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“No.”

My phone is already in my hand.

I put it back in my pocket.

“I can get you a room if she’s asleep.”

“No, Colt.”

“Okay.”

Tova stands beside the door. She doesn’t come toward me, which is fair.

Astrid reaches for the handle.

“Astrid.”

She turns.

She waits long enough to be sure.

“I trusted you.”

Tova opens the door.

“Night, Colt.”

“Night, kid.”

She doesn’t hug me.

Astrid takes the suitcase through the door.

I hear the garage rise.

The engine starts.

The garage light disappears beneath the door.

The house goes quiet.

Chapter forty-three

Astrid

The good suitcase is beside Gabi’s front door.

I stare at it.

It is Colt’s. Dark gray, hard shell, four wheels. I took it from his hall closet without choosing, and it went over his threshold without a sound.

There is room for it in the guest closet. Gabi showed me the first night, after she opened the door in old pajama pants and stared at Tova, then at me, then at the suitcase.

She did not ask questions. She moved two coats and made room, and I have not used it. The blue dress is folded on top of everything inside it. He never found out.

Two days later, Tova comes through the front door after school and stops beside the suitcase.

She looks at it for a long time.