“Do you feel safer?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Not because everything is settled.

Because I’m no longer alone with what I know.”

PART 25: THE LONG DIVORCE

I filed for divorce with Elaine’s referral to a family-law attorney named Nadia Brooks.

The paperwork felt almost absurd beside the larger investigations.

Forms asked for dates, residences, assets and debts, as if seven years could be summarized in rectangular boxes.