From Scapegoat to Donna novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Every Hour in Order

We sat in his father's study until the window went grey.

I took the leather chair behind the desk, and I made him stand.

"From the beginning," I said. "Every hour, in order. You don't skip the parts that make you look good."

"That's most of the parts."

"Then it will be quick."

He almost smiled, and it died before it reached his mouth.

He told it flat and in order, and he did not stop.

The gala and the shot. The Don on the table. The council, the badge, the vote.

"They kept you in the hospital records room for four days," he said. "I wasn't allowed inside. I stood outside that door for two nights."

"Did you try to get me out?"

"Three times. Each time my uncle had a man more than I had."

"Did you tell me you were there?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I'd have had to tell you what I was going to do about it, and I didn't have anything."

I looked at him for a while.

"Go on."

He told me about the stairwell and the shot.

He told me about the gun in his mouth, and what it tasted like, and the bed he woke in.

He told me he had gone to the supply clerk at five and asked for six and a half.

"She thought I'd lost my mind," he said.

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