Chapter 16: Three Keys on a Hook

Dario's POV

The Tribeca flat had four bedrooms, and by Tuesday night I was the only one in it.

Sergio had left first, on Monday, with two suitcases and a text that said, I'll be at my mother's. Don't call.

Sal went the next morning, and he didn't text at all.

Their key fobs were on the kitchen counter, side by side.

Gemma's came in the mail in a padded envelope with no note.

I put all three on the hook by the door, next to mine.

Four fobs, one hook.

It was the first time I had counted them since I signed the lease, and I stood there and counted them twice.

There had never been a fifth.

I told myself it was because the building only issued four.

That was true. I had also never asked Justine whether she wanted one.

The refrigerator held a jar of mustard and a bag of lemons that someone had bought for Gemma's tea.

I did not know where we kept the dish soap.

I had lived with Justine for six years, and the soap had always been under the sink, where she put it.

My phone rang at seven.

It was my lead investor, and I sat on the arm of the couch and took it on speaker.

"Dario. Thanks for picking up."

"Of course. Is this about the paperwork? Because I can have the final numbers."

"It's about the deck." He sounded tired and polite. "Slide two."

I knew slide two by heart.

It was a photo of a card table in a bare apartment, with a pizza box on it and three of us laughing.

Keep reading free with an account. Start No Matter, You Don't Have to Wait for Me from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.