"I am."
He turned, leaning against the marble of the sink, drying his face on the towel hanging beside it, and stood there looking at me—no hurry, no pressure.
The way he knew how to look at me.
"When you want to tell me, you'll tell me, bella mia."
I sighed.
"Not today."
"Va bene."
He came to the edge of the tub. He pulled all my hair over one shoulder and kissed the bare curve of the other, slowly, once. Then he lifted me by the waist, with the ease of a man picking up a child, and set me down on my feet.
"Have dinner with me."
"Sì."
He walked me out of the bathroom with his arm around my waist, and I went.
And the dagger stayed on top of the dresser, forgotten.
LUCA MORETTI
Acquaviva came into the study at eleven forty.
I was standing by the window. An unlit cigar between my fingers, a glass of whiskey on the table beside me. The whole house was silent—Valentina had fallen asleep an hour ago, in our room, her hand under the pillow, the way she slept.
"Padrone. I've narrowed it to three names."
I didn't turn around.
"Three."
"Sì, padrone."
"Don't tell me yet."
"Padrone?"
I lit the cigar and took a long drag.
"Forty-eight hours, Carlo. I need forty-eight hours before I hear the three names."
"Capisco."
He waited a second, then gave a minimal nod of his head and left.
I stayed at the window. Out there, Vesuvius slept, black against a black sky. It didn't answer, of course. Vesuvius never answered.
I took another drag. I thought of Valentina sleeping, her hand under the pillow, her black hair spread across the whitesheet. I thought of the three names Acquaviva had folded inside that brown briefcase.
If it's someone she loves, I thought, I kill them all the same.
CHAPTER 28
"The first time, you discover the other's body. The second time, you discover what you'll do with it for the rest of your life."
