Chapter 30
The neighbour next door was rolling around on her tricycle. Her parents didn’t want to talk to us, but they gave us permission to talk to her.
The little girl was still at preschool. Her mother propped herself up on the fence but didn’t intervene at all.
Zoe got down on her knees and waited for the girl to complete a circle and come closer. She was simply doing figure eights on the lawn, pulling a dog’s collar on a leash behind her.
“Hello,” Zoe said with the standard tone all adults take when addressing children.
The girl looked at her toes and then at her mom. She was brought up properly. “Hello miss.”
“I’m Zoe and this is Poly,” she said while presenting us with flourishes. “We just want to talk to you about Emma.”
The girl chugged some air and let loose a screeching w
