CHAPTER 14: West Yard Before Midnight

Noah did not take the sedan home.
That surprised everyone except Marlene.
He signed the temporary custody form, gave security permission to seal the car, then asked for a tow truck to take it to the West Yard maintenance bay.
"Your father would like that," Marlene said.
Noah nodded once because words had become difficult.
Adrienne was escorted toward another vehicle, not roughly, not dramatically. She still wore the coat, still carried the posture, still looked like money from a distance.
Only the purse had changed hands.
Julian followed separately, already speaking to a lawyer who sounded much less gentle than he had sounded minutes earlier.
Before Adrienne got into the car, she turned back.
"You think they will accept you because of a dead man's trick?"
Noah looked past her to the tower, then to the loading lights beyond it where the night shift was still working.
"No," he said. "I think they accepted me every time I showed up before you taught them not to."