She connected the drive to the television, and Raymond appeared on the screen — frail, propped in his bed, but with his eyes clear and his voice steady and his mind plainly, unmistakably his own.

My mother stopped speaking the instant she saw him.

“If you are watching this,” Raymond said from the screen, “then I have passed away.” He looked directly into the camera.

“Brenda.

For years I asked myself whether I was being unfair to you, keeping the truth about my money hidden.

That is why I did it.