Calculated Escalation

It was wrapped in plain brown paper, the size of a shoebox. Inside: tissue paper. And inside the tissue paper: a photograph.

The same photograph.

The garden. Camila and the toddler. Summer light. Slightly worn at one corner.

Lucian's photograph. The original. That had been taken from his home.

No card this time.

I stood in the kitchen and held it and thought about We know who she is and about a co