“You hated her. You blamed her.”

The smile doesn’t waver. “I’m sorry if I left you with that impression.”

“Do you have emails proving that you resumed your business relationship with Danielle?”

“She’d come over and we’d talk.”

“The police got an anonymous tip about my husband,” Iris says. Confessing this to anyone, especially a gliding snake like Carrie, is agony, but she suspects Carrie already knows this.

“How unfortunate,” Carrie says.

“Are you trying to get a child now? I mean, without Danielle to help you. Had she started this process?”

“Excuse me? How would that be any of your business?” Now there is a tremble on her lips.

“You tried before. I’m just asking.” And you have a completed nursery in your home.

“We have a family member, a distant cousin of Steve’s, who is expecting. She’s unmarried and not prepared to care for a child. She wants us to raise the baby.”

“I’m happy for you,” Iris hears herself say. So they didn’t need Danielle. And they’re getting a child. A baby is going to arrive here soon. With a tidy explanation.

For a moment her response seems to mollify Carrie.

Iris says, “But you have to know, whoever you saw, it wasn’t Kyle. It wasn’t.”

Carrie looks at her as if she holds their lives in her hands. It’s a terrifying moment, a strange, odd grin.

“Did you and Danielle laugh at us? Talk about me and Steve being unfit?”

“No. Never. I had no idea you wanted kids. I didn’t even know you. Danielle never mentioned you to us.”

“I find that hard to believe, since you were one of her success stories.”

Iris felt dizzy with the realization that her…not knowing this neighbor, not learning about them, was going to have a horrifying effect on her family’s future. How different would it have been if she had reached out? Oh, you know Danielle, too? Yes, she can be a headache. Iris could hardly breathe with the shock.

“She never talked about you. Not after you moved in.”

“She mocked us. I know.”

“Not to me. You being mad at her has nothing to do with me or my family.”

“I watched you all once. I followed her, saw her meeting with a group of women at that coffee shop off Old Travis. I understand they’re all mothers she helped. Of course she talks about me. How did you find out about me?”

You followed her. That sounds healthy. “She mentioned your name to another mom. Not to me.”

“One of her successful moms.”

“Only because she was afraid of you.”

“She misunderstood us being so upset. We would have done anything to get a child. Anything. You know what that’s like.”