Chapter 9: The Corridor

Her office was on the fourth floor, at the end of a long corridor with a blue carpet.

I had walked that carpet a hundred times with a sandwich and a thermos.

The nurses at the station looked up when I stepped out of the elevator.

Every one of them looked away again at once.

The video had been to the hospital before me.

Her secretary's chair was empty.

The office door stood open.

My father's wooden box sat in the middle of the desk, with a white card propped against it.

I picked up the card.

It said, in Valeria's handwriting: "Wait for me."

I put it down.

I picked up the box instead and checked the latch.

The compass was inside. The steel rules, the pencil in its handkerchief.

Everything was exactly where my father had left it.

I had what I had come for.

Then I heard the sound from the bathroom across the hall.

It was a retching sound, harsh and wet and helpless, and then the flush of a toilet, and then a long silence.

I stood in the doorway with the box against my chest.

I should have left.

I told myself that all the way down the corridor, and I stopped outside the staff bathroom anyway.

"Valeria?"

The tap was running.

"Go away," said her voice.

"It's me. I came for the box."

"I know it's you."

The door opened.

She stood there holding the frame.

She looked terrible.

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