Her hands didn’t move.

“So he put me out on the road three weeks before the first one and told them I’d run off.”

The kettle started ticking behind her.

She got up and turned off the burner without pouring anything, then came back and sat down.

“That letter had a word for it,” she said.

“Verification.”

“That’s the word.”

“Your mother wrote that letter to warn me about the money.” Diane looked at the folder.