Now, the next morning, she locked her apartment door, tucked her keys into her bag, and made her way down 4 flights of stairs and out into the city.
The bus was crowded the way it always was. Rebecca stood near the window and watched the city move past her: bread sellers pushing their carts, schoolchildren walking in pairs with bags bouncing on their backs, yellow taxis honking at nothing in particular, a woman by the roadside selling tomatoes from a wide metal tray balanced on her head, completely still and unbothered by the noise around her.
Rebecca watched it all and felt the quiet, ordinary comfort of a morning that seemed like any other morning.
She got off at her stop, walked down 2 streets, and turned onto the wide, calm road lined with tall palm trees. She had been here before, once or twice to visit Grace, and she always felt the same thing when she turned onto the street: a slight shift, like stepping into a different part of the city. Quieter. Greener. The houses behind their high walls and iron gates looked permanent and unhurried, as if they had always been there and always would be.
She found the gate and pressed the bell. It opened almost immediately.
Grace was standing there in her work uniform, her face bright. “You came,” she said, pulling Rebecca into a quick, warm hug.
“Of course.” Rebecca laughed softly. “What’s all this about?”
“Come in. Come in.” Grace stepped aside and waved her through. “I’ll explain properly. But first…” She lowered her voice, glancing back at the house. “I want you to meet someone.”
Rebecca walked through the gate along the neat, flower-lined path toward the front door of the large white villa. She noticed the garden, how clean it was, how deliberately kept. The red and yellow flowers stood in straight rows. The grass was trimmed to an even height. Even the stepping stones leading to the door were set at precise distances.
Someone likes things a certain way, she thought.
Grace led her inside. The house was cool and still. A long hallway stretched ahead with polished tiled floors and framed paintings on the walls. Light came through the tall windows in long golden stripes.
Everything was clean and in its place.
“Wait here,” Grace said, pointing to a bench in the hallway. “I’ll go and tell him you’re here.”
“Tell who?” Rebecca asked.
But Grace was already walking toward the study at the end of the hall.
Rebecca sat on the bench, placed her bag on her lap, and looked around at the quiet, orderly world of the house. She could hear a clock ticking somewhere, the faint rustle of papers, the distant muffled sound of the city outside, made smaller by the thick walls.
Then she heard footsteps. Steady, unhurried, coming closer.
She straightened slightly and looked toward the hallway.
