EVENING HAD FALLEN AND WITH IT THE TEMPERATURE. During the day, the sun provided warmth, but the minute it ducked behind the line of the mountains, the chill that had dogged Schiavone’s footsteps for months now spread back out into the streets and piazzas of Aosta. The icy embrace of an unwelcome, intrusive old friend. He was planning to eat dinner in a trattoria, but first he’d make sure to feed Lupa. He walked into the brightly lit residential hotel and stepped up to the reception desk for his key. The receptionist greeted him with a smile, then jutted his chin to direct his attention to the sofa behind him. Rocco turned around. Sitting in front of the now-cold fireplace was Anna. He went over to her.

“What am I supposed to think?” she asked him without standing up.

“That’s a little generic. Give me the topic.”

“You and me, Rocco. What am I supposed to think?”

Lupa was trying to get Anna to pet her, but there was an electric charge running under the woman’s skin powerful enough to light up a desk lamp. The dog wandered away and curled up at her master’s feet.

“Last night at the Turrinis’ house, you left without even saying a proper good-bye. I’m not talking about love or us being a couple, I’m just talking about basic good manners!”

“I’m not a guy with manners of any kind, you ought to know that by now.”

“Right, you just do whatever you feel like, without a thought for the consequences.”

“That’s a problem I have.”

But Anna still wasn’t done. “Do you know how I got home? Or is that a problem you haven’t even considered?”

“Someone must have given you a ride?”

“Asshole!” Anna dropped her gaze.

Here we go, thought Rocco. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, even as Anna struggled against it. “What did I ever do to you, Rocco?”

Rocco sat down beside her. “Nothing. You didn’t do anything to me. Unfortunately.”

“Then would it have cost you that much to make a phone call? Or even just drop by to make sure I made it home safe and sound?”

“You have a point about that. That was a shitty group of people. I shouldn’t have dumped you there. Even though you did seem completely at your ease.”

“All the same, that shitty group of people was talking about you. The Turrinis, for instance, even though you made damned sure not to even say good-bye to them.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find a way of making it up to them,” Rocco replied without bothering to conceal the irony in his voice.

“Or else that friend of mine, the gallery owner, who really wanted to meet you.”

“But I didn’t want to meet him. Doesn’t that count for anything?”