Chapter 14 - What Harper Finally Admitted
Harper waited outside Jonah's office late that afternoon. She was wearing jeans, an old gray sweater of mine, and the exhausted face of a person who hadn't slept. For one ugly moment I wanted to pull her into my arms.
"I know you hate me," she said.
"I don't know what I feel."
"Grant has been threatening me. The company I ran before we met failed. I owe people money. He said if I could help close the foundry deal, he'd settle everything."
"So you decided to marry me?"
"I loved you. I still do."
"You told the hospital my mother couldn't make decisions. You stole a key. You signed your name as her agent."
Her jaw tightened. "Your father wanted that sale too. At least I did something about the mess."
"You pushed a woman who can barely stand without a cane."
"I was angry. She wouldn't listen."
I waited for the next sentence: I'm sorry I hurt her. Harper said, "Everybody is acting like she died."
The feeling in my chest finally changed shape. It wasn't longing anymore.
"You don't get to measure the damage by whether she survived," I said.
For a second Harper looked like she might slap me. Then she pressed both palms against her face and cried. I stayed where I was.
"You don't understand what Grant can do," she said. "He has people who know how to make things disappear. Files. Bank records. Witnesses."
"Then tell the police."
"He'll drag your father down with me. Arthur signed the first agreement. That's how Grant knows he can win."
"I won't protect a lie by letting you keep hurting people."
Harper took my house key from her pocket and placed it on the windowsill. I recognized the small red scratch in the metal. We'd made it trying to assemble a bookshelf together our first winter.
"I know you think there's nothing left to say," she whispered.
"There is one thing. Did you plan Mom's fall before the wedding?"
She looked at the floor for a long time. "Grant said she only needed to be scared. He didn't tell me to push her."
"But you did."
"Yes."
She walked away before I could speak again. Jonah had heard enough from the doorway to confirm her admission, though he hadn't recorded it. The police would need to interview her themselves.
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As I reached for my phone, Nina called. Her voice was sharp with urgency.
"Nate, Alder Ridge's lawyers just filed an emergency petition to replace your mother as trustee. They're calling her medically unfit."
