Chapter 19: I Haven't Approved This

"I gave Dalton his life," Whitney said again, and lifted her glass. "I called in every favor my family had.

"I sat three nights by his bed.

"And tonight, to everyone here who has ever believed that loyalty is a gift..."

I stood up from table nine.

My chair scraped on the marble, and heads turned at the sound.

I walked across the lobby in my blue dress, past the registration desk.

I walked past the orchids on the spot where I had bled.

The bellhop stood at the foot of the little stage with a wireless microphone held in both hands.

He had not been told to give it to anyone, and he gave it to me.

"Mrs. Hazard," Whitney said, with her glass still in the air. "We haven't done the toast to the guests yet."

"I won't be long."

I turned to face the room.

There were four hundred people in the lobby.

I saw the judge, and the Governor's men, and the woman in the green dress.

I saw the chairman's cane against the head table.

"Most of you know who I am," I said. "You've seen a video of me on this floor.

"Whitney has just told you that she gave Dalton his life eight years ago tonight.

"I have a letter from University Hospital."

I took the cream paper out of my clutch and held it up.

My hands were steady.

"It is dated eight years ago tonight.

"It says my kidney went into a twenty-seven-year-old man.

"My father died on the waiting list.