I thought official documents meant someone had completed the necessary checks.

So when Ava asked whether her mother was coming home, I gave her the answer everyone had given me.

No.

And that was how our family began living around an absence that turned out not to be what we believed.

The crash happened during an ordinary afternoon.

Melissa was traveling in connection with work.

Another woman, Nora Vance, was involved.

They had worked together.