I noticed those things because they prevented the house from becoming the scene I had imagined in my worst hours.

It was not a secret apartment maintained for Simon.

It was a home where a child received care, with adults accountable for how that care was provided.

Denise explained what she could share.

She knew Simon had visited with authorization and cared about Leo.

She was not the person who could settle every legal or biological question from her own observation.

“Did he come often?”