Snowstorm of Our Past novel · Chapter 30 of 32

Chapter 30: Sentencing

I called her back from the truck before we'd even left the pullout.

"This is Mallory Brooks."

"Ms. Brooks. Thank you for calling. I know it's a lot to ask."

"I'll do it," I said.

Gabe reached over and put his hand on my knee, and the new ring caught the light from the dash.

The federal courthouse in Denver was all glass and stone, nineteen floors of it.

On the morning of November twentieth, it was snowing lightly on the steps.

Gabe walked in beside me in his one good suit. He'd left the beanie in the truck, under protest.

Gran had wanted to come.

Her cardiologist had said absolutely not, and she'd said a word to him I won't repeat. So she stayed at the Spur with Tilly and made the whole team swear to call her the second it was over.

The courtroom was wood-paneled and very quiet.

The CID agent sat in the second row in the same dark suit.

The older woman with the gold star sat beside him.

She saw me come in and patted the bench next to her.

Clint sat alone on the aisle a few rows back.

He wore a plain shirt and a jacket that didn't fit him anymore. His hands were rough from the lumberyard.

He nodded to me once.

I nodded back.

They brought Dale in first.

He'd been in federal custody since February. He looked older and grayer, and he walked with a limp that hadn't gone away.

He didn't look at anybody.

Then they brought in Amber.

She wore a tan prison jumpsuit, and her curls were flat and dull, and her hands were cuffed in front of her.

There was no gold star.

She sat at the defense table and turned in her chair, and her eyes went straight to me.

They didn't leave me the whole hearing.

The prosecutor laid it out in fifteen minutes.

The four hundred thousand from the insurance. Ten years of survivor benefits. The cabin, bought under a false name. The money orders, fifty-one of them, with a heart over the i.

Then she said, "Your Honor, we have three people who would like to address the court."

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