Chương 10
“What happens to the criminal investigation?” she asked.
“Separate.”
“So settlement doesn’t protect him.”
“No.”
“Can I ask the prosecutor not to charge?”
“You can express your wishes regarding the assault. The suspected fraud is not yours to dismiss.”
Claire already knew.
She had asked anyway.
“What would Dad do?”
Eleanor removed her glasses.
“Don’t.”
Claire looked at her.
“You don’t know what your father would do. Even if you did, he’s not the client.”
Claire leaned back.
“I don’t need the cabin.”
“That is not the same as not wanting it.”
“I don’t know if I want it.”
“Then don’t decide based on property.”
Claire frowned.
“What else is there?”
“What would the settlement mean?”
Claire looked toward the window.
“It would mean Grant gets paid for stopping.”
“Yes.”
“It would mean I’m buying peace.”
“Yes.”
“It would mean Mason doesn’t have to sit through probate testimony.”
“Possibly.”
“And it would mean I avoid proving something I already believe.”
“Yes.”
Claire tapped one finger on the proposal.
“What would refusing mean?”
“That you accept the cost of litigating.”
“Money.”
“Money. Time. Public records. Family testimony. Uncertainty.”
Claire nodded.
“And if I win?”
“You own the cabin, subject to whatever final orders apply. Winning does not reverse the last six months.”
Claire almost smiled.
“You’re terrible at sales.”
“I don’t sell litigation.”
Claire took the proposal back to the cabin.
She left it on the table for two days.
On Sunday Mason arrived.
He parked badly, one tire touching the grass.
Claire watched him come up the steps carrying a fishing rod.
“Your mother know you’re here?”
“Yes.”
“Your father?”
“No.”
Claire nodded.
Mason looked at her.
“Are you going to tell him?”
“No.”
He seemed surprised.
“Why not?”
“You’re seventeen, not seven.”
“That’s not usually what adults say when they want to control where I go.”
Claire opened the door.
“I’m trying something new.”
He entered.
For the first hour they barely spoke.
Mason went down to the dock.
Claire cleaned the gutters.
At noon he returned with no fish and a cut on his thumb.
Claire found a bandage.
He said, “I’m not five.”
“You’re bleeding on my counter.”
“Your counter?”
Claire looked at him.
Mason did too.
The word had escaped before either of them was ready.
She handed him the bandage.
“The disputed counter.”
“Better.”
He wrapped his thumb.
Then he noticed the settlement papers.
Claire moved them instinctively.
Too late.
“What’s that?”
“Lawyer stuff.”
“About Dad?”
“Yes.”
Mason’s expression hardened.
“What does he want?”
Claire hesitated.
He noticed.
“You said you wouldn’t make me evidence. You didn’t say you’d treat me like I’m stupid.”
“He offered to withdraw his claim if I sell the cabin and give him part of the money.”
Mason stared.
“How much?”
“Forty percent.”
“He told Mom twenty-five.”
Claire felt something cold move through her.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Did he ask her to talk to me?”
“No. He said you were being greedy.”
Claire sat down.
Mason opened the refrigerator.
“You still have Grandpa’s disgusting pickles.”
“He liked them.”
“They taste like batteries.”
“That’s specific.”
He took a soda.
Claire watched him.
“What do you think I should do?”
Mason froze.
Then he laughed.
“You’re asking me?”
“I’m asking what you think.”
“That seems like a bad idea.”
“Probably.”
He sat across from her.
For a while he peeled the label from the soda bottle.
Finally he said, “If you sell it, Dad gets what he wanted.”
“Yes.”
“If you don’t, he says you care more about the cabin than him.”
“Probably.”
“He already says that.”
Claire nodded.
Mason folded the strip of label into smaller and smaller squares.
“Grandpa wanted you to have it.”
“It appears so.”
“He told me why.”
Claire looked up.
Mason kept folding.
“When?”
“Last summer.”
“What did he say?”
“He said Dad sees things as money when he’s scared.”
Claire waited.
“He said you see things as duty when you’re scared.”
Claire felt the old man’s voice without hearing it.
“What else?”
“He said the cabin needed somebody who could leave it alone.”
Claire frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“I asked him.”
“And?”
“He said Dad would sell it. You’d feel guilty and keep it.”
Claire laughed before she could stop herself.
Mason smiled faintly.
“That sounds like him.”
“Yeah.”
“He manipulated both of us from beyond the grave.”
“Pretty much.”
Mason’s smile disappeared.
“He knew Dad was in trouble.”
“Yes.”
“He still didn’t give him the cabin.”
“Yes.”
“Why not?”
Claire looked at the settlement papers.
“I don’t know.”
Mason threw the folded label into the trash.
“My dad thinks Grandpa punished him.”
“Do you?”
“I think Grandpa was mad.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Mason gave her a look.
“You really do that all the time.”
“What?”
“Make people answer exactly.”
Claire leaned back.
“Sorry.”
“Stop apologizing.”
“Right.”
He took a drink.
“I think Grandpa knew Dad would sell it.”
Claire looked toward the window.
The dock was visible through the trees.
“Would that be so terrible?”
“To Grandpa? Yeah.”
“To you?”
Mason shrugged.
“I like it here.”
“That’s not ownership.”
“I know.”
They sat quietly.
Then Mason said, “Dad told me you could make the charges go away if you wanted.”
Claire rubbed one hand over the table.
“He’s wrong.”
“He says you’re pretending you can’t because you want him punished.”
“The prosecutor decides whether to charge fraud. I can tell them how the assault affected me, but I don’t control the case.”
“He says generals know people.”
“Generals do know people.”
Mason looked up.
Claire continued.
“That is exactly why Robert and I have been careful not to use his position.”
Mason nodded slowly.
“Dad says that’s bullshit.”
“I assumed he might.”
“Is it?”
“No.”
He looked away.
Claire said, “I’m angry at your father.”
“I know.”
“I also don’t want to destroy him.”
Mason’s jaw tightened.
“You already did.”
Claire almost defended herself.
The sentence rose all the way to her mouth.
May you like
Then stopped.
Mason looked frightened by what he had said.
