He is warning me away from a living woman in a clinic in Lisbon, a woman whose name he crossed out, and the particular cruelty of that, of calling his sister a grave when she is sitting in a room three thousand miles away waiting for someone to remember she is alive, settled into me and did not leave.

Chapter 20 — He Took Her Entire Life

At ten I sat in the high-backed leather chair in Karina’s office, the air smelling of expensive paper and furniture polish, and laid the printed photographs of the ledger across her desk.

This is the ledger from the hidden wall panel, I said.

She picked up the top sheet, her sharp eyes moving down the column of figures.

“These transfers match the bank records we pulled from the Apex account.” They do, I said.