It was the other kind, the kind that makes your hands steady and your mind quiet, the kind that starts making a list.

And the first thing on the list was: whatever else is true, whatever I do or don’t understand yet, this woman is not going to be hurt again while I am standing in this house.

Chapter 3 — What I Can Verify

“What did you do?” I asked, stepping forward.

Vanessa slipped the small bright thing into the pocket of her blouse and smoothed the fabric down, composing herself with a speed I would later understand to be very significant, and when she spoke it was in the reasonable, faintly put-upon tone of a woman explaining a tedious household problem.

“I caught her stealing from me,” she said.