“Tell me everything, from the beginning, and don’t leave anything out.”

So she did.

It took an hour and forty minutes.

She told him about the hospital and the discharge and the candles and the green dress with the wrong-colored thread.

She told him what the woman had said about the originals and the county and the closing.

She told him about the balcony and the Petrossians’ unlocked door and the laundromat and the transit card she had stolen.

She told him about the chamomile and the phone call and the tarp.