Chapter 23: What Each of Them Gets

They did not handcuff him in the conference room.

One of the officers asked him politely to come along and answer some questions about Spokane and about a post office box.

Nolan looked at me.

For a second I saw his whole easy face go slack.

"Ruby," he said. "Babe."

"Go with them."

"I can fix this."

"No, you can't."

He walked out between the officers.

He went through the lobby, past the staff standing in a line.

He went out into the lot, and the whole warehouse watched him fold himself into the back of a car.

Not one of them said a word.

The woman from Spokane stood in the doorway and let out a long, shaking sob into her fist.

I put my arm around her.

"Thank you," she said. "I thought no one would ever look."

"I'm sorry it took this long."

"It's done now."

"Not yet," I said. "I owe you a hundred and sixty thousand dollars."

She stared at me.

"You don't owe me anything. It wasn't you."

"It was my husband and my best friend. My family's company paid for his car while you lost your shop. I'm paying it back."

"I won't take your money."

"Then take a lease," I said. "The company owns a building on Foster Road with a street window."

"A salon?"

"Room for six chairs. It's yours for as long as you want it, with no rent for two years."

She laughed and cried at the same time.

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