Chapter 15: What the Roof Saw

Ines slept on a metal bunk in the county holding cell, with her face to the wall.

I stepped into her dream, and it opened onto a small kitchen with yellow curtains.

A radio played on the counter. The window looked down on a street with a sign that said Pagano Auto Body.

A boy of ten sat at the table drawing a truck in crayon.

Ines stood at the stove in the gray dress, stirring a pot, and she did not turn around.

"You came," she said.

"You knew I would."

"I hoped you would not. I wanted one night without anyone in it."

She put down the spoon and faced me.

She looked at the hole in my dress, and she did not look away from it.

"I will not say I am sorry," she said. "I told you that already."

"I heard you."

"Then what do you want?"

"I want to know why you picked the children."

Her hand closed on the edge of the counter.

"I did not pick them," she said. "I picked the house."

"The children were in the house."

"So was my brother."

The boy at the table looked up and smiled at me.

"Is the lady staying for supper?" he asked.

"Not tonight," Ines told him gently. "Keep drawing."

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