Andrew Klavan - The truth of the matter

Margaret shook her head, confused. “What number?”

“The number you kept saying. The one on the card. You and Charlie were trying to call it, but the phone was broken. You kept saying the number, so I remembered it and I called it and told Detective Rose we were in trouble and he came.”

“We had a search headquarters set up just down the road,” said Rose. “We were less than two minutes away.”

Margaret wrapped her arms around Larry and started to sob helplessly.

“Second floor’s clear,” said a cop on the stairs-and as he spoke, Sport, released from wherever he’d been locked up, came bounding down to us. He joined Larry and Margaret and danced around them, panting happily.

“What about this one?” said a trooper. He was standing next to me. He put his hand on my arm.

Rose looked at me. His flat face was expressionless. His sharp eyes were distant and cold.

“Cuff him,” he said. “He’s a fugitive wanted for murder. I’m here to take him back to prison.”

The trooper grabbed me by the arm and the shoulder. “Hands behind your back,” he ordered.

I put my hands behind my back. I kept looking at Rose. Rose kept looking at me, his eyes cold. But still, somehow, I thought I saw something in them. Some recognition. Some message of encouragement. I hoped I saw that anyway. I hoped I was right about him and that he really was my ally.

The trooper put handcuffs on my wrists.

Sport barked a protest at them.

“Why are they arresting Charlie?” Larry cried out in distress.

I smiled down at him. “It’s all right, Larry,” I said. “It’s going to be all right.”

“But they’re arresting him, Mommy! Why are they arresting him?”

“Ssh,” she said.

“Don’t worry, Larry,” I told him, trying to smile. “Don’t be afraid. It’s going to be all right, you hear me? Don’t ever be afraid.”

The trooper grabbed me by the shoulder again. He started pressing me toward the door.

I held back. I turned to Margaret. “Thank you,” I said. “God bless you.”

She shook her head. “God bless you,” she said. “Don’t you be afraid either.”

“I’m not afraid,” I told her. “I’m not afraid.”

The trooper turned to Rose. Rose kept looking at me.

“Charlie West,” Rose said, “you’re under arrest for murder and escape.” Then he added to the trooper, “Take him in.”

The trooper marched me out the door and into the darkness.