Their home sat at the edge of Cedar Falls in a new development Morrison Development had built three years earlier: broad porches, maple trees lining the sidewalks, tasteful stone accents, and the kind of neighborhood where people posted photos of lemon bars in a private community group and complained politely about sprinkler timing. Daniel had designed their house himself. He trusted his own work. Every beam, line, and angle felt like an extension of his own mind.
His wife, Caroline, had left twenty minutes earlier to go to the store.
Their daughter, Sophie, was on the living room rug coloring a horse purple.
Daniel was answering emails with one eye on a revised bid package for a lakefront property outside Waterloo when Sophie’s crayon stopped moving.
“Daddy.”
