She Tried to Poison Me novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: No Ice

On the evening of my thirty-first birthday, sixty people stood on the lawn at Harlow Point.

It was the same grass, the same tent frame and the same long view of the lake.

The banner was gone.

The cook had hung strings of paper lanterns in its place and ordered everyone to stop calling her boss.

Nobody was filming.

My hair had grown back to my shoulders, a little darker than before, with a wave in it I didn't remember.

I stood at the drinks table in a green dress with my sleeves pushed up.

I felt the numbness come back into my fingers once in a while, a faint tingle, a ghost.

I'd stopped being afraid of it.

"You're doing it again," said the night doctor, from beside me.

"What?"

"Checking your hands."

"It's a habit."

"It's a good habit. Keep it." He grinned and took a plate of cake. "Happy birthday, Emme."

Across the lawn, the sheriff stood under a lantern with the detective and a paper cup of coffee.

He caught my eye and lifted the cup.

The trial had ended in the spring.

Fern, Nolan and Kit were each in prison now, for different lengths of time.

I had been in the front row for every day of it.

I hadn't looked back at them once after the verdicts.

Tonight there were more important things.

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