“It was one man in the greenhouse,” Kingsley insisted.“And he’s been caught.”
“Hiding on our property,” she snapped back.“Watching us.”
Claudette piped up suddenly, eyes bright: “Can we stay in a hotel?With room service?”
Mrs.Kingsley touched her daughter's cheek."Sweetheart—"
“I could getpancakes,” Claudette added, with the sudden buoyancy of a child whose fear has turned into excitement.“I want pancakes on a trolley with a… like a silver upside-down bowl on top of them.”
Kate felt the corners of her mouth lift involuntarily.“Pancakes are a valid priority.”
Claudette flashed a gappy grin at her, sudden and wide.
“You lived here?”she asked—directly, boldly.
Kate blinked.“I did.”
“This house?”
“Mm-hm.”
“For how long?”
“Until I was 18.”
This fascinated her.Claudette’s eyes widened.“Did you play in the yard?Did you climb the tree?Dad says I can’t climb the tree yet because I’d fall.”
“You probably would,” Kate said.“It’s a very tricky tree.”She pointed.“But I built a treehouse in it once.”
Claudette gasped as if she’d just been told the moon was edible.
Mrs.Kingsley's face softened."Why don't we give Miss Valentine a tour?"she suggested."She can tell us how it looked when she was your age."
Claudette clasped her hands together in delight.“Please say yes!”
Kate hesitated.
But something in her chest loosened—something tightly coiled, brittle, afraid.
These people—normal, ordinary, kind—had just been terrorized by a stranger on their property.And yet here they were.Open.Warm.Inviting her into their space simply because she had once lived here.
And for the first time since leaving the precinct that afternoon, since making the reckless decision to come here, since ignoring every call and every order—
Kate felt something shift.
A softening.
A release.
A sense of… safety.
As though, in the presence of these decent strangers—this little girl with solemn eyes and pancake dreams—nothing bad could possibly happen.
“Yeah,” Kate said, voice quieter than she expected.“Okay.I’d like that.”
Claudette cheered.
Mrs.Kingsley took Kate’s arm gently.“Come on,” she said.“Let’s start in the living room.”
