Chapter 24: The Seat

Sean opened his eyes in a hospital bed at three in the morning, and the first thing he said was my name.

I was in the chair beside him with the founder's chain still around my neck.

I had not taken it off.

"Don't scold me," he said. "Your mother used to scold me."

"The doctor says you have a bad heart and a worse temper."

"Both are true."

"The surgeon put in a small tube. She says you will live to be a nuisance."

He laughed, and it hurt him, and he put a hand on his ribs.

Ronan stood at the end of the bed with his arms folded.

He had not left the building in nine hours.

"Did Chester..." Sean began.

"Chester is in a federal cell," I said. "He has asked for a lawyer, and then for his thermos, and then for me. They gave him the lawyer."

"And the girl?"

"Savannah is in the cell next to his. She asked if the jail had a view."

Sean closed his eyes.

"I held her hand in a hospital," he said. "It was real to me."

"I know."

"She'll go to prison, Erin."

"For the forged letter and the pills. Yes. And for signing her own invoice for a man with a rifle. She asked whether she could have a pen."

He did not laugh this time.

He took my hand instead, and held on for a long while.

Four weeks later Chester stood in federal court and heard thirty-one names read aloud.

He got life.

I sat in the front row and did not look away, and when he looked at me I looked back, and neither of us said anything.

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