Chapter 41

“Aren’t you scared?”

“A little.” Heights had never bothered me before the incident with Steven and Gloria. All these years later, I couldn’t get over that, either. “Maybe if you promise not to let me fall, either…”

“I won’t.” Archie stood and offered his hand.

Even though the part of the roof we were standing on was flat, I still felt as unsteady on my feet as a Nathan Chen wannabe with his ice skates on the wrong foot, as unsteady as I had inside. The steep pitch in front of me gave me vertigo. Otherwise, I might not have accepted the help

“You want me to hold it the whole time?”

“Maybe we can just sit down,” I offered as an alternative.

“Okay.” We stared into the heavens together a minute or two. It was quite a while, to my mind. “Remember the last time all you cops were here?”

“Sure do. I still smell like skunk when I get wet.”