The Grumpy Neighbor Wants the Size 22 Girl Upstairs, and the Walls Are Thin novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The First Note

The pianist stopped in the middle of a bar.

Chandler lowered his hand and kept the smile on.

"Costa," he said. "This is a private moment."

"It's a public one. You made it public."

Costa didn't turn around.

He spoke to the hall, and his voice carried the way it had on the landing the first night.

"The first note went on her door on the fourth of March," he said. "A Tuesday, at 5:40 in the morning."

"On yellow legal paper, in black pen."

He stopped, and I heard him breathe once.

"'Your laugh is the best thing that happens in this building. Don't let anyone quiet it.'"

The words went through me.

I had read that note a hundred times.

I had never once heard it said out loud.

"Anyone could have read that," Chandler said. "It's in her box. She probably showed it around."

"I never showed anyone the box," I said.

My voice came back all at once, and it was loud.

"You took the lid off it in my kitchen. You took the ninth note out of my box."

A ripple went through the choir.

Costa turned his head toward Chandler, only his head.

"Note nine," he said. "The box on her landing."

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