Sifowicz: I was jogging with a coworker who also lives here, Steve Butler. I’m VP of sales at a software company and Steve is our VP of product development. It’s easier to stick to the training regimen when you have a partner. Steve suggested a run that morning. We were approaching the park when I heard Julia Pollitt screaming. Steve heard it, too. We looked at each other and ran straight for the park. I thought she was being assaulted. We entered the park and saw them by the bench and saw the body. Ned Frimpong was trying, I think, to resuscitate or embrace his mother, and Julia Pollitt was trying to pull him away from the body. She had her phone out.

Garcia: She texted her mother instead of calling 911, yes?

Sifowicz: Yes. I think that might be normal for a panicking teenager. I took care of calling 911 and told her I was.

Garcia: Did you know Danielle Roberts?

Sifowicz: Well enough to say hello. My wife knew her better. All the school moms, well, they seem to know each other. If they volunteer a lot.

Garcia: How so?

Sifowicz: The moms, and yeah, some of the dads, well, they run the programs. They raise the funds for all the extra things that make our schools special because the state takes a ton of Lakehaven’s property taxes to build and support schools in less fortunate areas. I’m OK with that, by the way. But it is a huge amount of money shifted from Lakehaven schools—last year it was over one hundred million dollars—and parents here have very high expectations. Stratospheric, even.

Garcia: What with having bought their homes here strictly for the school district.

Sifowicz: Absolutely! They make sure the teachers have any extra thing they need. Iris is kind of that supermom volunteer who is on every committee. My wife is an insurance agent. She doesn’t have time to volunteer the way Iris does, but I think she was amazed at Iris’s energy. But that’s Iris. Or was.

Garcia: You were there when Iris Pollitt arrived.

Sifowicz: Yes, and of course, I didn’t know the truth. None of us did.

Garcia: The truth?

Sifowicz: Well, yes, all that’s come out since. So much deception, so many lies. It’s shocking. This is a nice neighborhood.

5

Kyle

“Dad?”

Kyle Pollitt awakens with a bolt. Sweat on his ribs, feeling fevered. He blinks away the awful image from his dream—blood droplets on an expanse of white—and sees his son, Grant, standing over him, pale. For a second Kyle thinks he’s still in the dream and has said something in his sleep. Something terrible that Grant would never understand. Kyle blinks again and realizes he’s awake.

It was only a dream.

“Dad?” Grant repeats.

“Yes. Hey, buddy. Good morning.” Kyle blinks, wipes a hand across his face.