Then at Marcus.
Then Tyler.
“Anybody hurt?”
“No,” Marcus said.
Tyler shook his head.
Martinez approached him.
“You were driving?”
“Yes.”
“License.”
Tyler handed it over.
She looked at the registration through the windshield.
“Vehicle belongs to Brenda Whitmore?”
“My mom.”
Martinez nodded.
“What happened?”
Tyler opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
Marcus watched him.
Tyler said:
“I accidentally accelerated.”
Martinez looked from the car to the street.
“From where?”
Tyler pointed vaguely.
“The road.”
“You turned into the driveway?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Silence.
Marcus looked at him.
Martinez noticed.
“Tyler?”
He rubbed his hands together.
“I thought this was another house.”
Marcus frowned.
“You thought my house was another house?”
“Yes.”
“Whose?”
Before Tyler could answer, a white SUV swept into the driveway and stopped partly on the lawn.
Brenda Whitmore stepped out before the engine shut off.
Pink.
Of course.
A fitted rose-pink blouse.
White pants.
Large sunglasses.
Blonde hair arranged as though she'd been planning to attend a neighborhood luncheon instead of an accident scene.
She moved quickly toward Tyler.
“Oh my God.”
She wrapped both arms around him.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did they check you?”
“Mom—”
Brenda turned toward Officer Martinez.
“He needs an ambulance.”
Tyler groaned.
“I don't.”
Brenda ignored him.
“He could have internal injuries.”
Martinez said calmly:
“Fire rescue is on the way. He says he has no pain.”
Brenda looked toward the garage for the first time.
Her expression changed.
Not guilt.
Calculation.
Marcus recognized it because he had seen the same expression across HOA tables whenever Brenda realized the facts did not support what she wanted.
She walked closer.
Her eyes moved across the bent frame.
The old siding.
The cracked concrete near one corner.
Then she looked at Marcus.
“How old is this garage?”
Marcus blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“The structure.”
“My garage?”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked at Tyler.
Then back.
“Your son just drove a car through it.”
Brenda removed her sunglasses.
“I can see that.”
“Then why are you asking how old it is?”
“Because obviously it collapsed very easily.”
Marcus stared.
Tyler whispered:
“Mom.”
She held up a hand.
“Not now.”
Marcus felt heat rising behind his ribs.
He kept his voice measured.
“It did not collapse easily.”
“The entire door folded in.”
“A moving car hit it.”
Brenda pointed toward the upper frame.
“That support rail looks rusted.”
Officer Martinez looked toward Brenda.
“Ma’am, let's allow the fire department to assess the structure.”
Brenda ignored her.
She stepped closer to Marcus.
“We need to be careful about assigning blame before we know whether this building was safe.”
Marcus almost smiled.