Red light.

And before she could try a third time, before the confusion on their faces could resolve into anything, the front door opened from the inside.

A uniformed security officer stepped out onto the porch.

And behind him came a woman in a charcoal-gray business suit, carrying a clipboard, with the calm, faintly bored expression of a professional about to deliver news she has delivered many times before.

I watched from across the street as three tanned, laughing people went, in the space of a few seconds, completely still.