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She laid her hand on his arm. "Please. Wait outside. I've got to do this alone."
"Mom, don't send me out," Graham protested.
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"Graham, I must. Please."
Dillon deliberated while searching her face. "Please," she whispered urgently. At last he relented and pushed Graham toward the archway. Graham didn't like it, but Dillon didn't take any guff. Before they went out, Dillon turned and aimed a threatening finger at Neal. "If you lay a hand on her, I'll kill you. Nothing would give me greater pleasure."
When Jade heard the front door close behind them, she turned back to the room. This was the most important confrontation of her life. She prayed to God she had the courage to play it well.
Don't ever be aftaid, Jade.
"This will never go to court," she said to Neal in a steady, confident voice. "You've got no claim on my son. "He could be my son, too."
"You'll never know." "DNA fingerprinting."
"Which I'll never submit Graham to. Any claim you make on him will be tantamount to a confession of rape." "My son never raped anybody!" Myrajane shrieked. Jade turned to her. "He did, Mrs. Griffith. When you
came to Mitch Hearon's funeral, Lamar apologized to me for it. " Looking back at Neal, she said, "So take your case to court if you want to. That's what I'll testify-that my pregnancy was the result of a gang rape instigated by you." "Nobody in hell would believe that."
"Maybe not, but as your father said, it would certainly cause a stink."
"For you."
"And you. Do you remember a woman named Lola Garrison?"
"Who the hell is she?" Neal asked querulously.
"She remembers you quite well, Neal. She was scheduled to be a bridesmaid at your wedding, which never took place because of your accident. Just before you left the rehearsal dinner for your bachelor party, you had carnal knowledge of her in the restaurant powder room. Remember her now?" "Vaguely. So what?"
"Ms. Garrison is a freelance journalist. Several weeks
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ago she spent a day interviewing me for an article in the Sunday supplement."
"I saw it," he said with affected boredom. "Again, so what?"
"She mentioned in passing that the only people she knew in Palmetto were named Patchett. She told me the circumstances under which you had met and called you a 'slimy, sorry son of a bitch' that she would love to get the goods on.
"It seems that after your intended broke the engagement, you spitefully flaunted having had her maid of honor, virtually right under her nose. Your confession ruined a friendship. "
"Friendship my ass, " he scoffed. " Lola, or whatever the hell her name is, went down on me. What kind of friend was she?"
"I wasn't referring to the friendship between the two girls, but between their fathers. The men were business partners. The rift proved to be a costly one for Ms. Garrison's father. He never recovered-either financially or emotionally. She holds you personally responsible for his decline. I'm sure she would love to hear my story about the night at the channel."
There was a moment of taut silence, finally broken by Ivan. "I'm tired of jacking around with you," he said. "If you want to have a mudslinging contest in the newspapers, fine. We'll have one. While this gal is writing about blow jobs in public bathrooms, we'll accuse you of fraud." "Fraud?"
Neal picked up for his father. "You drove up the price of the Parker property with no intention of buying it." "Prove it, Neal," she challenged. "Otis Parker will tes-
tify that I put down a ten-thousand-dollar deposit on the sale of the property. So how are you going to prove that I didn't intend to buy it?"
"I just gave him a million bucks," Ivan shouted. "Otis will testify that his balls are sweet peas if I ask him to." "Except that the deposit was placed in an escrow account.
There will be records. If you have in mind to tamper with
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them as you did with the medical evidence following the rape, don't bother. The account was in my New York bank. "
Father and son exchanged anxious glances. They looked like two men holding on to a life raft that had a slow leak. What little they had to cling to was slowly slipping out of their grasp. Jade could smell their fear. It was sweet.
"Financially, you're ruined," she told them. "In a few months your plant will close down for lack of operating capital. You won't be able to intimidate people with the threat of firing them, because TexTile will provide jobs with better working conditions and far better pay. I'll campaign for an honest man to take over Hutch's sheriff's office. Your days as dictator of Palmetto are over, Ivan."
She looked at Neal. "You don't have the power to hurt people anymore. Your charm was exhausted a long time ago. I never thought you had any."
He moved like a striking snake and caught her arm in a bone-crushing grip. "I can still claim the kid. That would give you plenty of misery."
She worked her an-n free, flinging him off. "I say again, the only way you can claim Graham is to plead guilty to a rape charge."