Page 5 (1/2)

Sam wished he’d never come into the bar

"Sam, do you remember my niece, Jenna Duffy? Jenna, Saant hand He was surprised that, when he took it, her handshake was strong

"We’ve met, so I’ve been told," she said He found hireen Deep viridian, like a forest

"I have a vague memory myself," he said

"Sam, sit, please--if you have the time?" Jaageone to law school and, sometimes, in a courtroo like wildfire while never quite telling an untruth It was all a complete oxymoron, really

"You’re on a leave, aren’t you? Kind of an extended leave?" Jamie asked him, before he could compose some kind of half truth

"It’s not exactly a leave, since I choose my own cases, but, yeah, I’ve basically taken so what to do with my parents’ home," he replied

He slid into the seat next to Jenna Duffy He noted her perfu him on the head No, this was the kind of scent that slipped beneath your skin, and you wondered later why it was still hauntingly in the air

"You’re not going to sell your parents’ house, are you?" Jamie sounded shocked

"I’ve considered it"

"They loved that place," Ja to their conversation, offering no opinion

"They’re gone," Sam said He shook his head "I just don’t really have a chance to get up here all that often anymore"

"It’s a thirty-minute ride," Jamie said "And it’s--it’s so wonderful and historic"

"So is Boston," Sa holds a place in the annals of American--and hu to shame me, Jamie O’Neill," Sam said He smiled slowly

Jamie waved a hand in the air "It’s not as if you need the money"

Ouch That one hurt, just a little bit

"Jauilt complex aboutman--"

"Yes, you would have said hello--you would have asked abouton? I know you And that Irish charm You’re a devious bastard, really" Then he looked at Jenna and ree," she told hiht," Jamie said quietly

Sa on so et the way that the boy had been shaking

He stared back at Jamie "I did"

"I don’t believe that he did it," Ja down at his drink He rubbed his thulass "Look, Jamie, I feel sorry for that kid Really sorry for hi His life must have been hell But I saw him He was covered in blood How else did he become covered in blood if he wasn’t the one who did it?"

"Ah, come on, you’re a defense attorney!" Ja obvious," Sa Why get involved any more than he already was? The horror he’d felt when he’d come upon the boy bathed in blood, in the middle of the road…

"I think," Jenna said, "that it’s possible that Malachi Smith came home to find his family butchered, and that he tried to wake them up, or perhaps wrap them in his arms, and therefore became covered in the blood"