Chapter 99:
The groundbreaking ends at noon.
By one, the whole town's at the bar. Carl's grilling. Miss Ada's cutting cake. Somebody's got music on and the kids are running through the lot and Grace is asleep on Kael's chest in the corner booth with her fist in his shirt.
I'm standing at the bar with a glass of something Betty poured me and watching it all.
And then a car pulls into the lot.
Not a town car. Not a truck. A black Mercedes with tinted windows and a driver in a suit.
The music doesn't stop. But the bar goes quiet.
Kael's eyes open.
"Who's that?"
"I don't know."
The driver gets out. Opens the back door.
An old man gets out.
He's ninety if he's a day. White hair. A face like a walnut. A suit that cost more than my first car and a cane with a silver handle.
And behi
