My hands tightened around the bag. “I didn’t take anything from her.”
“Then you won’t mind handing that back.”
“I’ll be contesting everything.”
I looked at the lawyer. He gave the slightest shake of his head.
“I need to think,” I said, and walked away.
“Daniel, wait. Let me finish,” Mr. Charleston called after me, but I was already down the street, too shaken to turn around.
***
By Monday, the whispers at the nursing home had already started.
“I need to think.”
I felt them before I heard them.
The pause when I walked into the break room.
The way two nurses stopped talking when I passed in the hallway.
Even the residents I’d known for over a year looked at me differently.
Sarah found me in the supply closet restocking towels.
“Daniel.” She closed the door behind her. “Management wants to see you on Wednesday. It’s a formal inquiry.”
