His first wife, Alyssa, had died four years earlier at thirty-seven; the certificate listed sudden heart failure.

After her death, Dario had inherited her downtown condominium and a sizable investment account.

His second wife, Ines, had died two years after that, her death recorded as an accidental, unexplained reaction between medications.

Dario had received her vacation home and a large payout from a supplemental life-insurance policy.

Neither woman had children.

“That’s why no one ever saw what Kai saw,” I whispered.

Two women had sat at a table across from that man with no one beside them who was watching closely enough, or believed strongly enough, to be afraid.