Chapter 5 - The Offer
I did not go home.
I checked into a hotel under Sarah's name and spent the night staring at the ceiling while eighteen years of marriage rearranged themselves in my head.
Every time I had asked about the hospital records, Thomas had said the files burned.
Every time I had asked why there was no grave, he had said the hospital disposed of unidentified remains.
Every time I woke crying, he held me and told me to stop torturing myself.
By sunrise, comfort felt like a weapon he had used to keep me quiet.
At nine, a nurse from the private lab took DNA samples from Emily and me in Sarah's office. Chain-of-custody forms were signed, photographed, and sealed.
Thomas did not know where we were.
At least I thought he didn't.
When Emily left the building, a black SUV was waiting across the street.
A man in a charcoal suit stepped out.
"Miss Hart? Mr. Ashford would like five minutes."
Emily froze.
I came through the lobby doors behind her. "He can call my lawyer."
The man looked at me, then touched his earpiece.
"He asked for Miss Hart."
Emily surprised me.
"I'll talk to him."
"Emily--"
She quietly opened the voice recorder on her phone and slid it into her coat pocket.
"Five minutes," she said.
Thomas was sitting in the rear of the SUV.
I stayed ten feet away with Sarah and watched through the open door.
"You are being used," Thomas told Emily. "Margaret is unstable when it comes to the child she lost."
"Then why did you send me a photograph last night?"
His mouth tightened.
"I was trying to stop a disaster."
"What do you want?"
He handed her an envelope.
She opened it.
Inside was a cashier's check for five hundred thousand dollars.
"Take it," he said. "Go to California. Go to Europe. Start a life. Sign one statement saying you lied about the locket and never contact my wife again."
Emily stared at the check.
"If I'm nobody, why am I worth half a million dollars?"
Thomas leaned closer.
"Because you don't understand the damage you're causing."
"To who?"
His eyes moved toward me.
"To everyone."
Emily tore the check in half.
Then in half again.
Thomas's face hardened.
"You think Margaret is going to save you? She couldn't even save her own baby."
I heard it.
So did Sarah.
Emily stepped out of the SUV.
Thomas reached for her wrist.
She pulled free.
"Don't touch me."
The SUV drove away.
Sarah exhaled slowly.
"Please tell me you recorded that."
Emily pulled out her phone.
"Every word."
May you like
Then the lab called.
They had found something unusual in my sample and wanted to speak to us immediately.
