The Old Man(20)

“You’re thinking about her right now, aren’t you?”

He turned to look at Zoe.

“Your wife. It’s okay. I was thinking about my ex-husband after I got up this morning. The sex made it inevitable. I’m pretty sure we weren’t thinking the same things, though.” She frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“That was scary.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were exactly right. It’s like one of those magic tricks that’s just a little bit too good.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I warned you that I’ve been thinking about you.” She took out her phone and looked at the time on the display. “Do you think Dave and Carol have had enough for now?”

He looked at the dogs. They had stopped paying attention to the squirrels and were lying on the grass a few feet away. “They look that way.”

“Then let’s start back. I can get in a couple of hours of practice and do some chores while you do whatever you need to do.”

“Okay,” he said. “Do you want to stop on the way home to pick up some take-out food for lunch?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m starting a diet today. Salad for lunch.”

“You don’t need to go on a diet,” he said. “You look—”

“Shush,” she said. “You’re going to be my diet inspiration. For the first time in quite a while, I’ll know there’s somebody who will see if I have a fat ass.”

“It’s always nice to be of service.” They began to walk, and the dogs waited a few seconds and then got up to overtake them.

The first thing Caldwell had done when he moved in to the apartment was to lock his bedroom door and go through his belongings to pick out things he didn’t want Zoe to see. He didn’t know much about her at the time, but he’d been fairly sure she was not someone who would go up into the crawl space above the ceiling. The access trap was in the ceiling of his closet. He stood on a chair, pushed up the square of wood that closed off the crawl space, and placed a few things up there—the two pistols, the spare ammunition and magazines, money, false identification packets.

He knew that curiosity about him was something that came with intimacy. She would be tempted to look around in his room, maybe when he wasn’t present. She might even feel that she had the natural right.

He was sure he had made himself reasonably safe from her curiosity, but when he came home from the walk, he got up on the chair again and checked to be sure Zoe had not opened the crawl space. Then he and the dogs went out into the living room and listened to her practice. His daughter, Emily, had played, but the only practice she had time for now was the medical kind. Emily had played in that way she had of doing things well because she did them hard. Zoe was the sort of person the piano had been invented for.

He sat back in the big chair and read while Zoe played. The dogs seemed to like the sounds except when they were too loud. From time to time Caldwell would look up from his book and let his eyes linger on Zoe as long as he could do it without her noticing. She was intent on her playing. It was a difficult Mendelssohn piece he remembered her telling him was called Variations sérieuses. And she was serious. She kept at it for a couple of hours, taking on one passage at a time, repeating it over and over until she owned that passage, and then moving on to the next.

When she stopped, she looked up and caught him. “Do I look weird when I practice?”

“Not at all. Actually, when you’re in your head and forget you’re not alone you look your best.”

“My daughter is coming to visit.”

“When?”

“Friday night. As soon as she finishes an exam, she’s taking a plane to Midway. I was afraid to tell you.”

“I knew when I moved in that she’d come sometime. You even reminded me this morning.”

“I was sort of studying you to see your reaction.”

“Why be afraid?”

She shrugged. “Another person around, and so on. Two of us with high, girly voices to set your teeth on edge.” She paused. “And, it’s kind of an inconvenient time, while we’re sort of getting used to each other.”

“It’s absolutely fine. I’d like to meet her.”

“There’s actually another reason. I was kind of hoping she could stay in your spare room.”

“That’s fine too. I haven’t figured out what to do with it yet anyway. I’ve been thinking of putting in a handball court, or maybe an Argentinian tapas restaurant. Small plates don’t take up much space. But either of those could take months. How long is she staying?”

She said, “Is a week too long?”

“Of course not, unless she’s a terrible person. You said she wasn’t.”

“I’ll swear to it,” she said.

“All right.” He knew he was adding to the danger, agreeing to have another set of eyes scrutinizing him. But he also knew that Zoe would be grateful for his cooperation, and if he got through the visit, her gratitude would make him safer.

Friday came and during the day Zoe was bustling around putting linens on the bed in the spare room and cooking things for her daughter. At about five o’clock he came into the kitchen and slapped her bottom. She spun around in surprise. “What the fuck?” she said.