The Widow of Valletta

They killed her husband for a reason. She found the reason in his ledgers. Greta Skalova married into the family at twenty-two. At thirty-four, she buried the man she married and took his seat at the table. They think she is a widow. They think she is grief. Eleven months of dry dock manifests, customs bribes, and honey jars stacked clean enough to launder anything. Eleven months of carrying two agencies in her pocket and three names in her head. The men who killed Anton still eat at her table. Pour her champagne. Call her daughter. She pours the wine at her father-in-law's name day dinner and waits for the door to open.