I kept my hands at my sides, my right palm flat against the seam of my trousers.

“It’s finished, Mother,” I said.

Robert didn’t look back or slow down on his way to the double exit doors.

He pressed the down button three times with his thumb, his shoulders hunched inside his dark coat.

He was waiting for a bailiff or a county deputy to step out of the side hallway with a set of handcuffs.

“We only wanted the family to be settled together on Cedar Lane,” Margaret said, her voice dropping to a gentle murmur.

“I’m sorry for the trouble.”