If you want to keep something safe, you have to do it yourself. That tin was a time bomb. I peel open the lid and run my hands through the silky little baggies, liking the way they move and yield around my fingertips. The rolls of tight money are all there. Safe and sound. Eli’s gone, and he didn’t hurt anyone. And nobody is the wiser but me.

I tuck the whole thing back into its hole and replace the metal grill in the front. Back in the kitchen, I pull my hair into a topknot, take a breath, then pick up my cell.

“Alex?” Sully answers on the first ring.

“Hi,” I say. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. I’m off duty.”

“Can we meet? I need to tell you something.”

He pauses. Possibility fizzes down the line. “Sure. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I need to talk to you. It’s about my sister.”

RUTH

It’s Thursday afternoon, and I’ve just woken up from a nap. I haven’t heard from Eli since Monday, the day I got back from the hospital. His silence is almost worse than his threats. Is he waiting to take me by surprise? Around the apartment, I jump every time toast pops up in the toaster, and feel like at any minute I could cry.

When Chase and I got back from the hospital, Alex had prepared a nice spot for me to rest, vacuumed the floors, and polished every surface. But something was different in the apartment; something felt blank. It took me a minute to figure out that the massive ski photo by the front door was missing, the canvas leaning torn and face-in by the coatrack.

“What happened to my picture?” Chase asked. “Did it fall down?”

“I’m so sorry.” Alex moved to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She looked hot, like she’d been running. “I stumbled into it while I was vacuuming. I’m afraid my elbow went right through it.”

Chase swallowed, his brow creased. “That’s too bad. I really loved that picture.”

“I’m so sorry. Maybe I can get another one made?”

“Maybe,” Chase said.

I let them commiserate for a minute, saying I needed the bathroom. For the fiftieth time, I checked in the back of the vanity, but still the tin wasn’t there.