The Mistress in the Room novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Shed at Night

I sat the assistant down at the corner table and gave her a roll and a glass of water.

She put the banker's box on her knees and kept both hands on the lid.

"I've worked for him six years," she said. "He asked me to move his rent payments to a line called consulting. I did it. I knew what it was."

"Did you read the thread on the second phone?"

"I wrote half of it." She swallowed. "He told me to answer with a thumbs-up and I did. I didn't think a thumbs-up counted."

"What's in the box?"

"Every invoice for Lydia's apartment. Six years of them, coded to the firm."

I opened the lid and saw rows of paper clipped by month.

"The partners meet Thursday," she said. "Not about this. About the budget. I thought you might want to be in the room."

"I own the room, as it happens."

"I know." She almost smiled. "That's why I came to you first."

I took the box into the back and locked it in my office.

I made a hundred and forty rolls that day and sold every one.

At nine that night I stood outside the marina on Foster Avenue with my hands in my coat.

The light was on in Evan's shed.

He was at the workbench with his back to me, bent over the open housing of an outboard motor, a rag tucked in his belt.

I pushed the door open.

He didn't turn around.

"I said I'd wait," he said. "I didn't say how long."

"You said come find me when I knew what I wanted."

"Do you?"

"Yes." I shut the door behind me. "I'm asking now. Why did you stop writing?"

He put the wrench down.

"Because the ninth letter came back unopened," he said. "Douglas wrote return to sender across the front and drew a line through my name."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"I'll be sorry for as long as I like." I walked up to him. "You told me what you needed. Now I'll tell you what I want."

He turned.

His eyes were red at the rims.

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