They were silent as they stepped outside onto the landing. Ruby listened hard for movement from below. Constance reached up to stick a piece of tape over the tiny lens of the camera that covered the doorway.

To the side of the door, there was a utilities cabinet set into the wall. Constance held up a small key. “This was in the kitchen. I never knew what it was for, until now.” She unlocked the padlock and opened the door, then quickly drew out something that looked like a swathe of gray fabric and bundled it into her arms. She hurried inside. Ruby bent to close the cabinet, and as she did Leonie came running out the door, laughing, heading for the stairwell.

“Leonie, come back here!” Ruby grabbed the small girl and carried her inside the flat, just as a door closed softly on the floor below. Sarah. She had to try to check in on Mrs. Stefanidis before they went, make sure she had everything she needed for a few weeks. It was possible Ruby wouldn’t be coming back for a long time.

Once in the living room, Ruby stuck another piece of tape over the pinhead camera in the light fitting.

Leonie started to fuss, trying to get to the front door again, restrained by Constance.

“Here you go, honey,” said Ruby, handing her half a peeled banana. It seemed to do the trick for the moment. The child went back to watch her TV program.

Constance sat with the old leather coat draped on her knees. It was dark gray in color and looked dry and cracked, like it hadn’t been cared for.

“That’s it?”

“Yes.” She stroked it tenderly, as if it were a second child of hers.

“It’s kind of … tatty, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she said, letting her tears fall on the rough surface of the leather.

Where the salt tears fell, circles of the cloth became luminescent. Constance rubbed at it with her thumbs in sweeping motions, spreading the moisture across the garment. As she did, more tears fell, and as the circles of gleaming anthracite gray grew on the surface, they met and joined together, spreading across the coat until it shone. Soon it was completely transformed.

“It’s so beautiful.” Ruby watched as Constance ran her hands over the skin, a strange light seeming to come from within it, illuminating Constance’s face. But no, now that she looked closely; the glow was coming from Constance too.

Ruby couldn’t believe what she was seeing. How were the tears having such an effect on the fabric? It was as if each one, as it splashed and spread across the coat, was capable of rehydrating much more surface area than one tiny droplet ought to have been. It’s like magic, she thought, swiftly followed by Don’t be ridiculous.