It started with a Saturday.
Mara hadn't had a proper Saturday in longer than she could remember — the kind where nothing was scheduled and nothing was urgent and the day just existed to be moved through at whatever pace felt right. Since the fire her weekends had been consumed by insurance calls and flat assessments and the administrative misery of rebuilding a life that had been partially incinerated.
But this Saturday the insurance company wasn't calling. The flat assessment was done. Priya had explicitly told her on Friday afternoon that if she sent a single work email before Monday she would personally confiscate her laptop.
She slept until eight-thirty, which was decadent by her standards.
She came downstairs to find the house empty — Ethan's keys gone from the hook by the door, t
