He slowly lowered himself onto the couch.
For a moment, he looked far older than he had the day before.
“I would never hurt her.”
“Then help me understand.”
He rubbed his hands across his knees.
“I cannot.”
As he watched, I searched the house.
Everything looked ordinary.
The kitchen was spotless.
His laptop sat on the dining table.
His phone rested beside it.
“May I look at your phone?” I asked.
He hesitated for only a moment.
“Of course.”
There were no hidden apps.
No suspicious calls.
No unfamiliar contacts.
Then I noticed a notification from his home security system.
“You installed cameras?”
“After someone broke into the garage last year.”
“Where are they?”
“Front porch, driveway, and back door.”
I opened the app.
The footage showed my father returning home alone at 10:17 p.m.
He went inside.
A few minutes later, someone stepped into the edge of the driveway.
The person wore a hood and kept their face turned away.
My pulse quickened.
“Who is that?”
My father leaned closer.
“I do not know.”
The figure paused beside his car before disappearing from view.
I replayed the footage.
This time, I focused on the shoes.
White sneakers with a dark stripe along the side.
I had seen them before.
Not recently, but often enough to remember.
My father looked at me.
“Lola?”
I closed the app.
“I need to check something.”
I drove home and pulled an old storage box from my closet.
Inside were photographs, birthday cards, and papers that had belonged to Mom.
At the very bottom was a picture from her final summer.
Standing beside her was my Aunt Sabrina.
On Sabrina’s feet were the same white sneakers.
She had been Mom’s younger sister.
After Mom died, she helped Dad through everything.
She cooked meals, handled paperwork, and stayed with him while I finished college.
Then she gradually disappeared from our lives, saying it hurt too much to visit the house.
I had always believed her.
I called Rachel.
“Do you remember meeting my aunt Sabrina?”
“Once, at your graduation party.”
“Did you tell her about Graham?”
Rachel went quiet.
“Yes. She found me crying in the bathroom. I told her everything.”
The final piece settled into place.
I drove to Sabrina’s apartment before I had time to second-guess myself.
She answered the door wearing workout clothes.
Her white sneakers rested beside the entrance.
