He had spent his whole ruined life building me a home out of the wreckage of his own, and I was only now, standing on that windy bluff, beginning to move into it.”

Chapter 20 — Dismissed with Prejudice

Mr.

Vance unzipped his briefcase and drew out a blue leather folder stamped with the seal of the federal court, and when he spoke again his voice had shifted into the crisp, measured cadence of a senior attorney delivering news he had waited a very long time to deliver.

“The final probate decrees were entered at nine o’clock this morning,” he said.

“I wanted to tell you here, in this place, rather than in an office.