Inside, people moved normally.
Children complained.
Music played.
Coffee smelled burnt.
Nobody knew what this place meant to her.
That helped.
They passed Maison Arquette.
New management.
Thomas Keene gone.
The store had been fined separately for false loss reporting and oversight failures.
Lydia Chen was now assistant manager.
She saw Nia.
Stopped.
Then smiled.
“Hi.”
Nia smiled back.
“Hi.”
Lydia approached.
“I didn't know you were coming.”
“I didn't know either.”
Margaret looked toward a handbag.
“How much is that?”
Lydia told her.
Margaret nearly choked.
“For that?”
Nia laughed.
“Thank you.”
Margaret pointed.
“I can get something like that at a church sale.”
Lydia laughed too.
Normal.
Nia looked toward the jewelry displays.
No fear.
Not none.
Less.
They left the store.
Outside, Margaret bought the shoes.
Against her will.
According to Margaret.
Then they walked toward the east exit.
Nia stopped.
Through the glass doors she could see the parking area.
The exact row.
Evan waited.
“You want another exit?”
Nia shook her head.
“No.”
They walked outside.
Sunlight.
Cars.
Wind.
Nothing happened.
That felt enormous.
Near the curb, Nia stopped.
Margaret stood beside her.
“This is where you were?”
“Yes.”
Margaret pointed.
“I was over there.”
Near a concrete planter.
About twenty yards.
Nia looked.
It seemed farther than she remembered.
“You could barely see.”
“I had zoom.”
Nia smiled.
Margaret lifted her phone.
The same phone?
“No.”
“My granddaughter upgraded me.”
“Good.”
“She says my old one belongs in a museum.”
Nia looked toward the patrol-car row that no longer held any patrol car.
“Do you still record things?”
Margaret smiled.
“Only my grandchildren doing stupid things.”
“Important evidence.”
“Extremely.”
They began walking.
Then Margaret stopped.
“Nia.”
“Yes?”
“I need to tell you something.”
Nia turned.
Margaret looked toward the place where she had stood two years earlier.
“When I first saw them stop you, I almost didn't record.”
“You told me.”
“No.”
“I mean I consciously decided not to.”
Nia waited.
“I thought it wasn't my business.”
“I put my phone back in my purse.”