Chapter 15: Running Water

Massimo did not go down to dinner.

He sat on the edge of his bed in the east wing with his cut hand wrapped in a towel and listened to his father's house.

The pipes ticked.

Somewhere below, a spoon rang on china, and a man laughed who was not allowed to laugh yet.

At eleven the door opened without a knock.

He knew who it was by the way the air changed.

"Get up," Wynne said. "Bring your coat."

"The wing is bolted."

"Not the back stairs. I picked it."

"Wynne."

"Garden. Five minutes. Please."

He went because she said please, which she had never said to him in two years.

The lemon tree stood in its big clay pot at the far end, under the wall, where the lamps did not reach.

She had turned the hose on and left it running into the flower bed.

"The cornice sees the lawn, but it can't hear over running water," she said. "I tested it with the kitchen window open."

"You've been busy."

"Listen to me first. Don't speak. Just listen."

He crossed his arms.

She told him in a whisper, fast, with her back to the house.

The pantry hall, and Fabrizio drunk on the floor, and the cardigan and the study.

Leave a mark where the camera will see it.

Aurelio had ordered it.

Aurelio had put her across from him at lunch, so that he could watch Massimo's face when the sleeve slid up.

Massimo stood very still while she talked.

When she finished, he looked at the lemon tree for a long time.

"I saw him watch me," he said at last. "At lunch. I thought he was watching you."

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