He’s had an extraordinarily stressful month trying to keep that household running while you were off on your deployment.”

“Lily was locked inside our house alone for forty-eight hours,” I said.

“Oh, please don’t start with your dramatic exaggerations,” Patricia said, the sweetness never leaving her voice.

“Evelyn was supposed to be there on Tuesday at noon.

We had an explicit arrangement with that woman.”

“Evelyn told me Derek left with his suitcases on Sunday afternoon,” I said.

“Evelyn is sixty-eight years old and can’t remember where she put her garden shears,” Patricia said, her voice settling into an easy purr.

“I walked right up to her front porch on Tuesday morning, handed her twenty dollars for groceries, and told her the spare key was under the stone planter.