The One He Never Held novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Walter's Name

I did not open the envelope at the gala.

I carried it home in my bag.

It sat on the kitchen table until everyone in the flat was asleep.

At two in the morning I broke the seal with a butter knife.

The paper inside was lined, torn from a prison pad. The handwriting leaned forward.

Jo,

If you're reading this, I didn't come home.

The numbers never added up for me either.

I tried to find out who moved the money.

I got as far as the Harbor Street account, and then a man in the front office stopped talking to me.

I can't prove it. Please don't spend your life trying.

I have thought about what I'd ask of you, if I could ask one thing. It isn't a clean name.

Find somewhere with a window.

Sit down with a book, let it rain, and don't check the time.

That's all I ever wanted for you.

Tell Tim to stop burning the toast.

Dad

I read it three times.

Then I put my head down on the table next to the black notebook and cried for the first time since the day we buried him.

A hand touched my hair.

Damian had come in without a sound. He sat down on the floor beside my chair in his shirtsleeves and put his arms around my knees.

He didn't say a thing.

He stayed there until the window went grey.

The hearing was nine days later.

I stood on the courthouse steps in a navy coat with Tim on my left and Damian on my right.

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