William Edwards Leaves His Screaming Son on a Friday Afternoon in Hartford

I walked inside and did not turn on the hall lights. The silence of the hallway was heavy, smelling faintly of the wood polish Richard used on his desk. I walked into the kitchen and stood by the dark window, looking out at the faint lights of the ferries on the water. My husband had…

She looked up, her expression tight and professional. She picked up her silver pen and clicked it three times. “We have a problem,” Rachel said. I sat down across from her and laid the sheriff’s slip of paper on the table. “My gate lock was cut this morning,” I said. “Walt Hensley took the report.”…

Sarah did not answer. She turned her chair slightly toward her filing cabinet and looked at a small yellow sticky note stuck to the corner of her computer monitor. It had a name and a telephone number with a three-zero-three area code written in her precise handwriting. I did not ask her whose number it…

“If we move too early, her lawyer will file for a continuance,” Frank said. “We need the judge to see the forgery and the unauthorized listing at the exact same moment.” He leaned forward, his glasses slipping slightly down his nose. “If she thinks she has won, she will not prepare a defense for the…

The pump at the Sinclair station on the edge of town had a cracked digital screen that flickered in the gray morning light. I slid my plastic debit card into the slot and waited for the prompt. The screen blinked twice and then displayed the words transaction declined. I pulled the card out and wiped…

The lobby was entirely silent. The receptionist was looking down at her desk, her fingers hovering over her keyboard as if she were afraid to make a sound. I turned back toward Avery’s office. He was standing in the doorway, his leather binder in his hand. “They are going to run the story anyway,” he…