The Riddle at Sunset

Elena stood at the edge of the padel court, sweat cooling on her skin as she watched him walk away. The game had ended badly—her backhand had gone wide, and with it, whatever had been holding them together for the past three months. Markus didn't look back. That was typical.

She sank onto the bench beneath the palm tree, its fronds rustling in the evening breeze. In her palm sat the key card to room 412, which she had swiped from his towel bag while he was in the shower. A petty theft, but she needed to know. Needed to see what he'd hidden there all week.

A movement in the shadows caught her eye—a fox, its coat burnished by the dying light, watching her with predatory stillness. It seemed to know she was about to cross a line. There was no going back from snooping through a lover's room. The fox blinked once, then slipped into the darkness.

Lightning split the sky, though she hadn't noticed clouds gathering. The storm would hit soon. She had maybe ten minutes.

Elena pushed herself up and walked toward the resort buildings, passing the stone sphinx that guarded the garden path. Its riddle-less face had become a joke between them—Markus always said he preferred mysteries he could solve, unlike women, who remained perpetually enigmatic. She had laughed then, charmed by his arrogance. Now the sphinx seemed to mock her credulity.

Room 412 smelled of him: sandalwood soap and the faint metallic tang of the antidepressants she'd seen him take. She'd assumed they were for stress. She opened the drawer of the nightstand and found the prescription bottle: Clonazepam, prescribed to someone named Sarah.

Her hands trembled. Another woman's medication in his room. It could mean anything. Nothing. Everything.

The first heavy drops of rain began to fall as she let herself out, key card returned to its hiding spot. She would never ask him about Sarah. Some truths, she realized, were riddles better left unsolved. The fox had known. The sphinx had known. Only she had been foolish enough to seek an answer that would only break her heart.