Chapter 10: Like My Own

I got to the door in time to see the driver's door of my Audi open.

Abe got out into the rain.

He didn't hide his face.

He took his cap off and stood there under the streetlight, bareheaded, getting wet.

Russell stopped walking.

For one second his whole body went stiff.

Then his face broke open.

"Abe," he said.

He crossed the sidewalk in three steps and grabbed his brother by both shoulders.

Then he pulled him in and held him.

Abe held him back.

They stood there in the rain, two big men in a hug on a sidewalk.

My guests watched through the front windows with their champagne.

I made myself walk outside and close the door behind me.

"Four months," Russell was saying into Abe's shoulder. "Four months, you bastard. I buried an empty box in my head every night."

"I'm sorry."

"Geneva. I told the board Geneva. I told Mom Geneva."

"I know. I had to."

Russell pulled back and held his brother's face in both hands and looked at it.

"Who?" he said. "Who did it?"

"Somebody inside." Abe's voice was low.

"Somebody who knew my car and my route that morning. I don't know who yet. That's why nobody could know."

"Not even me?"

"Not even you." Abe put a hand on his brother's neck. "I'm sorry, Russell."

Russell let go and stepped back and laughed, wet and shaky.

He turned and saw me standing on the sidewalk in my black dress.

His eyes went from me to Abe and back.

"Your driver," he said slowly.

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