A dark green sedan was parked at the curb right in front of the wooden porch steps.

My mother got out of the driver’s side before I’d even shut off the LeSabre’s engine.

She came up the short flagstone path, holding her heavy black leather handbag tight against her waist.

I got out of my car, shut the driver’s door, and stood by the front bumper.

“Rachel, please listen,” my mother said.

Her heavy silver bangle clinked sharply against the metal snap of her handbag.

“Vanessa’s lawyer phoned the house twenty minutes ago,” she said.