Chapter 9: Friday

Lena went on the morning news on Friday with her eyes red and her hair pulled back.

Cal watched it on the shop television with the whole crew standing behind him.

"I was a girl who loved a boy," Lena told the anchor, "and he went to prison for a terrible thing. I tried to wait. He came out different."

"Different how?" the anchor asked gently.

"I'm afraid of him," Lena said. "I'm afraid for Preston and for myself."

"Ms. Starke will make her first public appearance tomorrow night at the Ridgway Foundation gala," the anchor said.

The youngest mechanic threw a rag at the screen.

Cal turned the set off.

"Let her talk," his old boss said. "A woman who tells that many stories gets them tangled."

"I can wait," Cal said.

He found that he meant it.

Upstairs over the garage office there was a room with a cot, a hot plate and a window onto the lot.

His old boss had given it to him the first night.

Kira knocked at seven.

She stood in the doorway in her gray coat, with her cane in her hand, holding a paper bag from a deli.

"You said Friday," Cal said.

"I did."

"You look like you'd rather be at the dentist."

"I'd like a sandwich first." She held up the bag. "Then I'd like to say something and have you hear it all the way to the end."

"Sit down. Give me the cane."

"Why?"

"The tip's split. You nearly went over twice in the hall." He held out his hand. "Give it here."

She hesitated.

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