Love, Like Father Like Son novel · Chapter 14 of 24
Chapter 14: Where He Stood
On Sunday my mother had brunch served in the garden room, with the doors open to the lawn.
Russell was already at her side when I came down.
My father sat at the far end with his tea.
Chet's chair was empty.
"June, sit," my mother said. "Russell has something he wants to say, and I want you to hear it kindly."
Russell laid Roxy's folder on the white cloth and smoothed it flat.
"This came to me last night," he said. "A friend of yours pulled these from her firm's private database. That is a crime, dear, and it could cost her her career."
"It's public record," I said.
"Sealed settlements are not public record." He said it with great sorrow. "I'm not going to press it, Helen. I only want June to say that she was mistaken, here, in front of the people who love her. And then sign the papers, so we can all put this behind us."
My mother nodded at the folder.
"Say it, June."
I looked at Roxy's careful tabs, in his hands.
Then the glass door behind me opened, and Chet walked in.
He was dressed, and he hadn't slept.
He had a black notebook in his hand.
He crossed the whole room without looking at anyone but me, and he laid the notebook on the cloth in front of my plate.
"That belongs to my father," he said. "I took it out of his locked suitcase on Friday. The code is my mother's birthday."
The housekeeper stopped pouring.
"Son," Russell said, mildly.
"The first entry is nineteen years old." Chet didn't turn his head. "The fourth is Helen Engstrom, with a number, and no tick yet. On the inside cover, in pencil: Chet is good at it. Has her trust by week two."
"Chet, that's enough," my mother said.
"It isn't." His voice shook once and then held. "I was sent to win June. I did what I was sent to do for a while, and I am sorry. I would like everyone in this room to know it."
Nobody in the room moved.
My mother reached for the book.
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