You've Got Male novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Wrong Key

The front door opened on the chain.

Francine's face appeared in the gap.

She was wearing my mother's silk robe, the blue one, the one my father had never let anyone touch.

"Oh, Cassidy," she said. "We didn't expect you so late."

"My key doesn't work."

"The locks were old. Lyle had them changed this afternoon." She said it with sweet, false concern.

"A house like this, with all this silver, you can't be too careful."

"Then give me a new key."

"Tomorrow, dear. The locksmith's only made two."

"Take off that robe," I said.

Her smile slipped a quarter inch.

"I beg your pardon?"

"It was my mother's. Take it off, and give me my key, and open this door."

Across the street, a porch light came on.

An old neighbor in a cardigan stood on his steps with a flashlight and a small, bristling dog.

I had known him all my life.

He had taught me to ride a bike on that very sidewalk.

"Everything all right, Cassidy?" he called.

"My mother-in-law locked me out of my house, sir."

His flashlight swung to the door.

Francine shut it in my face.

I stood on the step with my useless key in my hand.

Then I turned around, walked down the steps, around the side of the house, and through the garden gate.

At the back of the fountain, under a stone frog my father had bought at a yard sale, was a spare key.

It had been there since I was twelve.

The back door opened for me.

I walked into the kitchen as Lyle came down the hall.

He wore a silk shirt and bare feet and held a glass in his hand.

For a moment he looked utterly shaken.

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