Chapter 21: Vaughn's POV

Vaughn's POV

I stood at the back of my own ballroom with my hands behind me and watched four hundred people clap for a liar.

Chloe Danvers came in last.

She wore black, a long sleeve and no jewelry, and the boot on her left foot.

She leaned on the arm of the church treasurer, who looked stiff and unhappy.

The room rose.

Chloe paused in the doorway, wiped one eye with a finger, and let them see her do it.

Then she limped down the center aisle to table one.

She sat.

She laid a photograph of two smiling people in front of her place card, and folded her hands over it.

I did not look at my wife.

I knew exactly where she was.

She was in the wings, left of the stage, with a headset on and one hand on the sound board.

She had not eaten since lunch.

I had left a sandwich on the console, and she had not touched it.

The soup went out. Gillian's mother's lemon squares went out with the coffee.

At eight, the retired dentist stood and tapped a water glass.

"Thank you all for coming," he said. "We are here tonight for Chloe's mother and father."

He paused.

"I have a question first, for the fund. It will keep for later."

A murmur went through the tables.

Chloe lowered her eyes.

"Let's begin with a toast," the dentist said.

Four hundred glasses rose.

I watched Sylvia at table four with her black coat buttoned to the chin and her glass untouched.

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