“It wasn’t like that,” my mother said, her voice trembling but clear.

“He came to my house.

He demanded I sign over the estate trust from Valerie’s father.

And when I told him no — when I kept telling him no — ” She stopped, and her hands tightened on mine.

“He lost control.”

I watched Captain Doyle as she spoke, because in that moment he was the one person in the room whose mind was still open, and everything depended on it staying that way.