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with only their big half sister to care
for them. They needed full-time love and a full-time, stay-at-home replacement mother. A stable routine. Chloe had done her best to provide
it. And Simone had rallied eventually.
    "You do help," Chloe said. "We couldn't manage without you"
    Seb fidgeted constantly in the passenger seat beside Chloe. As
soon as she started the engine, he tuned in music full blast, nearly
blowing the windows out with a thudding bass beat and screaming
lead vocalist.
    "Turn it down!" she yelled.
    He twisted the dial a fraction. Now just her body vibrated rather
than the whole car. "Seb!" Another twist. Silence, and she could
think.
    "You didn't need to switch it off." She braked at the stop sign at the
end of their cul de sac, peering both ways before easing out into
the road.
    "Not much point having it on if you can't hear it." He stared out the
window with his arms folded hard across his chest. Chloe gritted her
teeth. Why did teenagers always overreact to every little thing? And
where did he get off doing this sullen, defiant routine? This whole situation was his doing.
    Owning up to bad behavior took courage, no two ways about it.
Alex Bergman had had the courage and the moral integrity to make an
apology to her. Maybe she owed him an apology too. Chloe smiled to
herself. Everyone could apologize to everyone. They'd all be falling
over themselves to be polite.
    Alex's street was close to the major arterial route from the city center, screened by towering gum trees and raised above the traffic
by the natural rise of the land. The whole suburb spilled down the
gentle slopes of Black Mountain, the houses nestled in dense, original bushland thick with gums, wattles, and native vegetation.

    Bevan had bought their own house when he'd married her
mother sixteen years ago. He'd wanted to live in Aranda because it
was close to the university where he lectured in Asian Studiessaid they'd need a big place because they planned to have more children so Terry and Chloe would have siblings. And ultimately they'd
been a big happy family in that sprawling house, all seven of them,
until the older girls had moved out to share a house with fellow students.
    "Stop." Seb sat upright to twist in his seat, jolting her into sudden
awareness. "You've gone past."
    She slowed and hauled the big sedan through a turn in a neighbor's driveway. Alex's house was set back with a long, sloping lawn,
dry and turning brown in the summer heat, as were most people's at
this time of year. Drought conditions and water restrictions made
their dusty mark on Australia's bush capital. She parked in the shade,
and they both got out and stared at the low white house for a moment. It sat sheltered from the weather in a cool nest of trees and
shrubbery with a large liquidambar dominating the front garden.
That tree would be glorious in its autumn colors.
    Chloe walked up the driveway. The accumulated heat of the day radiated through the soles of her sandals. Seb shuffled behind her. Someone had spray-painted a hot pink obscenity on the blanched white
concrete.
    "It wasn't me," said Seb as she paused, staring at the word beneath her feet. "It was Cameron."
    Chloe exhaled in disgust, shook her head, and moved on.
    The liquidambar stood in the middle of a loop at the top of the
drive. An arched gateway led to the rear between the double garage
and the house. A small sign said OFFICE with an arrow pointing
through the gate. Stone pavers shunted the social visitor between
low shrubs to the front door. Small black solar sensor lights were set
along the path. All broken.
    A pair of birches shaded the front of the house; their leaves, cool and green, rustled gently in the slight breeze. Two steps up onto the
wide front porch, the gray slate surface cooler underfoot. The front
door stood open, but the security screen door was closed. A polished
wood floor lead into the dim recesses of the house.

    "Ready?" Chloe paused