“We have, your honor.”
“Are the findings on appellate exhibit one?”
“Yes.”
Martinez turned to Cox. “Would the trial-counsel, without examining it, please bring me appellate exhibit one?”
Cox brought an envelope to Martinez, who opened it and read it, his mouth in a firm, flat line as he read. I felt immediate tension. Could they still convict Ray, even after what Hicks said in his testimony? Ray waited from March until November before he reported the killing. Would that gap of time be enough to convict him?
Martinez spoke. “I have examined appellate exhibit one. It appears to be in proper form. Please return it to the president of the board.”
I clenched my fists. I’ve never been in the military, or in a court room for that matter, before this week. And I found the proceedings to be insanely tedious. Couldn’t they just get on with it?
Cox walked forward, took the envelope from Martinez, then walked three feet and handed it to the senior officer.
Martinez spoke.
“Doctor Sherman, will you and your counsel please stand up and approach the president of the board?”
My heart started thumping wildly. Very slowly, I walked up to the table, Elmore at my side.
“Colonel Abbot, announce the findings, please.”
Colonel Abbot had the look of a kindly old grandfather, and I can’t imagine that he had ever, before today, inspired such terror. But right know my knees were weak, my stomach clenching.
He stood, and looked at me, and said, “Doctor Thompson-Sherman, this court-martial finds your husband, Sergeant Ray Sherman, innocent of all charges.”
My knees sagged, and Elmore grabbed my elbow as I burst into tears. “Come on,” he murmured.
“This court-martial is adjourned,” Martinez said. As we walked back toward the table, I felt Dylan’s phone buzzing in my pocket. Oh, God. I reached in, and pulled it out, and read the words through my blur of tears.
GET BACK TO THE HOSPITAL. RIGHT AWAY. JULIA.
What I had to do (Ray)
“So, if you could do anything in the world, what would it be?”
“I’d be a superhero,” Daniel said.
“Yeah? What kind of a superhero?”
He shrugged. “Not like Superman, he’s boring. More like ... I don’t know ... Batman. He rocks, you know? He gets all the cool stuff. What about you?”
I chuckled. “Oh, I’d be Spidey. No question.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I guess ‘cause he’s an average joe, just trying to do the right thing.”
Daniel jumped to his feet. “Yeah, plus he gets to swing from buildings. How cool is that?”
I stood and said, “All right. So you’re Batman, and I’m Spidey.”
“And the bad guys are going to blow up the hospital,” he said, his eyes wide.
“Yeah. We gotta stop ‘em. Let’s go.”
“Where do you think they are, Batman?”
He studied the building then shouted, “The roof!”
And he ran, and I ran after him. His clothes were changing, shifting, as he ran, right in front of my eyes, his blue jeans to black, his shirt to black, and then he had a billowing cape behind him. I jumped ahead of him, but he was fast and caught up with me. Moments later we were on the roof of the hospital. He ducked behind a huge air conditioning unit, and said, “They’ve got explosives in the helicopter, Spidey.”
I ducked behind the air conditioning unit too, playing right along. “But what are they after, Batman? Who would blow up a hospital?”
“It’s a ring of spies! The President’s daughter is in the hospital, and they’re going to hold her for ransom!” His eyes were wide as he said it. The kid believed. I grinned and said, “We can’t have that. We’ve got to neutralize the explosives.”
“And protect the President’s daughter.”
“And catch the bad guys.”
“Ready?” he asked.
“Let’s go.”
Truth is, I hadn’t had this much fun in a long time, not since the morning Carrie and I jumped out of an airplane together. We ran around for a good hour, laughing. Somehow the spy ring became aliens, and then we were defending the rooftop from the alien invasion, shouting catcalls and yells at the aliens who dared invade Washington, DC.
Once we defeated the aliens, he lay down on his back on the roof and said, “That was awesome, Ray.”
I lay on the ground too, staring up at a flawless sky, and said, “You rock, Batman.”
He grinned. “Ray? When we get out of the hospital, can you come visit me? Dad’s too busy to play with me, and Mom, she’s no fun.”
Ah, shit, I thought as my eyes watered. And I said, “Maybe. I can’t promise for sure. For one thing your parents would be all like, who is this strange man hanging around my kid? That’s never good. Plus ... well ... I don’t know if I’m gonna make it.”
“Why not? You thought of a ball and it came true. You made yourself into Spiderman.”
I frowned and held up my arm. It was true. My sleeves were red with a black web pattern on them. Just for kicks, I extended my arm like ... well, like Spiderman ... and shot out a web. Holy shit. It covered an air conditioning unit. That was gonna be a mess to clean up.
I sat up. “You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered.
How much power did imagination and hope have in this world? I’d returned Sarah to her body ... with her help, admittedly. But she was recovering, awake. She was in a lot of pain, sure, but she was alive to feel that pain. She still had a chance for that second kiss, for that life she wanted.
Suddenly my heart was beating in my chest. Because ... what if I could do it to myself? What if I could somehow free myself from this ... this oblivion ... and go back home to Carrie and my life?
I swallowed. “Maybe you’re right, kid.”
I got to my feet then pulled him up. “You mind if we go check on what’s going on with my body? It’s been all day,
