Nora listened without interrupting.
When I finished, she did not begin by talking about Zane, Dean, or our old house.
Instead, she opened a worn folder and placed a faded drawing in front of me.
The picture showed two stick figures beside a wide patch of blue water. In one corner, written in shaky capital letters, were four words:
NORA. BAD MAN. ANGRY.
My throat tightened.
“Janice drew this,” Nora said.
I could barely breathe. “When?”
“The day before the lake trip.”
Nora explained that years earlier, she had worked as a junior accountant for Zane’s family company. On the day Janice made the drawing, both children had been waiting in an office with coloring books while Zane and his brother Dean argued in a nearby room.
