The DNA Matched My Cousin, Not Me, So They Kept Me Anyway novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Say the Number Again

The pantry was bigger than my room above the diner.

It had glass-fronted cabinets, a long marble counter and a single hanging bulb, and Garner Harrowgate shut the door behind us with great gentleness.

I put my hand in my coat pocket.

I'd hung the coat on the hook by the pantry door when I came in, and my phone was in it.

I found the red button by feel and pressed it.

"I won't keep you," Garner said. "I know it's been a difficult week."

"Say what you want."

"I'd like to help you."

He sat on the edge of the marble counter and crossed one ankle over the other.

"You're a sensible girl," he said. "You've seen what this family does to people who don't belong in it. Donald is sick. My sister-in-law is not strong. Your friend is going to be asked every day, by every newspaper in the state, whether she's real."

"She's real."

"Of course she is. I only mean that she will be asked."

He took an envelope out of his jacket.

It was thick, cream colored, with no name on the front.

"There's a two-page statement in here. It says that you and Miss Doyle planned the swab together. That she gave her sample at your suggestion, so the lab would find a match. It's a sad, small, human story. Two friends, a terrible temptation."

"That's not what happened," I said.

"It's what will be believed. By a certain kind of judge."

He held out the envelope.

"Sign, and I will have two hundred thousand dollars wired to any account you name. I'll buy you a ticket to anywhere with an ocean. You'll never wait on another table in your life."

I looked at him.

My heart was going so hard I thought it must be audible on the tape.

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