Death Row novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: The Lake House

The lake house lot was smaller than I remembered.

It was April, and the grass had come up green through the black.

The county had taken away the beams in the winter, and all that was left was the stone foundation and the chimney, standing alone.

Dorrie parked her borrowed car on the gravel and turned off the engine.

"You don't have to," she said.

"I want to."

"I'll wait here."

"Come with me."

She looked at me, and then she got out.

We walked down to the water together.

The dock was gone, but the posts were still there, a row of gray stumps.

The lake lay flat and bright, and a pair of ducks drifted along the shore.

I stood where the front room used to be, and I looked at the window that was not there.

"Here," I said.

"Is that where he was?"

"By the window. A roofer with a bad back. He had a daughter."

Dorrie said nothing.

She had her hand in her coat pocket, and I knew what it was holding.

The state had given her the ring back the week before, in a plastic bag with a number on it.

She took it out now and held it up to the light.

The band was plain and gold, and I could see the initials inside.

"I'm not going to wear it," she said.

"No."

"I thought I would. For a while I thought I might."

"What do you want to do?"

"There's a man in a cemetery two states over with a copy of this on his finger," Dorrie said. "He has a name now, and a sister. She's been writing me."

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