After a moment, with the muscular compression of a retreating snail, she took her face away again. I watched her turn and walk away from me with her minions, and didn’t step back from my door until I had seen her safely into the unmarked car on the other side of the road. She took the passenger seat and stared straight ahead, as if she was fixing her eyes on a future that did not offend her, and nothing on this side of the road existed at all.