He showed me how quickly a freeze could be executed if the board acted and if the evidence met the bank’s threshold.

I asked him to prepare for a night scenario, not a business-hours scenario.

He looked at me for a long second and then nodded, as if he had seen this shape of marriage before.

The two independent board members I trusted most were Eleanor Voss and Harold Quinn.

Harold had known my mother when the company still occupied a rented floor above a printer.

He was careful with words and impatient with charm.