“And your parents are all right with this?”

“My father has handled this kind of thing before.

Quietly.

It goes through the office, not the state, so nobody looks at it twice.”

The recording stopped, and the room came back, an announcement for the eleven o’clock to Milwaukee, a cart rattling past.

“He told me you knew,” Sophie said.

“He told me it was your idea and I was doing you a kindness.”

I looked at her until she looked away.