columns preserved as architectural features, its interior transformed into white space and northern light. Alice had selected it pers

ent. Let her wait, let her wonder, let the anticipation of their

tain, her usual aggression replaced by a desperate need that made her vulnerable. She wore sunglass

er own costume carefully calibrated-black silk, severe lines, the suggestion

nsating for her nerves. "I need-I want-you to design my

eel the assessment. "You've lost weight," she observed. "Stress,

a defensive gesture. "I'm exactly

ing tape from her pocket-a metal rib

enough to feel her body heat, close enough to observe the pulse fluttering at her throat. She wrapp

the tape tight. "You carry your stress here.

fened. "What

d the measurement on her tablet. "The responsibilitie

uld have been innocent. Krystle's eyes found hers in the mirror, searching for recogn

Alice co

ies-pressing too hard at the scar she knew existed beneath Krystle's shoulder blade, c

in with precise pressure. "You hold tension in your shoulders. Many

he contact. "Do you have fabric

'd prepared them specifically for this meeting, knowing

of velvet so dark it approached black. "The

ce paled. "N

track its movement with the fixation of someone seeing something they couldn't

ce was sharp, desperate. "Whit

neath her veil.

to sustain the performance of demanding client. She fled with measurements t

nounced status without requiring achievement. She considered keeping them, r

em by courier. With a note: For

clothes that wouldn't attract attention-dark jeans, a black turtleneck, a wool coat that had belonged

d as the r

had been saplings when her great-grandfather built the first tenements that would become their fo

ATES, SR.

FE, MOTHER

TES III.

FATHER,

ed in advance for a dea

YATES. 1

ED DA

her right glove resting on her mother's stone. The rain

rmission, addressed to stone and memory. "The ones who did

e in her chest, some pressure she'd carried since waking in Conn

hispered. "Before the end. I'll ma

hand finding the pepper spray in her coat pocket-a

s, his dark hair rain-flattened against his skull. He carried whi

e years before Douglas, when she'd been young and hopef

The man she'd left for the promis

he umbrella that obscured her features. She saw confusion there, and grief, and

ow you?"

said, and her voice emerged with Alice's accent, Alice's distance, nothing of Karo

sible features-the eyes, the jawline, the shape of her

olyn. We were-" Another stop, another correction. "I should have

lat. Final. "There's nothin

finding purchase on the wet gravel. Behind her, she hea

ould have said something kind. S

her car. Only then did she allow herself to shake, to press her forehead against the steering wheel, to remembe

enger do

t closed over hers was familiar, its temperature a

d me," she s

ain dripping from his coat onto her leather interior. "Inter

gine, engaged the heater. "Assessing

of a tear she hadn't known she'd shed. "He'll find Alice Mor

he looks

pressed against her jaw, turned her face toward him. "You

way. "My nam

and, wiped her tear from his thumb with a handkerchief. "Rig

the studio, she changed again, became Alice

. He would wear a tuxedo. She wo