Chapter 10: Keep Langston Waiting

Elias was dressed and standing by the bed before I was fully awake.

He leaned down and kissed my forehead, and his hand lingered on my hair.

"Business," he said. "I'll be back by noon."

"What's in the vault box?"

His hand stopped.

"You saw my phone."

"I saw it."

"It's an old safe deposit box," he said. "I'll explain tonight."

Tonight again.

I smiled so he wouldn't see my face.

When the front door closed, I got up and wrapped myself in his shirt and went to find coffee.

His study door was open a crack, and his voice came through it.

I thought he had left.

He hadn't gone far.

"She doesn't know yet," he was saying to someone on the phone, low and clipped.

"Keep Langston waiting until her birthday. No, not a word to her."

I stood in the hallway with my bare toes on the cold floor.

"If the box has the paper, bring it to me. Not to her. Not yet."

A pause.

"I know what I promised," he said, and his voice was rough.

"But she can't walk in on it before I've fixed it."

The line went silent.

I heard him put the phone down.

I backed down the hall and ran for the kitchen.

I was pouring water into a glass when he came out.

He had changed his tie.

He kissed my temple again and said, "I'll see you at noon," and the elevator closed on his back.

I stood there and shook.

Everything he had said last night was gentle and honest and sweet.

Everything he had said this morning was a plan.

I thought of Desmond's letter.

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