The Third Message novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Give It Back

At seven on the first Saturday of December, the Ridgemont winter field course was loading a bus on the quad.

Forty geology students stood in field jackets with duffels at their feet.

The department chair stood at the door of the bus with a clipboard and a gray scarf.

Burke stood beside her, holding his rock hammer.

I walked across the frozen grass with my cane in one hand and a pink gift bag in the other.

I had flown in the night before for my follow-up with the surgeon. I had kept this Saturday free on purpose.

The hikers saw me first. Ten of them, scattered through the crowd, went quiet one by one.

Burke turned.

His face opened. He took two steps toward me with his hand out.

"Lana. You came."

"I came to give things back," I said, loud enough for the quad. "Good morning, Chair."

The chair lowered her clipboard.

"Miss Aldridge. I heard you were in the hospital in the spring."

"I was." I took an envelope from my coat. "The rescue captain wrote a report for your department file. I thought you should have it from me."

She opened it and read the first page.

Then she read a line out loud, because she was a person who read what mattered.

"Subject found alone on the trail, left leg compromised, exposed for three hours."

Nobody on the quad moved.

"Who left her?" the chair said.

Burke opened his mouth.

A guy near the bus put up his hand. He was the one who had snapped at me on the trail.

"We did," he said. "All of us. We signed statements last week, ma'am. They're in your inbox."

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