Mrs. Alvarez found one of the hidden drives under her mailbox.
Then Mr. Patel found another.
Soon, nearly every household on the block discovered one.
Each bag contained the same note.
If our mom disappears, give this to the police.
Some neighbors cried.
Others became angry.
A few insisted they had always suspected Rick.
I did not say that.
Suspicion without action is only a story people tell themselves afterward.
I had noticed things too.
Laura’s sunglasses.
Her silence.
Rick’s hand on her neck.
The way Mia watched him whenever her mother spoke.
I had noticed.
I had not understood.
There is a difference, but it did not comfort me.
Three months later, I received a letter without a return address.
Mia wrote it.
She said Laura was working with an attorney and attending counseling.
Ben had started sleeping through the night again.
Mia had joined an art class.
At the bottom, she added:
