Chapter 16: Nobody's Something

At six-ten I stood outside his door with my bad ankle aching and my fist raised.

I knocked once.

Ivo opened it in shirtsleeves, with his tie gone and a dish towel over one shoulder.

He looked at me for a long moment.

"You're early for being furious," he said.

"I've been furious since the stairs."

"Come in."

"No. I'll ask it here."

I kept my hand on the doorframe.

"How long have you known about Lark Ellery?"

"Nine years. Since the first one."

"Did you know it was me when you read my file?"

"Yes."

"You knew in Newford, before the transfer."

"Yes."

"Did you ask for me?"

He took the towel off his shoulder and folded it once.

"Joelle, there's a right order for this. I want to tell you at the lake house, on Saturday, with..."

"Did you ask for me?"

"Yes."

The word went through me, slow and cold.

"So I didn't win a transfer," I said. "I was handed one. By my ex's brother. Who has a father he hates and a half-brother he hates more."

"That is not what..."

"Tell me I'm wrong."

"You're wrong."

"Then why did you let me say Hugh's name in your car? Why did you wait until the Anchorage to say anything?"

"Because I was afraid."

"Of what?"

"Of this." He gestured at me, at the hallway, at the whole narrow space between us. "Of you standing in my door thinking the worst."

"You gave me every reason."

"I gave you one."

"The one that counts."

He closed his eyes.

When he opened them, his face had gone hard, and I knew the next thing he said would be as bad as mine.

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