It was a settled thing, a foundation.

And a settled foundation is a comfortable place to stand right up until someone tells you it is false, at which point every step forward feels like walking out onto a frozen lake in spring, listening for the crack.

I drove toward that address listening for the crack.

And when I reached the porch and lifted my hand to knock, I already half knew that whatever was on the other side of that door was going to break the ice for good, and that I would never again get to stand where I had been standing an hour before, back when my mother was simply, safely dead.

Chapter 6 — Who Stood Behind It

And when I saw who was standing behind it, I screamed.