Chapter 19: No Way

Demi opened the door in Drake's shirt, with her hair loose and her arms crossed.

The lawyer stood in the hall with a leather folder clutched to his chest.

He had not slept either.

"Miss Pellham, thank you," he said. "Your parents are downstairs. They have been in the lobby since four."

"They could have called."

"Your number is blocked."

"Yes," Demi said. "It is."

Drake came up behind her, dressed, and stood with one shoulder against the frame.

The lawyer looked from one of them to the other and chose not to understand.

"They have drafted a statement," he said. "They would like you to read it, and to sign."

"A statement."

"It is a single page. It would help everyone."

"Everyone," Demi said.

She went down in the elevator with Drake, in jeans and a borrowed jacket.

In the lobby, forty people in hotel robes and finale lanyards had gathered at a respectful distance from a pair of armchairs.

Phones were already up.

Her mother sat on the edge of one chair in the same dress from the gate.

Her father stood behind her with his hands on its back.

They both stood up when she came in.

"Demi," her mother said.

"You wanted me to read something."

Her father took the folder from the lawyer and held out a single page.

Demi read it standing.

It said that Demi Pellham, having been reunited with her family, wished to express that her parents had searched tirelessly for twenty years.

It said that Celia Pellham had acted alone and in secret.

It said that Quinton and Dean had been deceived, and that the Pellham family wished the public to respect their privacy.

At the bottom, a line waited for her name.

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