The car stayed at the end of the street for four minutes.
Adoption
I counted.
Then it moved on.
I stepped back from the window and told myself it was nothing.
A neighbor checking their phone.
Someone lost.
I told myself that, and I almost believed it.
“We can’t stay here,” Ava said.
“We’re not running anywhere.
Not yet.” I picked up the photograph again.
People & Society
“We need to think.”
“There’s nothing to think about.
You have the note.
You have the photo.
You have me.”
“My word and yours against a police report that’s five years old.” I set the photo down.
“We need more.”
Ava was quiet for a moment.
Then: “His brother.”
Death & Tragedy
I looked at her.
“Marcus,” she said.
“Daniel’s brother.
He was there that night.
Not at the crash — but before.
He was at the house when Daniel started drinking.
He left before Daniel made us get in the car, but he saw the state Daniel was in.” She hesitated.
“He called me once.
About a year after I moved in here.
Communications Equipment
He said he was sorry.
