Mr. Ballin

She was married, but her husband Robert had gotten a job in Maryland, and he only came home every other weekend.

Bonnie had actually tried to sell the house in Tucson and move the whole family to Maryland, but she'd eventually decided it just wasn't really worth the trouble.

Plus, Robert had already talked to his supervisor about potentially transferring back to Tucson, and he was supposed to be coming back for good just next week.

And so at this point, Bonnie was just trying to survive here.

You know, she still felt very isolated, but she knew, you know, Robert, he'd be back soon and she wouldn't be alone anymore.

And she would get to deal with the kids, with the nosy neighbors, with the police, with her partner.

It just felt like that would be a whole lot better.

About 16 hours later, around 1145 p.m.

that night, Bonnie brushed her teeth and put on her PJs.

The house was quiet for once, except for the TV humming in the living room.

She'd gotten a call from the juvenile detention center that afternoon, and Bradley was being held there on theft charges, which Bonnie thought was for the best.

But his friend Jason was 18 years old, so he was not held.

Instead, he was just given a ticket and released the same day.

And Bonnie knew that as soon as Bradley was out again, he and Jason would reconnect right away and just fall right back into their same old antics.

Before she went to bed, Bonnie went to the living room where her other two kids, Candace and Brandon, were on the couch watching TV.

And she told them it was time for bed, time to turn off the TV and go to your rooms.

But they just ignored her and just continued to watch TV.

It was a Friday night and the two kids didn't have anywhere to be in the morning.

And Bonnie had just done enough fighting for the day.

So she just decided, you know what, let them stay up.