He smiled, a dry, satisfied expression. “She waited until you were safely out of the house with the car before she called the police herself. Her children thought they were trapping you, but they walked straight into a trap she built specifically for them.”

I leaned back into the chair, the tension finally leaving my shoulders. The room felt lighter, the heavy scent of motor oil and old leather suddenly comforting.

“She wanted me to tell you,” Arthur added, reaching into his pocket and handing me a sets of heavy brass keys, “that your first assignment under your new contract is to pick her up from the police station at two o’clock. She prefers the front seat now, if that’s fine with you.”

I took the keys, feeling their heavy metal cold against my palm. I thought of the three overdue bills sitting on my kitchen table, the worry that had kept me awake for weeks, and the quiet old woman who had sat in the back of my car every Friday morning, looking out the window at a world that had tried to forget her.

“Tell her I’ll be there ten minutes early,” I said, wiping a stray tear from my cheek before it could drop. “And tell her I’m bringing coffee.”