Chapter 20: The Board

Tessa's POV

The boardroom of Thornbury Industries had a table of black glass and twenty leather chairs.

On Monday at ten, nineteen of them were full.

Desmond sat at the head in a charcoal suit with his hands folded.

A pitcher of water stood at his elbow.

I did not drink from it.

"Thank you all for coming at short notice," he said. "As most of you know, we have had wonderful news. Our founder's granddaughter has come home."

He turned to me and smiled.

"Tessa. Come, sit. This chair has been yours since the day you were born."

It was the chair at his right hand.

I did not sit in it.

I stood at the foot of the table with Ansel on my left and the lab director on my right.

The lab director held the black ledger against his chest in both arms.

My right hand worked again.

I had made a fist in the elevator, on purpose, and nobody had noticed.

"Desmond," I said. "I'd like to read something to the board first."

"Of course, my dear. A family matter, I suppose?"

"A shipping record."

I opened the ledger to the first tab.

I read the first line, and the second, and then I read the date.

I read the third of every month for ninety-six months.

I read the word tea, and the word Richmond, and the initials.

I read them slowly, so that every chair could hear.

By the fortieth line, a woman halfway down the table had put a hand over her mouth.

By the sixtieth, two directors had pushed back their chairs.

"This is absurd," Desmond said, and his voice was just a little too loud. "A forgery. This old man was dismissed from the lab for theft."

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