Diane answered before Claire could.
“I’m moving in today.”
Ruiz asked if she had ever lived there before.
“No.”
Did she receive mail there?
“No, but my son told me I could stay.”
That was when the officer turned toward Mark.
Mark identified himself.
Ruiz asked the question nobody in Mark’s family had apparently expected.
“Do you own the property?”
And suddenly the porch went quiet for a reason that had nothing to do with intimidation.
There was now a straightforward factual question sitting underneath all the family drama.
Mark had started pulling documents from his vehicle.
Now Ruiz was holding them.
And one of those papers showed Claire’s name.
Diane looked from the page to Claire.
Then back to Mark.
“You knew?” she asked.
Mark exhaled.
“Yes.”
Diane’s face tightened.
“And you let me call the police saying she locked me out of your house?”
