Look at Vincenzo; so busy with his fine, failing club. Was last night a dream? He doesn’t look burglarized or betrayed. But he is both, and he is also a third B, besotted. At the start of the night, that woman comes armed for his final humiliation. And by its end they make the two-backed beast.

While the crime is undiscovered I must decide what to do. To restore a man’s fortune is easy enough, and he’s grateful. But, restore half of it and he’s resentful and suspicious, despairing of ever seeing the rest.

Vincenzo is a good man. He built this place from nothing, with no more than a bauble she’d forgotten in the thrill of yet another breakup. He pulled himself up, and me along with him, despite all her attempts to turn him back toward ruin.

How did I get his money? And on what did I spend the $100? The first answer is unknowable, the other unspeakable. When I return it, our friendship will be over. Yet it is his.