Chapter 23: The Copper Hinge

Owen Ward had accepted a lawyer and medical treatment. Now he pushed the vending-machine egg sandwich to the far corner of the table with two splinted fingers. "That's reasonable," Hollis said through the interview-room glass. "The sandwich may violate a convention." It was Tuesday morning. Su studied the man through the glass. His right sleeve ended in a clean cut where Hollis had freed him from his own knife. The splints were on the same hand, and a brace stiffened one knee under the table. The chart from County said the damage would heal. Mara Keene had been less fortunate. Ward's attorney sat beside him with a yellow pad and the exhausted expression of a man billing by the hour. He had advised his client to say nothing. Ward had followed that advice for nineteen minutes. Su entered with one photograph, placed it face down on the table, and took…