Chapter 18: The Green Door

I had breakfast with my son at Alberto's table, and he wouldn't look at his eggs.

"Dario," I said. "Eat something."

"I'm waiting for Aunt Vittoria."

"She isn't coming."

"She said she would take me in the night." He kicked the table leg with a socked foot. "She had my blue bag.

"She said we were going to Zia's for pancakes.

"I said not without Mama, and she said Mama was busy."

I put down my fork.

Across the room, Alberto's nurse went still with the milk pitcher in her hand.

"Which Zia?" I asked, and kept my voice light.

"The one with the green door and the dog."

"Where is the green door, baby?"

"Where the big water tower is." He held his hands apart. "Past the train."

Berwyn has a water tower and a train line and about four hundred green doors.

But Vittoria had once told me, in the middle of an argument, that her sister kept dogs.

"Thank you," I said. "Eat your eggs. I'll be back for lunch."

I went out into the hall and called Massimo.

He picked me up on the corner, and we drove every street near the tower until I saw a dog in a front window.

The door was green.

A gray sedan sat in the driveway with its trunk open and four boxes already inside.

"Stay in the car," I said.

"Elisa."

"She locked me in a wardrobe. I'm the one who goes to the door."

His jaw worked. "I'll be at the corner of the porch."

"Fine."

I rang the bell.

A woman with Vittoria's cheekbones opened it, saw my face, and tried to close it.

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