“They will,” I said.

“Andrew was the public face of this base for the last two years,” I added.

“He made sure he was in every newspaper article about the community outreach programs,” I said.

“Now those same reporters are going to ask where the outreach money went,” I added.

My mother stood up and walked over to Claire, putting her arms around her.

“We will go to a hotel in town,” my mother said.

“We will pack your things tonight,” she added.

“No, Eleanor,” my father said.

He stood up, his joints popping in the quiet room.

“We are going back to Houston,” he said.

“We can’t stay here,” he added.

“We can’t stay in a hotel while the newspapers are writing about our family,” my father said.

“We have to help Claire,” my mother argued.

“We can’t just leave her here to face this alone,” she said.

“Claire is coming with us,” my father said.

His voice had a cold, final quality that I had never heard him use with Claire before.

“She is going to pack her clothes, and we are going to drive home,” he said.