Chapter 9September 30th
The leaves were starting to change. It felt too soon. In my head it was still summer. It was still the summer my friends had been murdered. This would be my first autumn without them, the first autumn they wouldn’t see. I wasn’t ready for that yet.
Mr. Haywood’s office had a south-facing window in a limestone building in East Bayside, out of which one could see a lovely view of a little green park but not the water. You could smell it, though, the salty smell-taste of water close by. It permeated the fabrics and the wallpaper of the office building and made everything feel perpetually a little bit damp, though you know that it isn’t really.
I sat in a chair that faced the window. Mr. Haywood’s desk was immediately in front of it, facing the door. His office was l
