My statement needed to remain mine.

The distinction mattered because details were beginning to circulate around the neighborhood in versions none of us recognized.

Someone said the girls had been in the bin overnight.

They had not, as far as the established account showed.

Someone said I had heard Hannah screaming for days and finally intervened.

I had heard no such thing.

Someone said Derek was the twins’ father and that it was a custody dispute.

He was not their father, and the reported confinement and threats were not made harmless by calling them a family disagreement.