Chapter 21: To Loyalty

Yvette did not say a word about the laptop.

She walked straight up to Brodie in the alley and straightened his tie with both hands.

"You're tired, love," she said. "The photographer wants us at five."

Brodie looked at me over her shoulder.

His mouth moved, and I read a single word on it.

Lectern.

Then he let her take his arm, and they walked to her car together.

She turned at the door and smiled at me.

"You look handsome, Jude. Don't be late to table nine."

The car backed out of the alley, slowly.

Hazel closed the laptop and stood with it against her chest.

"He went with her," she said.

"He told me where he'd be."

"Do you believe him?"

"I don't know," I said. "I think he doesn't know either."

By seven the ballroom was full.

Two hundred of my old coworkers sat at round tables under the chandeliers.

They wore suits and gowns, and there were white roses on every cloth.

I walked in through the front doors in the rented suit.

Heads turned, and then turned back, quickly.

Ned stood from table four and lifted his water glass an inch at me.

Table nine sat at the front, with its roses and its chairman.

Hazel had squeezed fourteen chairs around a table meant for twelve.

The board were already seated, every member with a napkin in their lap.

Not one of them looked happy to be there.

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