The Pawn novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Flat over the Bakery

The flat was above a bakery that had closed years ago.

Cosimo said it belonged to a cousin.

It had a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom with a cracked tub, and a window that looked onto an alley and the back of a bus stop.

Nobody who worked for his family had ever been told it existed.

He locked the door behind us and put the chain on.

Then he swayed.

"Sit," I said.

"I'm fine."

"You are bleeding through your coat. Sit down."

He looked at me for a moment, then sat on the edge of the kitchen table with one hand pressed to his shoulder.

I found a first aid kit under the sink.

It was old and half empty, but there was gauze, tape and a bottle of antiseptic.

I cut his shirt away.

The wound the doctor had stitched was open along one edge, and the skin around it was angry and hot.

I cleaned it as gently as I knew how.

He did not flinch.

He watched my face the whole time.

"Say it," he said.

"Say what?"

"Whatever you're holding behind your teeth. You've been holding it since the boat."

I taped the last strip of gauze down.

"What did you know about my mother?"

He was quiet.

"Pellegrino shouted it across a lake," I said. "He said it in front of your men. You went still, Cosimo. I felt it."

"I know."

"So tell me."

"Not tonight."

I stepped back from him.

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I can give you tonight." His voice was low and level. "I promised you no lies. This is not a lie. I'm telling you there is something I'm not saying, and I will say it. But not while we're hunted, and not while you can barely stand."

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