Chapter 21: Nothing Left

The courtroom stayed silent until Brodie understood what he had said.

"I mean," he said. "I didn't mean it that way. I meant she was..."

"I heard you, Mr. Kittredge," said the judge.

She put her glasses back on.

"Then we are done with contribution. The shares of Pathlight Incorporated are Ms. Hartnell's, in full. The petition for half is denied."

Brodie stood with both hands flat on the table.

"The loan from your private lender is yours alone. The adultery allegation is dismissed. The marriage is dissolved."

"What do I do?" Brodie said.

It was not an argument.

He said it to the judge, in a small voice.

"Find a job, Mr. Kittredge," the judge said. "Preferably one that you did not receive from your wife."

The gallery did not laugh.

I think they had used all of it up.

I walked out into the hall with Daniel a step behind me.

Brodie came after us through the doors.

He stopped three feet away and gathered himself.

I waited for the but.

"I'm sorry," Brodie said.

His voice broke on the second word.

"I'm sorry, Sukey. I laughed. I let her put you in the kitchen. I signed your name away over a glass of wine. I'm sorry."

He stopped.

He did not add anything, and I understood that he had finally found it and that it had cost him everything he owned.

"Thank you," I said.

He looked at me with wet eyes.

"That's the sentence," I said. "It doesn't change what I'm doing. But it's the right one."

He nodded and turned and walked away down the corridor, a soft, tired man in a blue suit that was not his.

Esther left Wexford the next afternoon, on a bus.

I saw her from the road, because I had gone out to collect my last box from the house and the stop was outside the gate.

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