On the corkboard beside the refrigerator, a white envelope hung pinned under a brass magnet.

It was a printed itinerary from a Virginia Beach travel agency for the cruise ship Caribbean Crown.

The departure was stamped for Wednesday afternoon from PortMiami, with the return docking at Norfolk on the morning of October twenty-eighth.

Under the ship’s name, Derek’s handwriting ran across the passenger lines in blue ballpoint: Derek Miller and Patricia Miller.

The total balance at the bottom of the invoice was four thousand two hundred dollars, marked paid in full by cashier’s check.

The distant wail of a siren cut through the quiet neighborhood, rising over the pines two streets away.