Chapter 24: The Safe Radius

Jules's text came in at 8:46 on Friday night. ROW SEALED. NOBODY TOUCH ANYTHING. SEE YOU AT SEVEN. Evan read it at the register with a box of festival packets half labeled and the sun gone orange behind the buildings on King Street. Every canopy in the tent row was now shut up exactly as it stood, clean or not. The specimen cup rode in his canvas bag against his shin. He had meant to call Harborview. He had told himself tomorrow, and heard how it sounded. Su set her pen square to the ledger. She was looking past him at the window. Across the street, at the bus shelter, a man in a plain dark coat stood with his hands at his sides. He was not waiting for a bus. "Stay inside," Su said. "Su." "Please. I would rather he said it to me." From the third stair, Qing…