He moved his arm.
“I wasn’t confused about whose house it was.”
By the time the officers finished that first visit, the dining table had been photographed and the papers gathered as evidence. The company buying the beach house had been contacted. No further money would be released while the transaction was examined.
Brenda left separately from Kenneth.
At the door, she turned to me.
“You could have kept this private.”
I looked past her at the porch light.
“Yes,” I said. “That was what you were counting on.”
Kenneth remained beside the stairs.
“Can I stay tonight?”
“No.”
His lips parted, then closed.
He took his coat from the hook. On the way out, he set his house key on the little dish beneath it.
I did not ask for the key.
That mattered later.
CHAPTER 4 – The Long Way Back
My sister arrived before midnight.
Ruth stood on the doorstep holding a casserole with a towel wrapped around it, as though supper could still be the difficulty.
I almost closed the door.
She noticed. Her grip tightened beneath the dish.
“I saw the message,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I thought I should stay out of it.”
“You did.”
She lowered her head.
“I’m not asking you to make me feel better.”
I let her in because I did not want to be alone, not because I had forgiven her.
She understood the distinction. She put the casserole away, washed my untouched cup, and sat at the opposite end of the sofa without reaching for my hand.
Eventually I said, “I thought one of you would say something.”
Her face crumpled, but she kept quiet long enough for me to finish.
