In Over Her Head by Elsie Russell - Parnasse.com

door.
"We will call tomorrow, early is okay?" Alessandro asked,
zipping up his jacket
"Bien sure."
"Bene."
He kissed Maia and Max, on both cheeks, and Max slapped his
shoulder.
He squeezed into the little cage with Penny and the elevator
swayed down to the ground. She felt a panic attack closing in,
everything crashing down on her at once.
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking down at her.
"Yeah, fine. Weird elevator, kinda like a coffin."
"You are claustrophobic?"
"No! It's really cool, I wish we had this in New York, instead of
that iron monster."
Alessandro chuckled as he unlatched the delicate doors.
Although it was only a five minute walk back to Dick's, the
weather had turned with a bitter wind.
Tiny Smart Cars splashed past them, the only vehicles that fit
into the tight medieval alleys. They went down a different street this
time, Rue des St. Pères, turned a corner at the quais and there they were
at Dick's place. In the elevator on the way up, Alessandro rest his hand
on Penny's sleeve.
"Let us not say anything about the gun, maybe not about what
happened at all. I do not trust him so much, okay?"
"Sure, no problem, it's kind of less complicated that way,
right?"
Inez opened the door, and fussing over their dripping clothes,
suggested a bath before dinner.
Penny kept her eyes on the floor as she went down the hall to
her room. In the bathroom she washed her hands and face, but no way
was she going to step in that tub now.
"Inez says dinner will not be for a while and Dick is on the
phone. Do you want to go for a walk? The weather is clear again now."
In his dark suit, and with his hair combed back from his forehead,
Alessandro looked like a vintage movie star, missing only a cigarette on
a long holder.
"There's this music store down the street, I walked by it with
Maia."
"Musique! Yes, I get my Lute music there."
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