The chief slowly closed the office door, as if cutting off the noise of the station. For several seconds he simply stared at the old woman, unable to believe his eyes.

“Evelyn…” he repeated quietly. “You… are Laura’s mother…”

She lowered her gaze. There was neither anger nor pleading in her face — only exhaustion.

Yes. It was his former mother-in-law. The very family he had once cut off forever.
After his wife left him… packed her things and went abroad with her lover.

Without explanations. Without goodbye.

He filed for divorce then and swore never to have anything to do with her relatives again.

He thought their life was somewhere far away — prosperous, distant, having nothing to do with him.

“Why… are you here?” he finally asked more softly.

In the office she stayed silent for a long time, clutching the edge of her old scarf.

“My son… is gone,” she whispered. “He died last winter… his heart… And Daniel… my grandson… if I can’t support him, they’ll take him… to an orphanage… The pension isn’t enough. So I sell flowers… as much as I can…”

The last words were almost soundless.

The chief turned toward the window. His jaw tightened. Everything he thought he knew suddenly fell apart.
They were not living happily. They were surviving.

After a minute he sharply pressed the call button.

“Everyone, come in.”

When the officers entered, he was already speaking in his usual firm voice: