My Brother Called From the Ocean Floor, So I Hung Up novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Quist's Table

Quist had picked a steakhouse on the Lake Union waterfront, with white tablecloths and a room full of people who could see us.

He sat in a corner booth with his folder beside his plate and a glass of red wine he hadn't touched.

I put my phone in my breast pocket, screen down, with the recorder running.

Joan sat three tables away with a salad and a view of the door.

My mother and Kit were in Joan's car in the parking lot, with the engine off.

"Emmett." Quist stood and shook my hand. "I'm glad you came."

"You said better ending."

"Sit. Eat something. You look tired."

I sat.

I didn't eat.

"Let me be direct," Quist said, and he folded his hands on the tablecloth. "Your father is a proud man, and he's made this harder than it needed to be. I'm not proud. I'm practical."

"Go on."

"Five million dollars."

He said it quietly, completely unbothered.

"Paid into any account you choose, in any country. A consulting contract with Rask Marine for ten years, no duties. A letter of recommendation to any lab in Europe. You walk away from the Institute and the Navy and the stage on Saturday, and your name is clean."

"Clean of what?"

"Of the drawing, for a start."

He tapped the folder.

"The forged one, with your name on it," I said.

"The drawing is in your hand, as far as the lawyers will ever know. You specified that groove. It's fraud, Emmett, and in the Navy's eyes it's criminal. Seven years, perhaps."

"Last Tuesday I was on the Neptune, testing sonar."

"On a ship at sea, with no one to swear to it. I'm afraid the log has been amended."

"You amended it."

He lifted one shoulder.

"I'm a careful man," he said.

I looked at the waiter walking by with a tray of oysters.

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