Maria patted my arm. "You're part of the family now. You'll get used to it."
Brian caught my eye across the room. Smiled. That slow, private smile that made my chest ache.
Part of the family.
I smiled back and pretended I didn't feel the ground shifting under my feet.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket while I was helping Zoe reorganize the bookshelf for the third time that morning.
I glanced at the screen. Detective Diaz.
"I need to take this," I said, stepping toward the hallway.
Brian caught my eye from across the room. I shook my head slightly.
I'm fine.
I slipped out the door, pulling it mostly closed behind me.
"Dr. Rothwell." Diaz's voice was brisk and professional, but there was something underneath it. Satisfaction, maybe. "I wanted you to hear this from me before it hits the news cycle."
I leaned against the hallway wall, heart picking up speed. "What is it?"
"We arrested Kevin Lang this morning. Vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal accident."
The words didn't land right away. I heard them, understood them, but my brain kept looping back—the way I'd reread a lab result that seemed too good to be true.
"You arrested him."
"The traffic camera footage from that night finally came through."
My grip tightened on the phone.
"Took months to get the warrant—the councilman's lawyers fought us every step—but we got it." A beat of satisfaction in Diaz's voice. "Footage shows Kevin's car running the red light at that intersection. Timeline matches. Vehicle damage lines up."
I closed my eyes. Derek Edwards. Seventeen years old. His mother's hand was gripping my arm in the ER, desperate for answers I couldn't give her.
"What happens now?"
"Arraignment is tomorrow. DA's pushing for high bail—the Langs have resources to disappear if they want to." Diaz paused. "Your report is what started this. Without that, we never would have pulled the cameras."
She didn't say the rest. She didn't have to.
Something unknotted in my chest. Not relief, exactly. More like the first full breath after being underwater too long.
"Thank you for letting me know."
"Thank you for not backing down."
She hung up. I stood in the hallway for a long moment, phone still pressed to my ear, staring at the ugly carpet and the water-stained ceiling and feeling something I hadn't let myself feel in weeks.
Hope. Sharp and unfamiliar.
Kevin Lang was in custody. The case was moving forward. Maybe, for once, the system would actually work.
The door opened. Brian stepped into the hallway, concern written all over his face.
"Everything okay?"
