The Pawn novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Jailer's Key

Lucio knocked on my door at eleven that night.

The summer house had a bedroom for me now, with a lock on the inside, which Pellegrino had given me as a gift.

I opened it with the letter opener in my hand.

I had taken it back from the desk drawer where Pellegrino kept it, and nobody had stopped me.

Lucio looked at the blade and almost smiled.

"I'd do the same," he said. "May I come in? I'll keep my hands in my pockets."

"Leave the door open."

"Fair."

He came in and stood by the window, with his back to the dark glass.

In the lamplight the gauze on his jaw was gray at the edges.

There were shadows under his eyes that had not been there at the church.

"You've been told the plan," he said.

"The dock, Saturday, midnight."

"And my part."

"Yes."

"Did he tell you where the other three men will stand?" Lucio asked.

I said nothing.

"On the boathouse roof. Three rifles." He rubbed his face.

"I'm only there so the old man can say his son did it."

"If Ruvolo fights me, they have a shot. If he doesn't, I have to."

"And will you?"

"I called Ruvolo this morning."

I stared at him.

"I told him everything," Lucio said. "The dock, the time, the roof."

"I told him I'd leave the south gate open tonight."

"And that he could come see you, if he wanted to be stupid."

"Why?" I said.

"You'll hate this answer."

"Try me."

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Pawn from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.