Chapter 2: Coming Home

People react to death in a lot of different ways. Watching the gallery of witnesses from behind the one-way glass of the executioner’s booth, I’ve seen fathers of victims pump their fists, but I’ve also seem them break down and cry. I’ve seen the wives of the executed scream in horror, but I’ve also seen them close their mouths and nod their heads, a long pent-up intensity evaporate and float away, their shoulders rolling toward the ground.

When I found my wife dead in the bathtub, I didn’t do...