An hour later, three people had left the house in separate vehicles accompanied by workers who appeared to be arranging assistance.
I did not recognize all of them.
A man wearing slippers and a heavy sweater looked frightened but alert.
The woman in green sat in the front seat of one vehicle and held a small red handbag on her lap.
Before the car drove away, she turned toward my home.
She pressed two fingers to the window.
I stood beside my front door and felt my throat close.
I still did not know her name.
I hoped she had been allowed to tell somebody.
Vivian remained on her porch throughout the departure.
When the final vehicle left, she crossed the street toward me.
I stayed behind my closed gate.
“You have ruined my livelihood,” she said.
“I reported what I saw.”
“Those people were safe.”
“Then their own voices will establish that.”
Vivian looked at the empty driveway and shook her head.
“You think you rescued someone because you saw a hand at a window.”
“I don’t know what happened inside your house.”
“Exactly.”
She pointed toward my pool.
“You should have minded your own business.”
I looked at the fence between us.
“Did you throw the garbage because you wanted me to stop using the backyard?”
For the first time, Vivian did not deny throwing anything.
“You kept that camera pointed at my windows,” she said.
“My camera records my pool.”
“You were supposed to put up a screen.”
I felt the full shape of her intention beginning to appear.
“Who told you that?”
She stepped backward.
“I don’t have to answer you.”
She returned to her house before I could ask another question.
I wrote down her exact words and sent them to Morse.
That afternoon, the neighborhood social group exploded with speculation.
Some residents claimed Vivian had been arrested.
Others insisted the county had removed her relatives because of malicious complaints.
Neither claim matched what I had observed.
I posted nothing.
Helen Cho called to ask whether I knew where the residents had gone.
I told her I did not and that their locations were not mine to disclose.
She said her mother had spent the day worrying about Ruth.
I asked Helen to send any new information to Simone rather than searching the facilities herself.
She agreed, although I could hear the frustration in her voice.
At seven, Lucy called from Denise’s kitchen.
