On Thanksgiving, My Husband Left Me 7 Months Pregnant at a Highway Rest Stop novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Off Duty

Marjorie went quiet, and quiet from her was worse than noise.

She withdrew nothing by Friday, or by Christmas.

The hearing on the petition stayed set for January 20.

On the Tuesday after Christmas, Jonas rang my doorbell at nine at night in his uniform, with a paper folder under his arm.

He had been on the desk for three weeks, and it showed in his shoulders.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked.

"My daughter is in the step-down room. Delaney is sleeping in a chair at the care home with her mother. This is the quietest my house has been in a month."

He wiped his boots twice.

I put the kettle on, and then I took down the coffee tin.

He watched me spoon it into the filter.

"You're pouring," he said.

"You said next time."

"I said a lot of things that night."

"You said that one."

I filled the one good mug and set it in front of him, and it was the first thing I'd done all day that felt like mine.

He took a long swallow and set it down.

He opened the folder on the table.

"I read the whole crash file twice," he said. "The scale diagram says impact from the side, and the evidence log says white paint on the rear panel. The trooper who signed it retired to Florida."

"Is that enough?"

"It's enough to ask a question. It's not enough for a court by itself. Dennis would have to say it."

"He said it to Garrett."

"Garrett's his son. That's not a confession."

I put my hand flat on the folder.

I looked at the diagram.

Then I looked at his hands, which were scraped across the knuckles, and I wanted to know what had scraped them.

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