Chapter 25: The Yard

The text came at ten past one, from a number Ronan did not know.

It held a photograph of the mill's loading door, the one on the river side.

Under it was one line: Come down. Alone, or we come up.

Ronan looked at Cora, asleep on her side with one hand under the pillow.

Then he looked at the guest room door, still half open, and Pearl's slow snore behind it.

He put on his boots and a jacket, and took nothing else.

He did not wake her. If he woke her, she would come, and so would Pearl.

The yard behind the mill was black and wet, lit by one lamp over the dock.

Two men stood under it in dark rain jackets.

The bigger one held a tire iron down along his leg.

The smaller one held a gray metal tool case in his left hand.

Ronan knew the case before he knew the face.

"You're the one who cut her brake line," he said.

"Mrs. Maddox says hello," said the small man.

"Mrs. Maddox says you've got nothing left to lose," said the big one. "She'd like to see if that's true."

They came at him together.

Ronan stepped inside the tire iron and took the swing on his shoulder instead of his skull.

It numbed his whole arm to the fingertips.

He hit the big man twice in the ribs, hard, and heard something give.

The big man grunted and swung again, and this time Ronan caught his wrist and turned it until the bone cracked.

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