Caroline stood motionless, looking down at the white lawyer’s card resting beside the unpaid utility bills.

Grant picked up his coat from the back of the chair, turned toward the hall, and took his hat from the brass hooks near the door.

The sound of Grant’s briefcase latching shut echoed through the small apartment as he walked out the door.

The high plaster ceiling of the law office conference room on Westminster Street held the pale autumn daylight like thin gray glass.

Caroline sat upright in the high-backed leather armchair, her wrists resting flat against the dark wood of the long table.