My brother left his reading glasses beside a book he never finished

Dear Delyara, My brother died suddenly at fifty-six. I went to his flat today to collect belongings, and his reading glasses were resting upside down on an open book. Page 213. He had folded the corner slightly, which annoyed me because we had argued about damaging books since childhood. I picked up the novel and nearly turned to the final page to see what he never learned. Then I stopped. He had been reading a mystery. The murderer is still unknown to him. That fact has disturbed me all evening. Death interrupted not only the important things—retirement plans, his daughter’s graduation, conversations we assumed we would have—but also a cheap paperback he expected to continue after making tea. I brought the book home. I cannot decide whether to finish it. Part of me wants to know for both of us. Another part thinks page 213 should remain where his knowledge ended. His glasses are still folded inside the book. I tried them on and everything blurred. Of course it did. We were brothers, not the same eyes.