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Back Just Thieves Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. 1
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 2
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 3
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. ACCOMPLICES AND EASY MARKS

“You can make the watch appear and disappear all you want,” I told Frank, “but don’t throw Tacitus at him. Even I caught that. He’ll figure it out.” Frank didn’t say anything, never admitted anything to me, never explained or apologized, or changed. I thought he’d get caught, that Mr. Brit had to know that Frank had taunted him. But he didn’t. The watch came and went one more time, right before we left. One last message from Frank to Mr. Brit, or maybe to me, or both. Frank knew what he was doing, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get caught. Prison is full of people who know what they’re doing. I wondered what an Italian prison would be like.

The Brits checked out, moved to a different hotel, and Frank said he wished we were staying longer. When we were on the plane leaving Italy, I half-expected to see the Cartier on Frank’s wrist, but that wasn’t his way. “It all turned out all right, in the end,” he said. “See, my confidence wasn’t destroyed.”

11

THE EXIT

THE MINUTE I OPENED MY EYES I KNEW HE WAS GONE. The room was dark and quiet, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but I could tell the bed was half-empty, that the room was different, that Frank wasn’t in it. I tried not to think about it for a second. I tried to tell myself that he had gone to get the car so we could get out as soon as possible. But I knew it wasn’t true. I stayed in bed for a minute. The room was the same color as the inside of my eyelids. I opened and closed them a few times. Exactly the same color. I couldn’t tell the difference. I wanted to wait but knew there would be no point. Nothing would change. I turned on a light and went to the closet. All of Frank’s things were gone. The bag for Froehmer was gone.

I had half-suspected this day would come, had half-waited for it, but I always thought it would be because of something I’d done, a mistake he couldn’t forgive. I never imagined what it would be, maybe nothing at all, just some sense of him walking out the door instead of putting up with me anymore. But I’d always imagined it would be our door, that he would walk out of our home, leaving me there, not some hotel room in a strange city. I always thought it would be my fault; I never thought Frank would steal, not from me.