Bitter Burn novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Agent Orr

In the grey light before dawn I laid the transfer slip on the camp bed between us.

Finbar sat against the wall in Bridie's sweater with his knees drawn up.

He read the paper, and I watched every muscle in his face go still.

"That's my name at the bottom," I said.

"I didn't sign it."

"I know you didn't."

"How do you know?"

He took off his glasses and pressed his thumb and finger against his eyes.

"Because I've looked at your handwriting every day for fourteen months.

"The slant is wrong. The M is too round."

"Whose hand is it?"

"I can't say yet."

"Can't," I said, "or won't?"

"Siobhan."

"You've been saying that word to me for three days."

He lowered his hand.

His eyes were red-rimmed and tired and very honest, and I hated that I could see it.

"I walked to your father's house last night because I couldn't stand not knowing whether you were safe," he said.

"I'd walk it again."

"You could have been killed."

"So could you."

"That's not an answer," I said.

"No."

He almost smiled.

"It isn't."

Outside, a gull cried, and the water knocked at the boards.

I opened my mouth to ask the thing I had been circling since the diner, and the boathouse door swung open.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Bitter Burn from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.