second frame up. Keep the lower channel dry till June. The girl will beg, or Wayne will. Either one, I buy the creek for the price of the note."

A pause, then a man's voice, small and tinny. "And the paper, Lyle?"

"Dessa signs what I put in front of her. She's signed Carol's name before. She'll sign it again."

Dessa's face was white, but she did not look away from her father.

The recording ran on.

"And Wayne's been seeing the girl. I got a camera up in the cottonwood. When I have what I need, the county commissioner gets an envelope. A man like that won't fight it. He'll sell me the water to keep his name."

The recording clicked off.

Nobody in the barn made a sound.

I could hear a horse shift in the back stalls.

"That's my daughter," Lyle said. His voice cracked up through the middle. "She's not well. She's been under a great strain. Everybody here knows she's a troubled girl."

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