Chapter 10: What He Watched

I found him on the dock, with the dawn coming up grey behind him.

He was untying a second boat I had never seen, a low black one with the cover off.

"Aldo called," I said.

"I know. I heard it last night."

"You left it on my pillow."

"I left it so you'd hear it from him."

"Where are you going?"

"To see him. Alone, first." He looked at me. "I'll be back by noon."

"You know what he wants."

"Yes."

"He knows who I am, Dario. He knew at the dinner."

"Aldo has known since the hospital. I told him the night you died."

The dock rocked under my feet.

"You told him."

"I told him you were alive, and that you were with me. He gave me his word. He said nothing to Stefano or Vincent."

"And you didn't think to ask me."

"I didn't have time to ask. You were bleeding in my arms."

"That was five days ago."

He opened his mouth and then closed it.

I looked past him to the little cabin on the black boat.

The door stood open, and a leather case lay on the table inside, with papers fanned out from it.

He saw where I was looking.

"Maeve," he said.

I stepped aboard.

On the top paper was a photograph, a long-lens shot of the Lakeside bridge at dusk.

A date was written in the corner in his small hard writing.

It was a week before the wedding.

Under it were pages of notes, and under those, a phone bill.

A call from a number I did not know to this boat house, placed on the day Stefano "died."

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