Mother started to run after her, but stopped, looking back at Father and me.

“What are we going to do?” Mother whispered.

Father did not answer.

He was staring at his phone, which had just started to ring.

The caller ID showed a number from Washington, D.C.

I watched him as he looked at the screen, his hand shaking so much he almost dropped the device.

“Is that him?” Father asked, his voice barely a breath. “Is that the lawyer?”

“Answer it and find out,” I said.

Father did not press the button to answer.

He stared at the screen as it vibrated against his palm, the buzz sounding loud against the stone tiles of the patio.

“Answer it, Arthur,” Mother said, her voice thin and high.

Father swiped the screen and pressed the phone to his ear.

He did not say hello.

He just listened, his jaw tightening until a muscle in his cheek twitched.

I watched his eyes dart toward the glass doors of the house, then down at the pool water.

The blue water was perfectly still now, reflecting the bright afternoon sun.