I showed up at the hospital to surprise my husband during his shift. But the second one of his coworkers saw me, all the color left his face. Then his eyes filled with tears. “He hasn’t said a word to you, has he?” Ben and I had been married eleven years, and for every one of those years, I had shared him with the hospital. He was a remarkably gifted surgeon.

Gregory Walsh, you’re under arrest for corporate fraud, falsifying evidence, and criminally negligent homicide.”
PART 10

The licensing panel took four days of deliberation before it handed down its final administrative ruling.

During those four quiet days, Brian didn’t go to the cargo depot, and he didn’t drive out to Pinecrest Cemetery either.

He stayed home with Emma, flipping buttermilk pancakes in the kitchen and helping her put together a wooden birdhouse in the garage.

On the fifth morning, while Emma was at school, Jason Boyd’s name lit up on the screen of Brian’s phone.

Brian hit the speaker button, and we stood side by side at the kitchen counter with our fingers tightly laced together.