Franz stood at the window of the ground-floor study and watched the last light leave the sky.
The piano was quiet now. Lily had finished practicing an hour ago and climbed down from the bench with the particular exhaustion of a child who had given something her full attention. She had hugged Arianne without being prompted, wrapping her arms around Arianne's waist and pressing her face into her stomach. Then she had gone upstairs with Leo while the whale stayed tucked under his arm. Both of them were half asleep before they reached the stairs.
The house was settling the way it did every night.
Franz did not move.
The intel Gio shared earlier sat in his head like a stone. The Voss siblings. The deposit. The timing that meant someone had known exactly when to strike. He had read the printout twice and then again, and then he had set it down because reading it more would not change the numbers.
