My Marionette Lover novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Foundation Board

The boardroom was on the second floor of Redfern Hall, a long room with a table of black wood and seven leather chairs.

Augusta sat at the head of it with her hands folded on the cloth.

The brooch gleamed at her throat.

She looked as if she had slept in her chair, which she had, and she looked older for it.

Six trustees sat along the sides.

I knew three of them at once.

I had read their names on little brass plates in a room that no longer held anything.

They looked straight ahead, with their hands in their laps, and none of them looked at me.

Arlen walked in on his own two feet.

He wore a dark suit and carried his laptop under one arm.

His collar was open, because his hands were still too unsteady for a tie.

I came in behind him with both bars in my fists, held low against my coat.

Across the table, Augusta's eyes went to the bars and rested there.

"You are early, Arlen," she said. "You look well."

"I slept," he said.

She did not smile.

I felt her take hold of the black net, and I felt what was left of it, only a few scattered lines.

I leaned into my bars and let my silver bite them as they came.

It hurt exactly as much as the night before.

I could give him an hour, I thought, and not a minute over.

"Mr. Redfern asked for a hearing on his fitness," Augusta told the room. "He has certain materials."

"I do," said Arlen.

He opened the laptop and turned it so the trustees could see.

The first photograph filled the screen.

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