The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld

Author:Rene Denfeld
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Mystery, Adult
ISBN: 9780062285508
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2014-03-04T06:00:00+00:00

The lady and the priest are walking the grounds outside the prison, under the shadows of the cyclone-barbed walls.

They walk under the shady elms and step over the green spiny creatures under the walnut trees as though they are alive. The priest walks slowly, as if dragging his feet. The lady walks like a forest sprite waiting to find what is exciting around the next corner.

“Most Catholics would say you are doing God’s work by saving lives,” the priest offers hopefully.

She shakes her head. “I’m not saving any lives. I’m only ending a few executions.”

“Is there a difference?”

She glances at him. He knows there is a difference. She looks at the high wall next to them. “There are almost a dozen men in there I’ve walked off the row. They won’t die of execution. But I can’t say I’ve saved their lives.” She pauses. “I can only say I postponed their death.”

His eyes soak up the clean look of her skin, the darkness of her eyes. “For a lot of people, that would be enough.”

“To live like that? I’m not sure.”

“Most of the men you’ve freed are happy to be in there,” he says.

She shakes her head. “What does that say about us or about them?”

He stops under an elm tree. A light wind shakes the leaves above them. July is around the corner, the red circle racing forward. The lady feels the press of panic. She shouldn’t be here, talking, when York’s execution date looms.

“Would you save them all?” he asks.

She knows he is asking about himself. “Yes.”

“Even someone like Arden?”

The lady considers what she has heard about Arden—about what he did, or as close as her mind will allow before it skitters away in horror. She thinks about how sad it is that we remember the killers and not their victims. What if the world forgot Hitler and remembered all the names of his victims? What if we immortalized the victims?

The breeze lifts the hair above his brow, and he waits for an answer.

“I would save Arden,” she says.

He nods, and they walk some more as if there is nothing left to say.

The lady has a sick feeling in her stomach. She feels like she has confessed a terrible sin, the sin of her willingness. But the priest feels a lifting of his entire soul. If she would save Arden, he thinks, she might save me.

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