“She was being careful.”

“She was being quiet.

Those aren’t the same thing.” Miller sat down.

“Quiet people get hurt in these families.

Sit down.”

I put the notebook in front of her and opened it to the four torn stubs.

She took a pencil from her bag, laid the page flat, and shaded the top sheet lightly and evenly until the indented writing came up gray.

A date.