Excerpt of Included!

JOHN HART“Adam?”“You found a ring.” I could barely drive out the words. The effect onGrantham was immediate. He rocked onto the balls of his feet.“Why would you say that?” he asked.“A gold ring with a garnet stone.”“How do you know that?”My words came in some other man’s voice. “Because D.B. seventy-two isengraved on the back of it.”Grantham shoved his hand into a coat pocket, and when it reappeared itheld a rolled-up plastic bag. He allowed it to unfurl from his fingers. It glistenedin the hard light, and streaked mud shone on its sides. The ring wasthere: heavy gold, a garnet stone. “I’d very much like to know what it means,”Grantham said.“I need a minute.”“Whatever it is, Mr. Chase, I suggest you tell me.”“Adam?” Robin sounded hurt, but I couldn’t worry about that. I thought ofGrace, and of the man who was supposed to be my friend.“This can’t be right.” I ran the film in my head, the way it could have been.I knew his face, the shape of him, the sound of him. So I could fill in theblanks, and it was like a watching a movie, a horror show, as my oldest friendraped a woman I’d known from the age of two.I pointed at the ring in the plastic bag.“You found that where it happened?” I asked.“It was at the scene, where Dolf found her.”I walked away, came back. It could not be true.But it was.Five years. Things change.And there was nothing good left in my voice. “Seventy-two was the numberof his football jersey. The ring was a gift from his grandmother.”“Go on.”“D.B. stands for his nickname. Danny Boy. Number seventy-two.” Granthamnodded as I finished. “D.B. seventy-two. Danny Faith.”Robin stood silent; she knew what this was doing to me.“Are you certain?” Grantham asked.66