Death Row novel · Chapter 10 of 24
Chapter 10: Palm
At nine the next morning, I was in the booth before he was.
I sat with my hands folded on the counter and my back straight.
I had spent all night deciding what kind of woman to be for him.
There was only one answer.
The one he had trained.
The door on the visitor side opened, and my husband came in.
He took his time.
He unbuttoned his camel coat and laid it over the chair, and the officer at the door shifted her weight.
He sat down, picked up the phone, and smiled at me.
"Hello, Leah."
It was Blaine's voice.
He had dropped Dean's baritone at the door, and the old voice came out warm and easy, the one that used to say my name from the other side of a pillow.
"Hello, Blaine."
His eyebrows lifted a little.
"Not shouting today?"
"I got it out of my system."
"I hoped you would." He settled back in the chair. "I told Marlene. I said, she won't make a scene twice. She's not built for it."
"I'm not."
"I know," he said, and looked at me with something close to tenderness. "That's what I liked about you. Seven years, and you've kept your head down the whole time. Never one letter to a paper. Never a word about me to anyone."
"You told me calm wins."
"It does."
"For you."
"For me," he agreed. "Yes."
I looked at his hands.
They were big and square, and the left was lighter on the ring finger where a band used to be.
I kept my voice flat.
"How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Burn a man in my kitchen."
"Oh, Leah." He shook his head. "I'm not going to tell you that."
"There's no recording. Family visits are private."
"Is that so?"
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