The investigators shared only the portions of the account they were permitted to discuss with me.

They did not ask me to reinterpret Hailey’s words, and I was grateful.

The detail was heartbreaking because it was so ordinary.

A five-year-old had wanted to remember her mother in a garden.

A caregiver had responded as if remembrance were defiance.

I asked Rachel whether she remembered Claire’s garden at our first apartment.

“Of course,” she said.

“She killed every plant except the marigolds.”