The Littlest Prosecutor novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Suitcase

We went home at eight o'clock, all of us, in four cars.

It was the first time in months that our house had so many people in it.

Uncle Desmond stood in the front hall with his arms crossed.

The other four uncles sat in a row on the stairs, in their dark coats, one step apart, and nobody had asked them to.

Aunt Jo held my hand and did not let go.

Faye went up to the bedroom with her mother behind her.

I could hear the drawers opening, and the hangers sliding on the rod, and, once, a muffled crash.

Her mother said something short.

It was quiet again.

Daddy stood by the front door with his hands in his pockets.

He had not asked anyone to come to his house, either, and he did not tell them to leave.

I looked at the clock in the hall, the same clock, ticking the same way.

It said twenty-four minutes past eight.

At nine minutes to nine, there was a bump on the stairs.

Faye came down carrying one large blue suitcase, and her mother carried a second, smaller one, and a shopping bag of shoes.

Faye's lipstick was gone.

She had on her coat, buttoned wrong, and her blond hair was flat on one side.

She had never, ever looked like that in front of people.

The uncles on the stairs shifted.

Nobody said anything.

The second uncle, who always liked rules, quietly put both hands on the banister and pushed himself to his feet.

The third uncle stood up.

Then the fourth, then the fifth.

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