Chapter 15: The Empty Grave

They took Cal out through the loading dock in handcuffs.

He did not say one word to make it harder on anyone.

"Call Sean's phone if you need me," he told Sean. "Don't let Dad do anything stupid."

"I'm standing right here," Lou said.

"I know, Dad. That's why I said it."

The younger officer looked embarrassed.

The older one took the ledger from me when I held it out.

He wrote his name on a receipt, and I made him write the time.

Then I called my chief of staff from the curb, in the glare of the patrol car's headlights.

He answered on the first ring.

"I need Lantern's counsel at the precinct on Queens Boulevard," I said. "Tonight."

"Understood."

"And I need a photo of one page to reach three newsrooms by morning."

"Which page?" he said.

"The one that proves my father didn't lose a daughter."

He was quiet for a moment, and then he said, "Give me twenty minutes."

It took her forty.

She was a tall woman in a camel coat, carrying a leather folder.

She walked into the precinct at one in the morning and asked the desk sergeant for the arrest sheet.

Lou, Sean, Lexi and I sat on a wooden bench under a flickering light.

Lexi had fallen asleep against Sean's shoulder.

Sean held very still so he would not wake her.

At three, our lawyer came out and sat down beside Lou.

"The complaint belongs to the hospital," she said. "I spoke to their counsel. I showed him a photograph of the page."

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