ate that closed with a sound like a held breath. It was a big stone house w

touch me at all. He got out of the car, handed my su

and a staircase wide enough for a parade. A

room, east wing, second floor. I will

fine w

hout Cole or another man of mine. Not fo

a pri

as beginning to suspect he could not. "Three. Your phone stays with Cole.

collecting a seatbelt. He was broad and sandy-haired with an easy face I would have tru

"Dinner is at seven.

d f

s eyes went to the left side of the hall, to a ta

or. You do not stand near that door. If you hear

s behi

ething moved across his face, quick as a bird past a

I stood in that enormous hall holding a

king a garden that was dying politely into winter. Someone had put a vase of yellow tulips on the dresser. In

me," said a vo

, with iron-grey hair pinned up in a bun and flour on her sleeve. S

n. You are too thin, and you did not eat at th

was the best thing I had ever put in my mouth. I ate the whole bowl si

"People will tell you he is. He is a man who sto

rried me to watch

"He would say that. He says what is easiest to say." She picked

s listening. The pipes ticked. The wind found a loose shutter and made a lonely, rhythm

arily hiding anything. I told myself a lot of things, and none of them worked, so around two in the morn

k except for a thin band of lamplight under a do

ook exactly four steps toward that

foot, in the dark, with my hea

and his tie gone. He was shutting the door behind him, slowly, as if to k

t. A bright, careful smear, as if he

st stood there in the half dark, looking at me,

Mrs. Varga," he s

d I sat on the floor with my back against it until the sun came