Chapter 7: The Harbor Ball

I turned the photo over and over until Blythe got out of her bunk.

"Halston. Your hands are shaking."

"I'm fine."

"You're not."

She looked at the picture over my shoulder.

"Nice party. Who took it?"

"Nobody," I said. "There was nobody up there."

I took it to Harker.

She looked at the front for a long time and the back for longer.

Her face didn't change, but she took her glasses off and set them on the desk very carefully.

"Where's Barksdale?"

"On the range."

"Get him."

When Tobias came in, she was already on the phone.

She hung up the second he shut the door.

"The Crown's Harbor Ball is Saturday night," she said. "At the old Customs House. Every shipping House on the coast will be there."

"Including mine," I said.

"Including yours. And his."

"You're pulling me off the detail."

"No," Harker said. "I'm putting you on it."

"I'd rather have you in a room I control than alone on a mountain with somebody's courier knowing the way."

She looked at Tobias.

"Three feet, Barksdale."

"Yes, ma'am."

The Customs House had a marble floor and a glass roof and a string quartet under the clock.

I stood at the east wall in grey. Tobias stood at the next pillar.

At eight o'clock the Halstons came in.

Dad first, in black tie. Mom on his arm in cream silk, her hair up in a low knot.

Then my brothers, all six, in a line.

Audra walked behind my mother with her tablet.

I watched them cross the room.

Asher saw me first. His step caught, just for a second.

Keep reading free with an account. Start 365 Days, Zero Missed Calls from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.