Despite the awful circumstances which had brought Alex to Lucia’s bed, hedidenjoy being there. He felt a sharp little pang of guilt over this realisation and silently berated himself for it.
You’re only here because of what happened. Calm down.
The pair had cleared the air since last Wednesday’s appointment at thecomune, and Alex could sense that something inside him had changed. Or perhaps,shifted. He suspected it had something to do with the recently arrived temptation and attraction he felt for her. His mind kept returning to this, looping over and over in unhelpful revolutions and coming to rest on one thing.
Her eyes.
They drew him in time and time again.
With Lucia still and settled beside him, he carefully eased himself off the bed and tiptoed across to the fridge. Up close, he was able to take in the finer details of the photos. They were all taken in Venice, and in a few, Alex even recognised dated versions of the very apartment he was standing in.
Something about the photos suddenly stirred something in his memory. Lucia – it was undoubtedly her, given away by her trademark long black hair, pale face,thoseeyes – suddenly seemed familiar. He carefully removed one photo from behind its magnet and held it in better light.
Lucia’s father, a tall man with deep-set eyes and broad shoulders, stood next to his wife, Lucia’s mother. Lucia and her mother had clearly been cut from the same cloth: the same fine features, the high cheekbones. But it was Lucia who his attention kept returning to. In these photos, she looked no older than ten, or perhaps eleven. Joy resonated from her beaming smiles; a joy Alex had not seen in Lucia since he’d known her.
Then, with a crashing flood of adrenaline, it clicked.
trentasette
Just on eight o’clock, Lucia woke to find Alex gone. She poked around the apartment, then through the second floor, before finally ending up on the first.
He was nowhere to be found, and she didn’t know at what point during the night he had left.
On account of the makeshift door pane, the air inside the school was icy cold, although the rays of sun that beamed in through the front window display were warm.
Seeing some sparkling shards of the smashed glass still across the floorboards, Lucia did her best to pad around them before taking off across the street to La Commedia.
She knocked on the door, the sound echoing down Calle del Leone.
‘Alex!’ she called, stepping back a few paces to stare up at the top windows. ‘Are you in there?’
After a few moments Alex appeared at the central window. ‘I’m here.’
Bruises had bloomed on his jaw, and fresh pink flesh now replaced the crusting lines of blood from the night before.
‘Will you at least come down here so we don’t wake the neighbours?’
He nodded, appearing a minute later on his stoop. ‘Are you feeling alr—?’
‘You left me.’ Lucia’s hands fell by her sides as her expression flattened. ‘You said you wouldn’t.’
Alex bit his lip. Knowing what he now knew, he felt torn. The realisation had smacked him so suddenly that he hadn’t fully processed it yet himself. Until he made sense of it all, he didn’t want to tell her. Plus, knowing the fate she had narrowly avoided last night, he didn’t want to dump this on her too soon. ‘I’m sorry, Lucia. I couldn’t stay any longer.’
‘What time did you leave? In the middle of the night?’
‘No. Around an hour ago. It was morning; you were safe.’
‘But you just . . .leftme there.’ Lucia shook her head and turned to leave, but stopped short as she was intercepted by Francesco’s arrival.
‘What happened here?!’ he asked, arms fanned wide as he gestured to the temporary door pane and back to Lucia’s dishevelled state.
‘I’m sorry, Lucia,’ said Alex. ‘I hope you have a better day. If thecarabinierineed anything else from me, let me know.’
‘Carabinieri?!’ Francesco’s eyes darted between them.
Not knowing what else to say or do, Alex simply retreated back inside and closed the door.
A week after the break-in, Lucia had still been unable to engage Alex in a conversation, let alone reach out with a proper thank you for his support and actions. Thecarabinierihad also since returned to inform Lucia that the case would likely not progress on account of a lack of evidence against the attacker, which she had been expecting. And with Francesco’s support, she had engaged a glazier to repair the door’s glass pane.
