By four I had thirty pages and a column of totals at the back.

One hundred eighty-four thousand dollars, spread over six years in amounts small enough to slip past unnoticed.

I said the number aloud once to the empty room, then wrote it again in ink so it wouldn’t smudge.

At four fifty the phone on the wall rang, and I let it ring.

Diane’s voice came on after the beep, brief, asking if I was okay, and she said the word board once, quietly, as if it cost her something to say it.

I didn’t call her back.