Page 88 (2/2)

“I have been taken prisoner in an illegal mutiny,” the man said “We can help each other”

She wasn’t entirely sure that she could be helped Or if she could, what she would be helped to do She reht She’d wanted hi, they were like memories But no, she had done it Everyone had hated hi, and they’d thought that Julie did it

She’d been so close If she could have killed the Rocinante, they would never have found her If she’d died on it, they’d never have been sure, and Holden would have gone down in history as the shteous bastard that he was But her father would have known All that ay, he’d have heard what happened, and he would have guessed that she’d done it His daughter The one he could finally be proud of

It occurred to her that the other prisoner had gone quiet That was fine He was annoying Her knees ached Her teainst the floor They called bedsores pressure sores She wondered how long it took for skin toti it had been since she’dtime She found she was oddly proud of that

The footsteps caain More of the clu footsteps, like a dog’s claws on tile She felt a tiny flicker of curiosity, like a candle in a cathedral The boots came, and with them, little blue pu open The pumps hesitated at the threshold, and then came in Once they were in motion, the steps were confident Sure

The woan looked down at her Her hair was dyed, and her lipstick the same improbable red that made her lips look fuller than they were

“Claire, honey?” The words were soft and uncomfortable “It’s me”

Tension crawled up her back and into her cheeks Tension, and resentht to be here She shouldn’t have been

Tilly put a hand out, reaching down and stroking her head like it was a cat The first huentle one she could remember at all When Tilly spoke, her voice was low and soft and full of regret

“They found your friend”

I don’t have a friend, she thought, and then so deep under her sternum shifted and went hollow Ren They’d found Ren She pulled her arainst her mouth The tears arm and unwelcome and thick as a flood They’d found Ren They’d opened her tool chest and found his bones and now Soledad would know And Bob and Stanni They’d knohat she’d done The first sob was like a cough, and then the one after it and the one after, and Tilly’s ar and crying into Tilly Fagan’s thighs while the wo sounds