Chapter 24: Door Open a Hand's Width

My first night shift at the county hospital ended at seven in the morning.

I drove home with the windows down and the radio low, and I did not once look in the mirror to see what was following me.

The letter from the prosecutor was in the mailbox.

Brock had taken a plea, and he would not sell another house in this state.

I read it standing at the end of the drive.

Then I put it in the burn barrel, and I watched the corner go brown.

The farmhouse was quiet.

Boots stood in a row by the kitchen door, four pairs, the left heel of one worn down.

I climbed the stairs.

The third step groaned, and then the fifth.

My bedroom door stood open a hand's width.

I pushed it with two fingers.

All four of them were in my bed.

Abel lay on his back with one arm flung over his head and his mouth slightly open.

Clint was on his side with a hand tucked under the pillow, exactly as still as a man could be who was awake.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Four Men Crept Into My Childhood Room, So I Kept My Eyes Shut from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.