I helped Teresa up from the cold floor and got her settled on a sofa in the living room, and I wrapped a cold, damp cloth around the worst of her injuries and told her the ambulance was coming and that she was safe now, that the frightening part was over.

“Tell me everything,” I said, sitting beside her.

“From the beginning.

Take your time.

Nothing you say is going to get you in trouble, I promise you that.”

Vanessa could not bear to be spoken past.

“David,” she said, following us into the living room, “I am telling you right now, if you sit there and listen to this maid over me, then you and I are finished.” I looked up at her, and I felt, honestly, almost nothing toward her at all, which surprised me.

Not hatred.