It’ll be the most boring death in that building this month.”

The floor of the balcony seemed to move under Maya’s feet.

“And if they let her out early?” Mark said.

The woman laughed.

It was a real laugh, warm, genuinely amused.

“She’s not coming out,” she said.

Part Two: What They Were Actually After

Here is the thing that people got wrong when Maya eventually told this story, and she corrected them every time: it was never about the affair.