Twenty Years Later

by Charlie Donlea

“You can’t blame Charlie Donlea if the ending of his novel makes your jaw drop. The title alone is fair warning that his characters are no more to be trusted than our initial impressions of them.” —The New York Times Book Review

The Catskill Mountains rose above the roofline as the early morning sun stretched shadows of trees across the yard.

Interesting

Then, her attorney’s office rocked and swayed. Pictures fell from the wall and glass shattered just as the concussion of an explosion filled her ears.

9/11/2001 Trade Tower crash

Outside the windows, the blue sky that had been visible just a moment before was gone. In its place was a wall of black smoke that erased the brilliant morning sun.

9/11/2001 lower Manhattan

As the head of Forensic Biology, Arthur Trudeau was in charge of identifying the remains of mass casualties from across the state of New York.

Casualties from 9/11/2001.

For nearly twenty years it had been his mission to identify every specimen collected from those killed in the World Trade Center attack.

Victoria Ford specimen

“Victoria Ford,” he said. “Next of kin?” Greg asked. Trudeau shook his head. “Parents, but they’re deceased.”

When faced with a life-or-death situation, being calm was the number one rule of survival.

The underwater footage was spectacular. Christine produced the hell out of the episode, and the network leaked teasers across social media leading up to the run date, which would be during May sweeps week.

“He was choked to death slowly before someone threw him over the balcony.”