Chapter 4: The First Denial
Officer Lena Ortiz arrived that afternoon while fans pushed damp air through our kitchen.
She photographed the broken pipe and took Owen’s description.
She asked whether anyone else had access to the crawlspace.
I said the access hatch was inside my locked laundry room.
Owen explained that the outside service area could also be reached from a shallow utility recess near the fence.
He did not describe the method in detail, and he warned that the area remained unsafe until it was inspected.
Ortiz photographed footprints in the soft dirt without promising they would identify anyone.
Then she walked next door.
I watched Valerie open her front door with a smile that vanished when she saw the uniform.
Their conversation lasted twelve minutes.
Valerie came to my driveway before the officer had even left.
“I hope you didn’t tell her I did something,” she said.
“I told her what happened to my pipes.”
“You’ve wanted to make me look dangerous since the grocery store.”
“I want you to leave my property alone.”
Her jaw tightened at the word property.
“You’ve already ruined enough.”
I asked what she meant.
She looked toward Noah’s upstairs window, then swallowed whatever she had been about to say.
“You should have left that day alone,” she said.
I told her I had prevented a child from being hurt.
Her face changed in a way I could not explain.
She looked both furious and terrified.
“You don’t know what you prevented,” she whispered.
She turned away before I could ask another question.
That evening, Ortiz told me there was not yet enough evidence to identify a suspect.
I accepted that.
I also promised myself I would not confront Valerie alone again.
In the hallway, Hannah listened to the dehumidifiers and asked whether we were safe.
I wanted to promise her we were.
Instead, I checked our doors and told her the truth.
“We’re taking this seriously.”
