บททั้งหมดของ 5 Years Later, I Returned With His Heirs: บทที่ 61 - บทที่ 70

MaraTuesday morning. 8:58.I was at the Sterling conference table with the Harborview commercial projections when I stood up to get coffee—I made mine, turned to go back to the table.Made his.Put it on the right side of the table.Sat down.It took approximately thirty seconds to register what I'd done.I looked at the cup on the right side of the table.I didn't move it.Luke arrived at 9:01 AM. He looked at the table, sat down, and picked up the coffee. He didn't comment on it being there.He opened th

 LukeThe boys were asleep by 9:15 PM.Junior had talked through dinner with the sustained energy of someone processing an event, narrating every detail at length and in a loud voice. By 8:30 PM, the energy had completed its arc, and he had gone out like a light within three minutes of lying down.Billy had eaten quietly. Answered questions with his usual precision. Gone to bed at nine with the notebook on the nightstand, closed, which was unusual. Billy's notebook was usually open.Mara came out of the bedroom at nine-twenty and found me at the kitchen table.She stopped."I assumed you had left," she said."I was going to," I said. "I wanted

MaraSunday. The hotel suite.Not a scheduled visit. Not a framework day.Luke had texted Saturday evening: Junior forgot Gerald at the park. He left him on the specimen table. I picked him up.I'd read the message at 9 PM when I came back from a client call.Bring him tomorrow, I'd typed. The boys will be home.He'd arrived at noon with Gerald in the display case and a paper bag from the bakery and the expression of someone who'd been given a reason to come and had decided not to make more of it than that.

MaraTuesday. 3:55 PM.I was in the lobby when Luke arrived for the framework visit.I'd come down early for reasons I hadn't articulated to myself and wasn't going to examine.He came through the door at 3:57 and saw me. He didn't say anything about me being in the lobby rather than at the bench with the laptop."Boys ready?" he said."They're coming down," I said.We stood near the entrance. The lobby is doing its afternoon business around us. Neither of us is filling the silence with anything.The elevator opened—junior at velocity. Billy is two steps behind with the notebook."He's here," Junior said, in the tone of someone confirming a fact rather than announcing a surprise."I know," I said.Junior was already at Luke's side. "I've organized the new specimens by suspected composition. I need the loupe.""I have it," Luke said. He produced it from his jacket pocket.

MaraSaturday at the park.Luke arrived at 3:41 PM. Nineteen minutes early.Billy noted it in the notebook without looking up."Nineteen minutes," he said to me."I know," I said."It's been increasing," Billy said. "The average is now eighteen-point-three.""That's a very specific average.""I have eight weeks of data," he said. He looked up at Luke, who had arrived at the bench and was setting down the bakery bag, the loupe, and his jacket. "The average was fourteen in the first three weeks. It's been going up."Luke looked at Billy. "Are you telling me I'