Chapter 13: The Ring

I didn't ask Ingrid whether to go.

I picked up my coat, and she looked at it, and then she looked at me.

"Midnight," she said. "Staff say she's been at the office every night until midnight."

"I know."

"Do you want me to come?"

"No."

"Good. I'd have said no for you."

The Larkspur lobby was dark except for the screen on the far wall.

The night guard knew me, and he let me through without a word and looked hard at the ceiling while I passed.

The anniversary film was still looping.

Adeline sat on the floor in front of the screen with her back against the reception desk.

Her shoes were off, and her black coat lay over her knees.

On the screen, the opening party played again, with the clumsy gap beside her where my shoulder had been.

She had not seen me come in.

"Delete it," I said.

She flinched and looked up.

"I did," she said. "I deleted the master on Monday. This is the only copy still running, and I wanted to sit with it."

"Why?"

"Because I made it," she said. "I signed off on that crop, Elias. I watched them do it."

She got to her feet slowly.

Her eyes went to my hands, and then to the door behind me.

"Preston told me to ask what you keep in your coat pocket," I said.

She closed her eyes.

Then she put her hand into the pocket of the black coat, and when she opened it, my wedding ring lay on her palm.

The thin gold band was scratched on one side, where it had sat against her keys.

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