But she just kept talking, telling me how much Bibi would love a little walk and how the dog her parents had when she was a baby used to be too delicate for walking and would end up perched on the canopy of her carriage or even tucked in beside her, but Bibi loved walking, she never got tired, even though her legs were so short that they had to move three times faster than other dogs’. Rahmia’s words filled my head, pushing the darkness aside.

And I laughed again as she made her fingers flash like a dog’s moving legs.

We did pick up Bibi, and after the initial yapping yelps and the spinning leaps with which she greeted us, we continued our walk.

Grace kicked off the light blanket I’d draped over her. Stretching her legs out, she spread her toes, clearly relishing the breeze on her skin. There was also undeserved joy, new life, coexisting right along with violence and death. I’d forgotten how it felt to be with someone like Rahmia, someone joyful. It was like coming up from underwater and drawing a deep breath.

Rahmia quickened her step, pulling the blanket back over Grace’s legs. “You’ll freeze your toes off, you pretty girl.” With a stronger kick, Grace got the blanket off again, and Rahmia rolled her eyes and let it be.

When we reached the cluster of mailboxes, I opened mine and pulled out a sheaf of envelopes and fliers. We hadn’t checked in a few days. Now I put the mass of paper underneath the stroller.

Rahmia handed me the leash and bent to open hers. Bibi started to bark, leaping and spinning on the end of the lead like a child’s toy. When Rahmia stood, she had a handful of mail. I could see a few bills and some of the advertising magazines that we got almost daily.

As she flipped through them, I noticed something stuck in the grass under the mailbox. I bent to pick it up. A postcard, a real one—not an advertising circular—with a photo of the glass-fronted Martina V. Umana museum.

I flipped it over, and there was Aimee’s familiar spiky writing: Are the police investigating you? Criminal or criminally stupid?

C2C TRANSCRIPT

10

Helen: So the police have Brady in custody, they’re keeping a close eye on the neighbor who turned him in, and they’re going over the whole house, digging up the backyard, looking for bodies. Arguably, the most important evidence they find in the house is the cameras. They get their tech guys in and there’s tons of footage on Brady’s cloud drive. Almost every house Brady did any electronic work for, he put in a camera. Voyeur central. Including the neighbor’s house.

Julia: Their so-called friends.