The Mistress in the Room novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Fourth Floor

I did not wait until Thursday.

I rode in Evan's truck to Edgewater with my mother's clock on the seat behind me and a lease in my purse.

He parked across the road from the brick building and shut off the engine.

"I'll stay here," he said.

"You don't have to."

"I know. It's the only part of this I can do properly."

I looked at him for a moment and then got out.

The green awning was faded at the edges.

The lobby smelled of floor wax and someone's soup.

I took the stairs because I didn't trust my voice in an elevator.

On the fourth floor I stopped outside a door with a wreath of dried lavender on it.

I knocked three times, hard.

Lydia opened it in a cream robe with her hair loose.

She was holding a mug, and she did not look surprised.

"You found it," she said.

"Where do you want to do this? Your hallway or your living room?"

"The living room, I think. My neighbors are nosy."

She stepped aside, and I walked in.

The apartment was small and warm and tidy.

There was a fruit bowl on the table with three pears in it.

On the shelf over the sofa, in a silver frame, stood a picture of Hannah at her college graduation, laughing with her gown open.

It was the picture from my own mantel.

I had never seen this copy.

"He gave it to you," I said.

"He gave me lots of things." Lydia sat on the arm of the sofa. "Sit, if you'd like."

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