“Look.” Genevieve made an effort to calm herself. “If you carry on like this, you’re going to force Paolo to choose between us, and that’s something you might live to regret. I know he’s fond of you, Olga, but do you really think that he’s going to choose a friend over his lover?”

An unpleasant smile spread across Olga’s face. “Is that what he said I am? Just a friend?”

Something turned over in Genevieve’s stomach. She had the urge to start running, but she could hardly run away from her own home. It took an effort to speak again. “Get out of my apartment.”

“He’s not something you can collect,” said Olga. “You don’t know him like I do. He has to be free. That’s what I’ve given him for all these years. His freedom.”

“Did you hear me?”

At last Olga walked slowly to the door, but then turned and cast a look back at Genevieve. “If you see Paolo again, I will tell your husband.”

“Tell him what you like.”

Olga’s mouth opened very slightly, and her tongue showed between her teeth. “I think Mr. Shelby King would be very interested to know about baby Josephine, don’t you?”

“What?”

“Good-bye, Mrs. Shelby King.” Olga gave a little wave, that tongue still showing between her teeth. Just the tip.

( forty )

I’VE BEEN MAKING SOME shoes that are supposed to look like Red Admiral butterflies.” The phone line was crackly, and Zachari’s voice was indistinct. “Did I tell you? I couldn’t get them right, no matter how hard I tried. And this morning I realized why. It was my worst idea ever. Shoes are not butterflies, and they shouldn’t try to be. They don’t flit about in the air. They connect you firmly to the ground. It’s been an interesting morning, all in all. How about you?”

“I’ve had an interesting morning too,” said Genevieve. “Olga came to see me. I want you to tell me the truth, Paolo. About you and Olga. The whole truth this time.”

Silence.

“I used to have nightmares,” came Zachari’s voice. “Terrible nightmares about something that happened to my mother years ago. Someone coming into her room, and…well, they were such frightening dreams. I used to wake up screaming. Olga heard me, one night. She came into my room in the dark. Got into bed beside me. At first she just cradled my head. Stroked my temples. It soothed me. Helped me to fall asleep again. When I woke up, she was gone.”

“How touching.”

“She came back the next night, and the next. I was just a boy. I was…I had no experience. She taught me.”

Genevieve could still see that tongue showing between the teeth. Just the tip.

“I was young. Hot-blooded. With no outlet. And she was younger too. She was softer then.”