Chapter 9: Everett's POV

Everett's POV

Adeline took the call in the hall with her back to me.

I heard her say Ned's name twice, and then only "Yes" and "I understand," and then she hung up.

"Damon files at dawn," she said. "He's going to claim Toby."

"On what ground?"

"Ned didn't know yet. He said he wanted me to hear it from someone who'd say it plainly."

She pulled on her sweater and went to look in on her brother.

I stayed in her room, in the dark, with the bed still warm.

I did not tell her.

I had meant to. I had started the sentence.

Now it was four in the morning, and I was in my library with the lamp off and a glass of whiskey I wasn't drinking.

I made myself say it in my own head, in full.

The rail yard deed needs a signature that isn't mine and isn't Damon's.

I'd known that since June, when the last page came back from his office with a yellow tab on it.

I had turned to that page, as I turn to every last page, and found a name I didn't know.

Adeline Hartigan.

I spent a week finding out who she was.

I read the counteroffers again. I put them next to a stack of Damon's own emails, and I saw that she wrote everything he signed.

I told myself that was why I asked for her.

It was one reason.

The other was that the land would not move without her hand, and a woman under Damon's protection could be told by Damon what to sign.

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