Loud rejection

He shouldn’t have gone, Richard told himself as he walked the long block to the bus stop, the city a washed out ribbon of lights. But he could not leave it. He had to try again, to knock another door, to wait for the right moment when the past might make room for him. He had not expected the barbed reply that came later from a number he had not dialed in months: a cold-lipped voice that suggested a bargain.

Ethan had been in custody two days prior. The arrest had been noisy, ...