Page 111

“He saved us.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“It’s the one I can give tonight.”

She accepted that.

Again, she didn’t push.

I looked toward the ceiling.

“Max helped after.”

“After Ranger died?”

“After a lot of things.”

She turned the photograph face down.

“You don’t have to answer this.”

“That has never stopped you from asking.”

“Why did you leave the Army?”

I stared at the bar.

The wood had been polished so many times that it reflected the lights above us.

“My body was finished before I was.”

“Injured?”

“Several times.”

“And then you traveled.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t know where else to go.”

The answer came out before I decided to give it.

Judy was quiet.

“You could have come here.”

“I could have.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No.”

“Why now?”

I looked around the tavern.