“What do you want, Margaret?” Thomas asked, his voice steady.

“I want you out of Denver,” she said.

She reached into her designer leather handbag and pulled out a thick, cream-colored envelope.

“There is a check in here for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” Margaret said.

She held it out toward him.

“It is a down payment on your retirement,” she continued. “You can buy a nice house in Arizona. Or Florida.”

“And what do I have to do for this?” Thomas asked.

“You sign a statement retracting your testimony,” she said. “You state that you were confused by the adrenaline of the moment.”

She took another step closer, her heels clicking on the damp concrete.

“You will state that Ryan did not neglect Emma,” she said. “And you will leave the state before the custody hearing.”

Thomas looked down at the envelope in her hand.

The silence between them stretched, filled only by the steady hum of the idling Mercedes.

I held my breath, a cold knot tightening in my stomach.

Would he take it?

He had lived on a tight budget for years, estranged from his wealthy family.