Chapter 23
Chapter 23: The Longest Night
By 10:00 p.m., the wind through the apple trees sounded like someone walking through the tall grass.
Henry sat by the kitchen window, an old Winchester rifle resting across his knees. He hadn't cleaned it in ten years, but his hands moved over the metal with the smooth, terrifying muscle memory of a man who had forgotten how to be afraid.
Sophia was sitting on the floor by Clara’s crib, the letters from the cedar box spread out around her like a protective circle. She had finally opened the one labeled For when you think you can’t go on.
It was only two sentences long.
Soph, the dark only looks big because you’re standing in the corner. Step into the middle of the room. Let them see how much of me is inside you.
"Dad," Sophia said, looking up from the paper. "Why did you marry her?"
Henry didn't take his eyes off the dark yard. "Because she was the only person in the world who didn't look at my hands and ask how many people I’d killed. She looked at them and asked if I knew how to plant tomatoes." He gave a short, rough laugh. "I didn't. She taught me."
A floorboard creaked in the hallway behind them.
It wasn't the house settling. It was too heavy, too deliberate.
Henry stood up without a sound, the Winchester raised to his shoulder in a single, fluid motion. He didn't turn on the light. He didn't need to. He knew every shadow in the kitchen.
A figure stepped into the doorway. Not a man with a tire iron.
Mara Voss.
She was bleeding from a cut near her ear, her tactical jacket torn at the shoulder. She had a silver digital recorder in her left hand and a standard-issue Glock in her right.
"They blocked the highway, Henry," Mara said, her breathing shallow. "Arthur Vance has three retired FBI agents on his payroll. They aren't waiting for Monday. They’re coming tonight. They have a falsified court order signed by a magistrate in Toledo."
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Henry didn't lower the rifle. "And you?"
"I’m no longer with the Bureau," Mara said, dropping the recorder onto the table. It made a sharp thud in the quiet room. "The director signed my suspension two hours ago. They’re calling me a rogue element." She looked at Sophia, then at Clara. "I’m here as a friend of Elise. That’s all I have left."
