The word hit harder than his shouting.
“You manipulated a helpless woman,” he went on. “My mother is vulnerable, and you saw an opportunity.”
Before I could answer, Mrs. Lawrence’s door across the hall creaked open.
“Daniel,” she said softly.
The man turned. “Mom, go back inside.”
“No,” she replied, her voice firmer than I’d ever heard it. “You should hear this.”
She rolled closer, her hands steady.
“This man saved my life,” she said. “Twice.”
Daniel scoffed. “He wanted something.”
“I wanted nothing,” I said quietly. “I just didn’t want her to die alone in a stairwell.”
Mrs. Lawrence looked up at her son, her eyes shining. “Where were you, Daniel?”
Silence.
