His 47 Seconds of Silence Cost Him Everything novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: Off the Sign
"Then they'll take it off," I said.
Cory stared at me under the alley light.
"That's it? That's all you've got?"
"You asked what your partners want. I heard you."
Callen had gone very still against Mike's side.
Cory looked at him then, finally.
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Cory's mother took Callen's hand and walked him to her car, and Cory let them go.
On Monday morning, Jen and I sat on the curb across State Street from her salon with two coffees.
There was a bus bench on the corner in front of the bank.
Cory's face on it, four feet wide. Salt-and-pepper. Quarter-zip. Teeth.
RITTER REALTY. FAMILY FIRST.
I'd sat on that bench a hundred times waiting for Jen to close up.
His arm went off the edge of the picture, around a shoulder somebody had cropped out.
Mine. It was our wedding photo.
A white pickup pulled up to the curb at 8:15.
Two men in orange vests got out with a roll of vinyl, a bucket and a squeegee on a pole.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of His 47 Seconds of Silence Cost Him Everything are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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