Opal ate every bite without commenting on the salt I had forgotten.

PART 7

The gray sedan returned on a Tuesday afternoon.

This time I didn’t step onto the porch.

I wrote down the plate from behind the living-room curtain and called the nonemergency police number.

I reported the repeated surveillance and the confrontation, making it clear that I did not know who owned the car.

The officer who took the report was polite but cautious.

Without a direct threat or evidence of trespass, there was little he could do.