He Sent His Helicopter for Her Dog, So I Signed the Papers novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: The Hearing
"A wren is a small brown bird that nobody notices," I said into the dark. "My crew gave me the name my first week, because I was short and I sang on the radio."
"Sang?"
"Nonna's lullaby. When the cabin was cold and nobody would talk."
Hayes lay still beside me.
"It meant I could do one thing well and didn't need anyone to see it," I said. "For four years it meant a man on a mountain."
"And now?"
"Now it means that when someone calls my name, I'm going to answer."
He kissed my temple and said nothing more, which was the right thing.
Eleven days later I walked into the state aviation hearing with my hands bare.
The hall was a plain gray room with a long dais at the front.
Three officials sat behind it, and the chairwoman, a straight-backed woman in her sixties, held a gavel she did not seem to want.
Every seat in the gallery was full.
The families from the Malibu hall sat on the left.
On the right, in the front row, sat the woman in the navy coat, with her daughter beside her.
Fred sat behind me in his wedding suit.
Hayes sat behind Fred, in a borrowed tie.
He had given his statement to the regulator the day before, for nine hours, and he had not asked for a lawyer.
Camille sat alone at the respondent's table.
She had no attorney, no dog, and no jewelry.
She was thinner than three weeks before, and she held herself very straight.
"We are here," the chairwoman said, "on two matters. The first is the incident review of Lena Ferraro's actions on Mount Haldane four years ago. The second is the conduct of Grosvenor Aviation's operations department on the night of the fourteenth."
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