Chapter 5: The Landing

He was sitting on my aunt's stairs at ten that night, between the third floor and the fourth, in his overcoat, with his elbows on his knees.

The timer light had gone out.

I only knew it was him because I knew the shape of his shoulders in the dark.

I hit the switch.

The bulb buzzed on.

"How did you get in?"

"A woman on the second floor let me in."

"The one with the notebook?"

"She asked for my license plate."

"Did you give it to her?"

"I don't have a car here." He looked up at me. "Somebody threw the keys down a drain."

I stood two steps below him with my bag of groceries.

He didn't move to let me by.

"Go back to your hotel, Luca."

"I've been sitting here two hours. I've had time to think."

"Congratulations."

"You smiled at him."

There it was.

"I smile at a lot of people. It's a bakery."

"You never smiled at me like that."

"I smiled at you like that for five years. You never looked up."

Below us, the street door banged.

Heavy boots on the stairs.

Konrad came up around the turn of the landing in his work jacket, smelling of smoke and cold air, with his helmet bag over one shoulder.

He'd been on a shift.

He stopped when he saw us.

He looked at Luca on the stairs above me.

He looked at me with my groceries.

Then he came up and stood on the step below mine, close enough that I could feel the cold coming off him.

"Evening," he said in English.

Luca stood up.

They were the same height.

Nobody said anything for a long moment.

The timer light buzzed.

"This is a private conversation," Luca said.

"It's a public stairwell," Konrad said. "I live here."

"Then go in."

Konrad didn't look at him.

He looked at me.

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