“We’re not sure,” Izabel said.

“Every time?”

“Not the first one,” Kaito said.

“Then, then”—Jana started to cry harder now—“you could’ve stopped him before he got to my family.”

“We couldn’t. She’s asleep. She doesn’t know what she’s saying,” Izabel said.

“And who would believe us?” Kaito said.

“I believe it! I believe her!”

“Why are you all yelling?” Cami said at the doorway. “Did Jana sleep in here? I thought we all had to sleep in our own beds.”

Jana wiped the tears off her face.

“She didn’t sleep in here, mi amor. We were just talking,” Izabel said, patting a spot on the bed.

Cami climbed up. “Slumber party!” she said.

Kaito smiled at her.

“Do you remember anything from last night?” Jana asked.

“Daddy read me the book about the animals who wouldn’t try sushi.”

“I mean, during the night. Do you remember anything?”

“When I was sleeping? How could I remember that?”

“Not even a dream?”

“Nope,” Cami said. “Did you have a dream?”

“No,” Jana said.

“You see?” Izabel asked.

Jana lay down between them all with her face down in a pillow, and Cami copied her.

    Chapter Twenty-Two

It was clear to Izabel and Kaito that killing their neighbors was a message to Izabel, for her.

They called Paz and she said, “I know that. You think I can’t put two and two together?” But she also said, “Still, could’ve been random.”

Izabel wasn’t sure if Paz had said that for Izabel’s sake, to calm her, or because of the police’s liability around the whole mess, but Izabel found herself repeating it to herself. Still, could’ve been random.

That morning Izabel had to take Cami to therapy. She checked her tablet for alerts. Hickory and alder trees were peaking, it said.

Kaito stopped Izabel before the doors. “Thank you for making us go to Andy’s, for not letting us go back for anything.” Cami hugged his leg. “I didn’t get it,” he said. “Not all the way.”

Izabel would’ve stood on her toes and kissed him if her mask wasn’t already on. She touched his arm.

As they walked out to the car, she held Cami’s little hand and muttered into her mask, “Could’ve been random. Could’ve been random.”

Cami was happy, and happy to be seeing Opa again. She spent the car ride looking out the window, pointing at trees.

“What kind of tree is that?” she asked.

Izabel leaned over. “That one is a maple tree.”

“What kind of tree is that?”

“Also a maple.”

“That one?”

“That one, too. All the ones that look like that.”

“That one?”

“Ask me about one that doesn’t look like that, and I’ll tell you what it is.”

Cami looked around.

“That one!”

“An evergreen.”

“That one?”

“Let’s do something else,” Izabel said.

Cami plopped down on the seat.