Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 163209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 816(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 816(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
“If the Ravens had won, or if he hadn’t lost his arm,” Hannah started.
That put a little more life into Kevin, and he smoothly cut in to say, “I would prefer not to entertain such hypotheticals. I know it’s not your intention, but it puts the burden of his death on us: the Foxes for their spectacular victory or Andrew for doing what was necessary to save Neil’s life. And I will not argue on that last point,” Kevin added when Hannah looked a bit taken aback. “Neil’s life was very much in danger.”
“You genuinely think Riko was aiming for him and not the court floor,” Hannah said, with obvious skepticism.
“Yes,” Kevin said without hesitation. Rather than linger and argue that point with her, Kevin leaned her way and motioned for her to follow along. “I grieve him, but I reserve my outrage for the system that led him to his death. You do not understand what it is like to be a Raven: the unrelenting pressure to perform to perfection, the suffocating legacy that weighs down your every move. It is that environment which cost Riko his life, as it did so many other Ravens this summer.”
“A tragic year on many fronts,” Hannah agreed. “Wayne Berger, Colleen Jenkins, and Grayson Johnson also took their lives over this summer. Four lives destroyed by a legacy. Nearly six, if the rumors are to be believed,” she added with a glance toward Jean. “We heard some upsetting news out of Palmetto State this last April. I will not be cruel enough to ask if they were true, but I will say I am glad to see you still with us and that I hope you are in a better place now.”
“Yes,” Jean said. Kevin’s heavy stare was a lingering weight, so Jean made himself add, “Thank you.”
“The fifth, of course, would be Zane Reacher,” Hannah said. “Details have been relatively scarce on that front, but we have come across some new information that ought to be addressed. Namely, your role in the affair, Jean.”
She didn’t know about January; she didn’t know about broken promises. She didn’t. She couldn’t. “I don’t understand.”
“We reached out to Edgar Allan’s staff this past June to see how the Ravens were adjusting to their new coach. Unsurprisingly close-lipped,” she noted with a glance toward the camera, “but we were able to get something interesting from head nurse Josiah Smalls: he only called the Reacher family that day because you told him Zane needed help.” She waited a beat to see if he’d respond unprompted, then asked, “How did you know he was in danger?”
Kevin motioned for him to answer, so Jean offered an evasive, “I just did.”
“Jean,” Kevin said.
“I won’t answer that,” Jean said in French. “It isn’t right to share their business with outsiders.”
Kevin’s stare was heavy as he followed Jean out of English. “How did you know?”
Jean flicked a furtive look at Hannah. “He was in love with Colleen. He was different after—” It caught in his throat, sharp and violent enough to break him. Jean swallowed hard and tried again: “Finding out she was gone after everything else that happened would surely destroy him, or so I thought. I had to try.”
Kevin considered that for a moment, then turned on Hannah and said in English: “Colleen and Zane were in a relationship.” If he noticed the accusatory look Jean sent him for betraying them, he didn’t deign to acknowledge it. “Jean feared how Zane would handle the news of her death, especially considering the Ravens’ instability this summer.”
“Oh, what tragic new insight,” Hannah said, pressing her hand to her heart as if the truth was distressing to hear. “I’m sure his family is enormously grateful you were looking out for him. Have you been able to speak with him since he was discharged from the hospital, Jean?”
“No,” Jean said.
She waited a beat, like she was expecting more than that. When Jean only stared at her, Hannah took a more aggressive approach: “Forgive me for the way this comes across, but why did you save him?” She put out a calming hand before he could respond and said, “We are all of course immensely grateful that you did, but the Ravens have gone out of their way to make you a public spectacle this year. You could have simply looked away. No one would have known.”
“I do not care what they are saying about me,” Jean said, too offended to watch his tone. “They have every right to hate me for transferring when and where I did. I do not hold it against them, and I do not believe they should die for it. Who are you to suggest such a thing?”
“Jean,” Kevin said, with a smile that said Jean was trying his patience. To Hannah he said, “Forgive him, he is passionate when he gets going.”