“Yeah, I did, I do.”
“If you’re expecting forgiveness, you’re going to be disappointed.”
He managed to smile. “I’m not. I don’t deserve it anyway. I just wanted to see you. I just wanted to tell you I was sorry one more time.”
Margot didn’t say anything.
“It’s fine if you don’t believe me. I just want to be able to say it.”
“Then say it.”
“I’m sorry, Margot, for everything. I did all of you wrong.”
Margot nodded. She didn’t want to cry; she especially didn’t want to cry for him, but the tears came down anyway.
“Can you sit down? You don’t have to talk to me. I’ll be honest, just talking hurts these days. Listening doesn’t, but if you don’t want to talk, just having you here is enough.”
Margot wanted to tell him no, but she found herself sitting down.
“Thank you,” he told her.
Margot wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but eventually, he fell asleep. A nurse came into the room after a bit and checked the numbers on the machine to which he was hooked up. Margot couldn’t tell if what she saw was good or bad. Seeing the way he looked, she figured he couldn’t be good, so she didn’t ask.
“If it’s like the last couple of days,” the nurse said to her, “he won’t wake up until well after visiting hours, if you want to go home. If not, you can sit there as long as you want.”
Margot considered staying, but she stood up instead.
“If you want, I can tell him you stayed the whole time.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Are you Margot?”
“Yes.”
“He talks about you a lot. He said a lot of good things.”
“Really?”
“He also said you hated him more than you hated anything in the world.”
“I don’t know if that’s true.”
“Either way, I’m glad you came. I’m not the only one either.”
“What do you mean?”
“A couple of the O.G.’s in here were always asking him when you were coming. It was like they wanted to see him and you reconcile.”
“That doesn’t sound like the O.G.’s I used to know.”
“People will surprise you sometimes.”
The nurse moved on, but something about some incarcerated old gangster taking a big interest in a dying prisoner who never had anything to do with any gangs struck Margot as odd. She hurried out of there. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but her gut told her it was something bad.
Chapter 9
Her sister wasn’t in the car. Margot couldn’t figure out where she would have gone. It wasn’t like there was anything around but the prison. She tried the door and found it was unlocked. After opening it, she found a cheap phone sitting on her seat. A quick look around showed her purse and the weapons it contained were gone as well. Her gut feeling about the gangsters inside looked to be correct.