Chapter 27: The Pier

Six hundred people turned around in their chairs to look at the sound booth.

Brendan stood behind the glass with his hand still on the button.

For a second I thought he'd stay there.

He'd stayed behind glass for twenty-one years.

Then he came out.

He walked down the center aisle in his tuxedo, past the tables, past our parents.

Mom reached for his sleeve as he went by.

He didn't stop.

He came up the steps onto the stage, where two agents were holding Verity by the arms.

She was smiling at him now.

She thought she'd found the one thing that could still hurt.

He held out his hand to me.

I gave him the microphone.

"I was ten," Brendan said.

His voice came out of every speaker in the ballroom.

"It was July. Navy Pier. Mom told me to hold my sister's hand."

The room was so quiet I could hear the ice in somebody's glass.

"I let go to watch a magician."

He swallowed.

"When I looked down, she was gone."

Mom had both hands over her mouth.

Dad had stood up at our table and didn't seem to know it.

"I told the police she pulled away from me," Brendan said.

"I told Mom and Dad. I told everyone, for twenty-one years. It was a lie."

He looked at our parents.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Then he turned and looked at Verity.

"When you came home at six, I decided I'd never let you feel like the spare," he said.

"Every time anyone doubted you, I stood in front of you. That was my penance. I picked it myself."

He looked down at me.

"Five weeks ago my real sister came home, and I stood in front of you then too."

"I told her deaf ear not to upset you."

He put the microphone back in my hand.

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