His New Stepsister. His Biggest Threat. novel · Chapter 13 of 32
Chapter 13: Hal's Terms
I didn't run.
Running is what people do when they've done something wrong.
I stopped the recording, picked up my last forty-eight dollars in chips and walked to the cage to cash out.
My hands were steady right up until the cashier counted the bills into them.
Then they weren't.
Outside, the parking lot was orange under the sodium lights.
The Corolla was across the street, past the diner and its pie case.
I made it halfway.
"Tilda."
Hal came out of the side door without his UCLA cap.
His face was still wet.
He walked fast.
"Get in my car," he said. "We'll talk."
"I'm good out here."
"You followed me."
"I followed a man who took my picture in my own bar. You just happened to be holding his money."
He stopped six feet away.
"You don't understand what you saw," Hal said.
"You handed a bookie a bank envelope. He didn't count it. You cried."
"I'm a sentimental man."
"You're a broke one."
That hit somewhere.
His veneers came out anyway, big and white under the orange light.
"Let me tell you what I understand," he said. "I understand my son was at my house on Sunday. I understand a young man from the promo crew came to see me on Monday."
My stomach turned over.
"White sneakers," Hal said. "Very ambitious. He wanted to know if the family would be comfortable with a certain storyline. Stepbrother and stepsister. He said he had reason to think it might be true."
"He didn't see anything."
"He saw enough to ask." Hal tilted his head. "And my son hasn't been himself since. Lunch, alone, below deck. People notice."
"He made fish stew."
"I'm sure he did."
He took one step closer.
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