Chapter 12 - Brett's Recording
Brett arrived at the public library looking as though he hadn't slept.
He carried a small flash drive but refused to hand it over until Mara joined us.
"I want a lawyer present," he said.
"So do I," I replied.
In a private meeting room, Brett played an audio file recorded weeks earlier.
Gene's voice was unmistakable.
He was instructing Brett to proceed with the buyer and saying that I would sign once I understood the consequences of refusing.
Then Linda spoke.
"If she makes trouble, tell her command she's been acting unstable."
I felt the blood leave my face.
Brett stopped the recording.
"I kept it because I thought Gene might blame me," he said.
Mara asked him where and how it was made and cautioned that its admissibility would depend on applicable law and circumstances.
Brett answered her questions, less confidently with every sentence.
"Why tell me now?" I asked.
He rubbed his forehead.
"The buyer is threatening litigation.
Gene says it's all my fault."
There it was.
Not remorse.
Self-preservation.
Still, evidence could be useful regardless of why someone finally offered it.
"You'll need your own counsel," Mara told him.
"I know," Brett said.
He looked at me.
"Paige really thought you were giving her the place."
"She told me it made sense to take it."
"She thought you would be happy living on base."
I leaned back.
"Did any of you think about asking me?"
Brett had no answer.
We preserved the recording and an account of its source without making promises to him.
Outside the library, the sky was the gray of an approaching storm.
I called Paige.
"We need to talk without Mom, Dad, or Brett."
"Why?"
"Because you've been making decisions based on what they told you."
She was silent.
Then she said, "I know about the sale."
I stopped walking.
"Since when?"
"Since before you came home."
The air seemed to change around me.
"You knew?"
"I thought you'd understand," she whispered.
That confession was worse than anything Brett had played.
It meant my sister had not simply inherited someone else's lie.
May you like
She had chosen to live inside it.
