Cordray watched me work it out and said nothing, and Lenora reached across and took my hand, and I sat there and understood that I had spent my whole life being loved more carefully than I’d ever been told — by a father who confused silence with protection, and who had finally, at the cost of nearly everything, learned the difference.

Chapter 11 — A Few More Hours

I handed Cordray the burner phone.

The police and the state’s attorney moved at once for search and arrest warrants against Devon, Coralie, and my uncle Horace — but the judge wanted the original forged documents in the safe secured by investigators before any arrest, which meant that until it was done, I had to go back to the hospital and behave as though I knew nothing at all.

“You’ve played the obedient wife for five years,” Lenora said, holding my hand across the sticky table.

“You only have to play her for a few more hours.”