In another era, I might have lashed out quickly. There can be advantages to it—to sudden and extreme violence, delivered or implied—but I learned long ago about the disadvantages as well. A sudden move can make work, you see. And while this house is partially built on fast moves, I see now that it’s also built on the detritus created. The body in the slab. Her children running free and wild and making their own mess of things. Poor Allan. He didn’t even get to die in the driveway of his nice house.