The Man Who Can't Let Go novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Roof Terrace

Tobias VanAlstyne stood on the roof terrace of the townhouse at midnight and turned his wedding ring with his thumb.

He had done it for three years.

The ring was loose now, because he had lost weight, and he had never once thought of taking it off.

Abel came up the stairs with two beers and handed him one.

"She's asleep," Abel said. "The housekeeper saw the light go out at eleven."

"I know. I watched it."

"You're standing on a roof watching your wife's window."

"I'm standing on a roof," Tobias said. "The window is incidental."

Abel snorted and leaned on the railing.

Below them the city went on glittering, the way it had on the night he first found the bed empty.

"Can I tell you something I should have told you three years ago?" Abel asked.

Tobias turned his head.

"The year she left," Abel said, "I came by most mornings before my shift. You were already at the office."

"And every morning, your mother stood in the front hall by the mail tray."

"She sorts the foundation's letters."

"She sorted all of them. I watched her take a few straight upstairs, unopened, with the rest left in the tray." Abel looked at the bottle. "I thought she was protecting you. Then I thought she was being a mother. Then you stopped asking, and I stopped thinking."

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