Six days before opening night Zane loses his patience.
Not with the investigation.
Not with the anchors or the rigging or the thirty two points or any of the things that have been requiring his patience for twenty two days.
With Theo.
Specifically.
It happens at dinner.
Theo is telling a story about Augustus and a misunderstanding involving the morning feeding schedule that ends with Theo on the wrong side of the enclosure gate and Augustus looking deeply unimpressed.
The table is laughing.
My mother is laughing.
Frank is laughing.
I am laughing.
Theo catches my eye across the table.
The specific smile.
Just for me.
My stomach does the thing.
Zane beside me puts his fork down.
He picks it up.
He puts it down again.
He says very quietly just for me: come with me.
I say: w
