Trish opened her mouth and for a moment nothing came out.

I have thought about that silence many times.

It was not the silence of a person searching for a word.

It was the silence of a person watching a door close that she had left open herself.

She said something about wanting to compare the model.

She said something about how the generator had been in the way.

Laura simply looked at her.

Marcus walked over to the SUV and examined the cargo area and he found a moving blanket spread across the floor and a long ratchet strap already pulled out of its coil, its hook resting on the bumper.

It was a full preparation.

It was the setup of a person who had intended from the start to carry a machine away.

I told him about the crack in the foot and he crouched and ran his light over it and told everyone in a mild and final voice that no one was to touch the machine again until he said so.

Laura took out her phone and dialed the number on the receipt.

Gerald answered and she put him on speaker and she identified herself and asked him to confirm the sale.

He said that Ethan Cole had purchased the unit that afternoon and read out the serial number.

It matched.

Trish stepped forward and said in a clipped voice.

Then the store made a mistake.

Gerald answered without any hesitation that he had checked his records twice while he had been standing there and that he had no order, deposit, or reservation of any kind for a Patricia Whitmore.

Trish adjusted and I could see her do it.

She stopped saying that she had bought the machine.

Now she said she had been promised one.

Marcus asked who had promised it and she said someone at the store.

He asked for a name and she did not have one.

He asked when and she said earlier and he asked for a time and she said she could not be certain.

Every answer she gave was slightly smaller than the one before it.

The way a snowman shrinks in the sun.

I stood at the edge of the driveway with my hands in my pockets and finally understood what I was looking at.

There had been no clerical error.

There had been no crossed wire, no misfiled order, no unfortunate confusion.

She had not lost a transaction.

She had wanted something that had been sold to someone else, and she had tried to use pressure to take it.