High school sweethearts, missed connections, jealousy, and a love triangle create a dangerous mix.

Excerpt:

Professor Philip Winters knocked gently on the ancient oak door of an apartment in Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic. No answer. He gave a push, and the door creaked open. The room was dark. He glanced again at the apartment number: 406. This was the number Toni had given him.

The dim bulb hanging from the corridor’s water-splotched ceiling cast a faint glow for only a few feet into the room. Philip heard the flutter of wings and the squawk of a bird—a parrot? Toni always liked animals. “Toni?” Suddenly, a small, furry creature shot past Philip’s legs and scrabbled across the hardwood floor. A cat? A rat? “Toni, are you alright?”

“Close the door,” she said. Philip obeyed.

Illustration by Eliza Frye