He crossed the street in front of the hotel and walked down the stairs to the waterfront promenade. She followed him with her eyes as he strolled out onto the pier, and she watched for the next two hours as he sunbathed on one of the blue chaise longues.

He went into the water only once, a quick dip—down and up again—and then back to his chaise longue.

At lunchtime, Anna took a seat three tables away from him in the restaurant at the base of the pier, just as she had done on the other days. He didn’t notice her today either.

He ordered oysters and Sancerre. Again. Followed by crème brûlée. Again.

His food was served at the very same second that a little Asian girl wearing floaties and a bikini approached his table and poked the waiter’s arm.

The girl’s lips moved.

Anna couldn’t hear what she said. She turned in her chair, looking for the child’s parents. She spotted a woman sitting on a beach chair close to the water’s edge. The woman was smiling as she watched her daughter venturing out into the world on her own.

The waiter handed the girl a soft drink. She paid with a handful of coins and ran back to her mother, flung her arms around her mom’s neck, and proudly showed her what she’d bought.

Anna smiled briefly.

Then she attentively turned back to him. She could see his jaw muscles working as he ate. She could also see that he had noticed the girl. It was like a membrane had come down over his eyeballs. The look in his eyes was at once drowsy and intent, clinging to the little girl’s body.

Anna recognized that look.

He watched for the next hour as the girl waded and squealed joyfully every time a wave broke on the beach, and the quivering sensation in Anna’s chest told her she was done procrastinating.

She knew that he stayed in his suite between five and seven every evening. After that he would go to the hotel bar, order a pisco sour, and take a seat at the grand piano in the middle of the lounge, where he would play Billie Holiday songs until his table on the patio was set.

That was what he had done every night since he’d arrived.

He wouldn’t get that far today.

There were two quick knocks as she rapped on the door of the suite with her knuckles. He opened it, and she held the folded white towels up in front of her and bowed her head.

“Fresh towels.”

He barely registered that she was there. He invited her in without saying a word. Just left the door open and turned away from her.

Anna’s heart pounded as she stepped into his room.