“Hey,” she said when she got to the top of the stairs.
Her boots and pants were dusted with ash and I knew where she had been.
“You went up there in the dark?” I said. “You should’ve called me. I’d have gone with you. Not sure that’s safe at night.”
“It was okay,” she said. “No one was there.”
She had returned several times to what was left of her neighborhood. Every home had been reduced to scorched brick, twisted metal, and ash. A forest of chimneys left standing. Going back was part of her mourning process. It reminded me of open-casket funerals. Some people had to see the body to accept the person was gone. Maggie had to go back again and again to accept what she had lost.
“Are you hungry?” I asked. “I sent a text.”
“Sure,” she said. “I could eat something. I missed the text, sorry.”
“It’s okay. In or out?”
“Uh, you know what, let’s go out. I just need to change real quick.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Someplace with good red wine.”
“Okay, you change. I’ll get a reservation.”
Before she went in, she came to me at the corner of the deck, put her arms around me, and pulled me into a hug. Over my shoulder she looked out at her city.
“The lights are pretty,” she said. “It’s like nothing could ever go wrong in this place.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I was thinking the same thing.”
20
AS I WASdriving to the courthouse Thursday morning I got a call from McEvoy.
“You’re not going to believe this,” he said. “Challenger just called me. She’s in. She’ll come down and testify.”
“Shit,” I said.
“What? I thought you’d be ecstatic.”
“No, I am. I am. But the witness list went in yesterday. I’ll have to amend it, and the judge is not going to be happy about that. Neither will opposing counsel. But this is good, Jack. Really good. Did she say what changed her mind?”
“Yeah, she got mad. She said Tidalwaiv is trying to intimidate her. She saw some big scary guy hanging around watching her place. She thinks he’s from Tidalwaiv.”
“Really? Bad move.”
“Intimidation was definitely the wrong move with her.”
“This is important: Did she ask for anything in return?”
“You mean for testifying? Uh, no. She just said she wanted to shove it up Tidalwaiv’s ass. Her words, not mine.”
“Good. I like an angry witness—as long as they’re not angry at me. And she can come down next week? I’d probably put her on either late Monday or Tuesday. I want her near the start of the trial. Get her on the stand before she can change her mind.”
“She said next week would work. But she wants a subpoena to explain her absence to the university.”
“The Masons are going to throw a fit when they find out about her. It’ll be a fight. If I win and she’s in, I’ll get the subpoena out today.”
“You gotta get her in, Mickey. She’s gold.”
