In the months that followed, the facility announced changes to its verification procedures and outside oversight of the incident.

Those measures couldn’t erase what happened, but they were a form of responsibility I could understand.

Valerie found me reading the announcement one morning.

“Does it help?” she asked.

“A little.”

“Would it help if you stopped reading articles about yourself?”

“Probably.”

She took my phone and set it face down on the counter.