“Vale did.

The night before you told us you were pregnant, he came here, to this house.

He sat in that chair you’re sitting in now, and he told me that some people were making trouble, that a young man was going around collecting things he had no business collecting, and that if any of it ever saw the light, if anyone connected to this family said a word or handed over a shred of evidence, we would be destroyed.

He did not raise his voice.