“We’re offering you ninety thousand dollars,” Monica said. She didn’t bother with small talk either. Just like Trevor. “That’s ten in here.” She held up the envelope. “Cash. The other eighty when you sign
an agreement. You stop this ridiculous investigation. You stop talking to Gordon. You stop talking to lawyers. And you leave Ohio. Go to Florida. Go to Arizona. Go anywhere you want.”
“I’m not signing anything,” I said.
Monica’s smile disappeared.
That’s when she said it.
“If you mention my name again,” she said, “I promise you’ll be going straight back to prison.”
And she tossed the envelope onto the grass in front of my feet.
That was when I saw the watch.
Our father’s gold watch, with the scratched face and the brown leather band, on my little sister’s wrist.
“Pick up your money,” I told her. “You already took four years of my life. You’re not buying the ones I have left.”
