The Night He Left the Syndicate, I Took His Chair novel · Chapter 21 of 32
Chapter 21: Fall River
He walked me to the diner and caught the last boat back.
I let him go without a word, and then I lay awake all night.
The next afternoon I took the ferry over myself.
Mavis packed me a thermos of chowder and told me to come back married or not at all.
"Mavis."
"Fine. Come back."
His apartment was two rooms over a closed tackle shop in Fall River, three streets from his father's dock.
It was raining again.
I climbed the outside stairs and knocked.
He opened the door in a faded gray T-shirt and jeans and bare feet.
He looked at me, soaked on his landing with a thermos, and didn't say anything at all.
"You're not handing it in," I said.
"Come inside. You're wet."
"You're not handing it in, Zeke."
"Ris, come inside."
I came inside.
It was small and clean and nearly empty.
A kitchen in one corner, a burned pan on the stove. A table stacked with files. A bed under the window with a navy quilt.
I put the thermos down on the table so hard the lid rattled.
"You don't get to throw away eleven years for me," I said. "I won't let you. I've had a man throw away my life for his. I'm not doing it to you."
"I'm not throwing anything away."
"You said you're handing in your badge."
"I said they'll take it if I don't testify their way." He leaned against the counter. "I'm going to testify."
My heart dropped.
"Their way?"
"My way."
He looked at me steadily.
"They want the war memorial and nothing else," he said. "Half of it. The bag, the money, the four years you kept quiet. So I'll give them the war memorial. Every word. Under oath."
"That's what they want."
"And then I keep talking," he said. "That you said you didn't know. That you looked like it was killing you. That you zeroed four boats with Hesketh watching. That I never once saw you order anything but coffee."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of The Night He Left the Syndicate, I Took His Chair are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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