Chapter 13: Longer Horizon
The protective order was renewed and then, in time, became less a daily instrument and more a settled legal fact.
Nicholas accepted a disposition that included the assault charge and the formal restrictions that followed from it. Patricia and Gregory remained under the same non-contact terms for their part in the confinement and the intimidation at the hospital. Counsel sent the final notices. I filed them and did not reopen the folder.
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Abigail moved from the controlled apartment to a place she chose herself—still secure, no longer temporary. She returned to work in stages. She kept the numbers I had given her and used them only once, early on, when a mutual acquaintance attempted soft pressure on Patricia’s behalf. The acquaintance was informed once. The pressure stopped. After that, the Fergusons’ world simply ceased to intersect with hers in any measurable way.
I resumed full duties at Fort Liberty. The emergency leave closed. The uniform returned to ordinary rotation. On the occasions I drove into Charlotte it was for dinner, not extraction.
