When Colton returned two days later, he didn’t try to move back in.

He stood on the porch holding a small cardboard box, and I told him we could talk in the living room while Evelyn joined us by video call.

The box held the contents of his storage unit: copies of police records, photographs of Daniel Price’s damaged vehicle, old emails, and a flash drive.

Colton laid it on the table and looked at me.

“I kept all of this because I knew someday I’d have to tell you,” he said.