My Last Wish novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Porch

I looked at the robe for a full second before I understood it.

Soft green, the belt tied twice, the sleeves pushed up past her wrists.

Her bracelet clinked against the mug.

"Callie," Tierney said warmly. "You'll catch cold out there. Come in."

"That's my robe."

"Is it? It's so soft."

She looked down at herself.

Then she looked past me at the street.

There was no one.

Her face changed.

It didn't turn ugly.

It turned tired, and a little amused.

"You found the binder," she said.

"I photographed every page."

"Of course you did."

She stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door shut behind her.

The porch light made her hair gold.

"I typed all of it," she said. "Nine hundred and twelve rows. I'm very good with columns."

"You fed my son."

"I did. He likes the chicken with the little peas." She smiled. "I was kind to him, Callie. I was kind to you. It was the easiest job I've ever had."

My hands were cold, and they were not shaking.

I noticed that, and I held on to it.

"Do you know what a judge will hear if you stand on this porch and tell him what I said?" she asked.

"What?"

"A woman with a ninety-ninth attempt in her file, outside her husband's house at ten at night, saying a friend is a monster."

She said it kindly.

"One more bad night, honey, and no one will be surprised."

I didn't move.

"Not the judge. Not the clinic. Not even Dane. They have all been braced for it for three years." She touched my arm, the way she had in the diner. "I'd bring a casserole. I'd cry at the service. Everyone would say how hard you tried."

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