Ripley nodded at another officer, and a steel door slid on metal tracks, a hallway stretching away beyond it. Jason took the first step, and Ripley fell in beside him. They walked in silence, down one hall, then another. “The warden wants to make you comfortable. Isolation wing. Private cell.” He stopped at the main door of the isolation wing. A second guard let them in. The first cell was empty. “This is yours.” Jason stepped inside, but Ripley seemed loath to leave. “You didn’t kill her, did you?”

“What do you think?”

“I think X has long arms and some reason to want you back inside. Any thoughts on reason?”

“None.”

“Either way…” Ripley shrugged with sad eyes, and Jason felt a moment’s pity. No guards on X’s detail had a wife or kids. Too dangerous. The warden’s call. But there were means of hurt beyond torn skin or broken bones.

Ripley gathered himself as if remembering that one of them was an inmate. “Anyway. He wants to see you at five o’clock. Those are for you.” He meant clothing, stacked on the bed: jeans, a linen shirt, and loafers. The guard offered Jason a pack of cigarettes. “Here, you’ll need these more than me.”

He left and locked the door, and Jason contemplated the scars on his hands. Some were from the war and other fights, but most had come from fights with X. Same with the headaches, the nightmares, the poorly healed ribs. Lighting a cigarette, Jason stared at the cold, blank walls. The men he’d fought with in Vietnam were dead or scattered. His father could barely meet his eyes, and he’d not seen his mother in years. Only Gibby seemed to care if he was in prison or not.

Only Gibby and X.

I left the recruiting office overcome by something close to religious awe. I’d never seen such respect and conviction, and tried to imagine what kind of act or action would make a stranger rise and salute with tears in his eyes. What had I done in life that even came close?

With that thought in my head, and nowhere I had to be, I decided to find Becky Collins. On her street, I passed a shattered tree and a hollow-eyed woman who watched me roll by. When I reached the right house, Becky was in the yard as if she’d known I was coming. I was afraid the unannounced visit might make her angry, but that’s not how it played. She waved broadly, and smiled as I parked.

“This is a nice surprise.”

“Chance thought you’d be upset with me if I showed up uninvited.”

“Chance is an idiot. Can you stay?” I said I could, and she took my hand to pull me from the car. “Come with me, then.”