Chapter 4

Chester panicked.

He knew me too well. He knew I always did exactly what I said I would.

He was afraid the truth about that old accident would be dug up. Once an investigation started, losing his position at the plant would be the least of it. He could end up in prison.

So to keep his secure spot at the plant, he started borrowing money everywhere, even pressing Darlene to hand over what she'd saved all those years.

Two days later, Chester set twelve hundred dollars in front of me.

Darlene trailed behind him, and while the money changed hands, her eyes looked ready to tear me to shreds.

"Clarissa Swanson, you're driving a widow and her fatherless boy to their deaths. Aren't you afraid to take this money? You'll pay for it!"

I took the thick stack of bills and counted them off one by one, right in front of her.

"Pay for it?"

I gave a cold laugh and slid the money into my bag. "If anyone's getting struck down from above, you'll be the first."

With the money in hand, I turned and went to the plant office.

The special train to the Northwest left in less than four days.

I couldn't take the apartment with me. Leaving it would only hand a gift to those two.

So I went to find the plant's most notorious hard case, workshop director Allan Finch.

Allan had a fiery temper and couldn't be pushed or coaxed into anything.

He had five sons at home, seven people crammed into a two-hundred-square-foot place, and he'd been waiting forever for the company to assign him housing.

And because his skills were so solid, even the plant manager gave him a wide berth. In Allan's eyes, Chester was nothing.

"Director Finch, that two-bedroom in the new residential compound. I'll sign it over to you."

I dropped the property deed on the desk. "I'm not asking for anything extra. Eight hundred dollars, that's all. I'll handle the paperwork with the plant manager myself. Completely legal, completely by the book."

"But I have one condition. Once you move in, you never let Chester Weiss or Darlene Ramsey set foot in that apartment. Not once."

Allan looked at the deed, and his eyes lit up.

A two-bedroom with its own kitchen and bathroom for eight hundred dollars? That was money falling out of the sky.

"Technician Swanson, don't you worry!"

Allan slapped his thigh. "Once that apartment's mine, I don't care if it's Chester Weiss or the Lord Almighty himself, nobody's getting in. He tries to come make trouble, I'll have my five boys break his legs!"

Once all the paperwork was settled, I went back to the old walk-up.

Chester was sitting in the room smoking, cigarette butts all over the floor, the air thick and foul.

When he saw me come in, he stubbed out the butt, a trace of weariness in his eyes.

"Clarissa, I've paid you back. I was in the wrong before. I ignored how you felt."

He came over and reached for my hand, softening his tone. "As for Darlene, I've straightened things out with her. From now on, besides ten dollars a month for basic living costs, I'll try to see her as little as possible. Let's make a real go of it. Let's have another child, all right?"

I turned aside from his touch and pulled a sheet of paper out of my bag, slapping it down on the desk.

"There won't be any making a go of it. Just sign it."

Chester looked down. It was the divorce agreement.

"You want to divorce me?!"

His eyes went wide, then he snatched up the agreement and tore it to pieces, roaring, "Clarissa Swanson, haven't you made enough of a scene? I've paid you back, I've agreed to stay away from Darlene. What more do you want? You're a broken woman who can't even bear a child now. Leave me and who's ever going to want you!"

"Chester, you think far too much of yourself, and far too little of me."

I gave a cold laugh.

"You don't have to sign. I've already submitted the evidence of your misconduct. They'll rule on it whether you sign or not!"

Chester was about to say something more when a scream from Darlene tore up from downstairs.

"Chester! Help! Someone's stealing our apartment!"