I put my hand against the kitchen counter and waited until I could trust my voice.

“Tell her I wish somebody had listened to her too.”

After I hung up, I sat at the table for a long time.

I thought of the anger I’d felt when I first saw that padlock.

I imagined the terrible possibility of what might have been inside.

The actual contents had revealed a different kind of harm: years of using fear to control people, memories kept as trophies, and an adult who had convinced herself that children existed to obey.

Piper came into the kitchen carrying her toy fox.