“About the audit?”
“No.”
Ray’s voice lowered.
“He said he wants to give the gym back.”
I frowned.
“It’s already yours.”
“That’s exactly what I told him.”
“And?”
“He said, ‘Not the part you don’t know about.’”
PART 4 – ENDING
By the next morning, I understood why years in uniform had taught me to distrust simple stories.
They were almost always incomplete.
The dangerous man was sometimes frightened.
The helpful man sometimes had secrets.
The person you believed needed rescuing sometimes needed something entirely different.
And the daughter I had spent days trying to protect was beginning to remind me that she had more strength than I had given her credit for.
Ray met Frank with Susan Patel present.
I did not go.
That surprised everyone, including me.
Marcy asked why.
“Because this part belongs to Ray.”
We were sitting on the back porch.
A cool morning breeze moved through the maple tree.
