Chapter 59:
The quiet lasted three days.
Three days of men on the walls and coffee in the kitchen and Lily playing with her blocks in the corner. Three days of Hope asking when she could go back to school and Reese saying soon and Margaret saying not yet. Three days of Kael on the phone with Solomon and Rook on the phone with the club and me sitting on the porch watching the gate.
Three days of waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It dropped on Thursday.
---
I was in the kitchen when I heard the bike.
Not a club bike. A different sound. Heavier. Older. Like something that had been ridden hard and put away wet.
I walked to the window.
A man was standing at the gate.
Not a young man. Fifty, maybe. Gray beard. Gray hair. A cut that was old and worn and had patches from a different cl
