She read the paper trail.

She did it in near silence for twenty minutes while I sat with my hands folded, and when she finally looked up, a slow, unhurried smile spread across her face, and it was not a warm smile, it was the smile of a professional recognizing that she has been handed a complete case.

“Your husband is an accountant, Mrs.

Sterling,” she said.

“He knows better than anyone how a paper trail works.