BooksBarbecue
Back One White Lie Save as PDF
Chapters (59)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. DEDICATION
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. Acknowledgments
  59. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Vera bit at one of her nails, then stopped abruptly, lacing her hands together. ‘I spoke to a lawyer. Since Claire hasn’t reported a crime, the police can’t charge John for statutory rape, but she – well, her father – can sue us for emotional distress, and the damages have a high ceiling. Even if he can’t prove it, even if Claire won’t testify, we could be tied up in it anyway, hemorrhaging money. He hates John, he believes his daughter has been violated, and he’s not going to let it go,’ she said. ‘Any lawyer worth their salt starts at three hundred dollars an hour. We’ve only got twenty grand saved between the two of us. That’s sixty-six hours of work, Lucy – I’ve calculated it more than once – not even two goddamn weeks. We would be completely wiped out by a lawsuit, and once the savings were gone, we would have to take out a second mortgage, dip into the little equity we have in the house. And if Sam Alby did win … the house, the cabin, the business, it’s all in both of our names. He could take everything. It would destroy us.’

She tugged at the ends of her hair. ‘John found this area an hour west of Lake George in the Adirondacks. It’s really remote, all woods and state land. He wants to go there, not tell anyone where we’re going. If we use our savings and rent out the house, if the gallery sells a bit more, if we had one big show that could kind of put it on the map, perhaps we could come back after the statute of limitations is up, once things have died down … Don’t look at me like that.’

‘Like what?’ I asked.

‘Like I’m foolish,’ she said. ‘The more I think about it, the more John and I talk about it, the more I know it’s foolish. I know moving, even if John calls it disappearing, isn’t going to stop a lawsuit from going through. If we go, we have to really go. We have to make damn sure Sam can’t harass us anymore – and that his lawyers can’t find us. Sometimes I think this asshole won’t stop unless John is dead.’

Van Gogh. The name, the way they’d morbidly turned it into a verb, rang in my head. Their always joke.

Dusty jumped down, leaving white hairs all over Vera’s black leggings.

‘Look,’ she said, lifting a hand before I could ask any more questions. ‘I’m sorry to spring all this on you, it’s not your problem to solve. I just hope you won’t hold this against us.’

‘Of course not,’ I said. ‘I would never hold anything against you. I just, I don’t understand –’