Death Bliss
No light at all beyond the glass except the faintest suggestion of the unpaved road, pale as a scar, winding away into nothing.
Domenico stands behind the desk with his back to me, looking at the photographs on the wall. He does not turn when I enter. He is wearing a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and I see the watch before I see anything else. A heavy steel case on his left wrist, too large for him, the band loose enough that it sits below the bone. It catches the lamplight and holds it. He wears it the way a man wears something he did not choose but will not remove, something that has become part of the weight he carries and no longer notices.