I simply got into my car.

Nora lived forty minutes away in a brick duplex. She opened the door cautiously, like someone who had stopped expecting good news.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

I held out Jeremy’s note. “My son spoke for the first time in eight years last night.”

Her expression changed immediately.

“Jeremy?” she said quietly.

She stepped aside. “Come inside.”

We sat together at her kitchen table. I told her about the dinner, Jeremy’s accusation, the notes, and Janice overhearing the argument.

When I finished, Nora did not begin by explaining the house.

Instead, she opened a folder and placed a faded child’s drawing in front of me.

Two stick figures stood beside blue water. In the corner, written in unsteady block letters, were the words: NORA BAD MAN MAD.

My throat tightened.

“Janice gave me that the day before the lake trip,” Nora said. “She and Jeremy were in the office with coloring books while Zane and Dean argued down the hall. Janice wandered closer. I don’t think either man realized how much she heard.”