Chapter 16 — Epilogue

Six months later.Gerald Morrow was not the same man who had walked into the Meadow Park garage on the night of October 9th, two years ago.This was not, Anna told people who asked, entirely bad. The man who had walked into that garage had been distracted by the dispute with Briar, stretched thin by business stress, not paying attention to anything except the meeting he was headed for. The man who walked out of prison was more careful. More present. He had learned — the hard way, the wrong way, through no fault of his own — that careful attention to where you were and what was happening was not optional.He met Nora Voss once, at a coffee shop, four months after his release. Anna had asked if he wanted to, and he had said yes and then thought about it for two weeks.She was what he'd expected — direct, contained, the specific quality of someone who had learned to manage what she felt without eliminating it. She arrived before him, which she'd done deliberately to have the discomfort of waiting rather than being waited for.They talked for an hour. He asked questions about the case; she answered them without hedging. He asked about Marcus Hale; she told him about the recordings, the folder, the forty hours of material."He died trying to fix what went wrong," Gerald said."Yes.""Would you have found it? Without him?"She was quiet for a moment. "Maybe. Eventually. I'd have had to find a case that didn't sit right from the inside. The contamination was designed to be invisible from within the investigation. From the outside, with fresh eyes—" She paused. "I'd like to think I would have found it. I don't know if that's true or just what I need to believe."He looked at her. He said: "I don't blame you."She didn't respond immediately. He watched something move through her face — not exactly relief, and not exactly the opposite."You don't have to say that," she said."I know," he said. "I'm saying it because it's accurate. You were set up. He was set up. I was the target and you were a tool." He paused. "I went to prison for eleven months, and I've had a lot of time to think about where the actual wrong is. It's Whitmore. It's Reiss. It's Calloway." He picked up his coffee. "You're on the other list.""What other list?""The one that includes my wife, and Marcus Hale's recordings, and the federal prosecutor who didn't sleep for four days." He set down the cup. "The people who got me out."She nodded. Once, precisely.They finished the coffee. They parted outside, on the sidewalk, with the handshake of two people who had been through a significant thing together and were both clear-eyed about what it had been.She walked back to her car.She had three open cases.None of them were clean.She opened her laptop on the passenger seat. She opened the first file.She started working.— ◆ —David Whitmore was convicted on charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and witness intimidation. He is currently serving thirty-two years.Diane Reiss was convicted on conspiracy to commit murder and financial fraud charges. She is serving twenty-one years.Vincent Calloway cooperated fully with federal prosecutors. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he is serving eighteen years.Derek Chu's testimony was a central element of the Whitmore prosecution. He continues to work at the dry-cleaning shop on Merchant Street.Gerald Morrow's civil suit against the City of Ashfield and the estate of David Whitmore was settled for an amount that allowed him to restart his business. He is doing well.Marcus Hale's recordings were entered into evidence at the Whitmore trial as documentation of the state of the investigation at the time of his death. The judge described them as 'the most extraordinary piece of pre-mortem case documentation this court has encountered.'Detective Nora Voss returned from administrative leave to active duty. She has since worked fourteen cases.Twelve of them are closed.She is working on the remaining two.— THE END —