And Daniel had not known she had a child.

He had not known the most basic fact about a woman who had spent three years inside his home, tending his life, because he had never once thought to ask, because she had been, to him, part of the furniture of his wealth, a function rather than a person.

“Where is he?” he asked, and his voice was not quite steady.

“With my neighbor, in East Los Angeles,” Maria said.