Chapter 4: Clause Nine

Rex Kotter sat down at Ashton's kitchen table without being asked.

He crossed one ankle over the other and straightened his cuffs.

Dottie stood at the end of the counter holding the skillet.

"You can put that down, Miss Ames," Rex said. "No one is going to be harmed."

"Then you can put your ring down," Dottie said.

He smiled at her, and then he smiled at me.

"Miss Larkin, I'll be brief," he said. "You are a lovely young woman who had a terrible night."

"Yes," I said.

"A terrible night makes people do impulsive things, and impulsive things go viral."

"Yes."

"I'd like to help you get your life back."

He unfolded the paper and turned it toward me.

It was two pages of small type and a check clipped to the corner.

The check was made out to me for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

I looked at the zeros.

"What is it?" I said.

"An agreement. You never speak about last night, you never speak about Mr. Reeve, and you step away from this."

"Step away to where?"

"Anywhere you like. Portland, I'm told, is lovely in spring."

Ashton had been standing at the stove with his arms folded.

"Rex," he said, "get out of my kitchen."

"This is a courtesy to her, Ash."

"It's a bribe."

"It's a courtesy with six figures on it." Rex didn't look away from me.

"Lila and Ash are the most valuable couple in music.

"A couple like that is not a romance, Miss Larkin.

"It's a company, with about four hundred employees, who are all counting on a tour."

I thought about that.

I thought about the lawn and the whisper and the word rental.

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