We agreed to let Andrea lead the records process and to discuss any public statements together.

It was our first genuine disagreement.

Surviving it mattered more than either of us expected.

PART 20

One Saturday Tobias invited me to his house for the first time.

It was a modest two-story home with a vegetable garden and a crooked mailbox.

Inside were photographs of Ruth and Daniel, a shelf of medical textbooks, and a piano he admitted he barely played.

“I should warn you,” he said, “I’m better at operating rooms than dinner parties.”