by W. H. Clark
“Dad,” Jen said.
Newton’s stare left Jen for a moment and he felt he was betraying her by gifting his gaze to Mallory, who now stood there, mute. He looked to Newton like the little boy who had walked into the station twenty-five years ago to tell a lie about what had happened to Ryan. The lie that had defined so much of Newton’s life since. The fallout of a crime he couldn’t solve. The drinking. So much of his life filled with bitterness, regret, uncertainty. The failure of his relationship with his son and near failure of his relationship with his wife, Maggie. Beautiful Maggie, who stood there before him now in his daughter’s body. And he knew utterly the debt he had to repay to himself, to his wife, and to Ryan most of all. Ryan deserved justice. And he thought Mallory saw it in his eyes and Mallory opened his mouth but Newton looked back at Jen and Mallory’s words never came.
Newton walked to his daughter, who was crying freely, her shoulders shaking.
“Daddy. What… what’s happened?”
He took her in his arms and he held her there. He stroked her hair and she trembled in his grasp and he couldn’t say anything more than “I love you.” And then he left her and he walked out of the house, hauling his decision with him as Bill O’Donnell had carried Ryan into the woods. He slumped into his SUV and he cried and snow fell and the eternal Montana winter felt like his never-ending curse.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
W.H. Clark is a native of Yorkshire, the most beautiful county in England. An End to a Silence is his debut novel, fulfilling his second ambition in life. His first ambition, to be a park ranger, remains unfulfilled.
To connect with the author please visit his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/whclarkauthor
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my early readers Doug, Trisha, Rob, Alison, Alison and Rachel for your time, feedback and suggestions.
Thanks to Eliza Dee at Clio Editing for making the American bits make sense and for making the English bits make sense too. Any errors and omissions are mine.
Table of Contents
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS