Amidst the blood and filth, Nathan caught the faintest aroma of sweaty aftershave, the smell of strength. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to be transported back to sunnier times.
"It's over now, son," _Warren said, his voice catching in his throat. "No one can hurt you now." As he pulled Nathan closer still, he rocked him gently back and forth. "It's okay," he whispered.
For the longest time, they just sat there together on the sidewalk and cried like babies on national television.
Chapter 39
Alone in the quiet studio, Denise watched in silence, her fingers pressed tightly to her lips, her mascara wrecked. Enrique said something in her earphones about dead air, but she couldn't make any words come out. As the television zoomed in on Nathan and the plainclothes cop, a tearful smile bloomed behind her hand. Finally, it was over.
"Way to go, Nathan:" she said into the microphone as she raised her Diet Coke to the TV. "Here's to being a kid again."