Carter could only take her at her word. If she wasn’t concerned about Giorgio’s whereabouts, he reasoned, why should he be? It was obvious that there was nothing else to do but wait, so he picked up the newspaper that had lain unread on the counter all morning. He sat down at the table with Antonella and opened the paper to the back page to try his hand at an Italian crossword puzzle. Now and then the two exchanged idle chatter, as if nothing was amiss. That it was well past one o’clock and neither of them had yet to eat all day seemed to have escaped both their notices. Food, at that particular moment, was the farthest thing from their minds.

An hour passed, and then another.

By this time, Antonella herself had gone to the window and was standing there, rubbing her hands together. For his part, Carter had long since given up on the crossword and was pretending to peruse the sports section of the newspaper. He peeked over the top of the page at her and watched as she gazed outside with eyes that showed, if not worry, then at least the first hints of real doubt.

Antonella was just turning away from the window when suddenly, from outdoors, came the whirring thrum of a helicopter passing close overhead. The noise of it shook the house with almost as much force as the morning’s tremor.The helicopter passed just as quickly, and the sound faded away in the distance. All the same, a feeling of dark foreboding descended in its wake.

Carter folded the paper and put it aside.

“Does Giorgio carry a cell phone?” he asked hopefully, for he had not considered that possibility before.

“Yes, usually he does for work, Carter, but he hates it because he can never get away from it,” said Antonella.

“Have you tried calling it?”

“No,” she replied with a shake of her head.

“But why not?”

“Because today he left it in the bedroom, charging,” she explained. Then, with a sigh, she added, “He is so thick sometimes. I don’t know why he didn’t just take it with him even if it was not completely charged.”

Carter scratched the back of his neck, wondering how long they should wait before reporting Giorgio missing. He was certain that Antonella was fretting over the very same question. Until she made up her mind, there was nothing for him to do, so he stood, stretched his arms in front of him, and started for the door.

“I think I’ll just go outside for a few minutes to get some air,” he said.

Antonella did not protest, but remained at the window, keeping silent watch.