I did not answer it, and I did not let the not-answering become a decision I had to keep making all day; I simply set the phone face-down and kept working, because I had learned the shape of what was happening.

A man like Chad does not want to speak to the sister who is asking questions in order to reassure her.

He wants to speak to her in order to do to her what he had already done to Monique — to find the lever, apply the warmth or the pressure, and get the obstacle to move.

I was the obstacle.

I intended to stay the obstacle, and you cannot be worked on by a voice you do not pick up.