Tanya hesitated.

“I’d rather tell you exactly what I observed than guess about something I didn’t see.”

It wasn’t the answer I wanted.

But even then, frightened and angry, I understood why she said it.

Tanya wasn’t inventing a story to comfort me.

She had seen something concerning and recorded it.

That made her the first adult outside our family whose response wasn’t shaped by whether Vanessa became offended.

I carried Lily toward the door.