The Men Who Walked Out novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Waiting in the Car

"Twelve years," I said.

Elliot stood against the corridor wall, and I stood in front of him with my father's wallet in my fist.

"You knew who he was for twelve years, and you let me walk into every dinner blind."

"Yes."

"I told you about my mother's toasts. I complained about Brent's cufflinks to you."

"You did."

"You knew the name of the man she was bringing home."

"I knew his name," Elliot said. "I didn't know he was coming."

"That doesn't help."

"No."

He waited for me to go on, and I found I had nothing left to say.

"Leave me alone," I said. "Go home and take the notebooks with you."

He nodded once.

He walked to the elevator and pressed the button, and he didn't argue, which made me angrier than anything he could have said.

My father stayed three nights.

I slept in the recliner by his bed, and on the first night I stood at the window at two a.m. and saw Elliot's car in the parking lot.

I decided it was a coincidence.

On the second night there was snow on the roof, and he had cleared a patch of windshield only wide enough to see the hospital doors.

The engine was off.

I could tell because no exhaust rose in the lamplight.

Dad slept through all of it, with the monitor ticking.

"Is he still down there?" he asked on the third morning, without opening his eyes.

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