And she did not know — this was the part I was proudest of — that I had already written and scheduled an automated release: a single file that would be sent, all on its own, to the regulatory authorities at midnight that very night, unless I personally logged in and canceled it before then.

I had built that failsafe weeks earlier, not knowing what it would be for, only knowing that a woman who had bled a company dry would eventually turn on the one person who could prove it, and that when she did, I might not be in a position to press send myself.

So I had arranged for the truth to press send on its own, if I could not.

It was, I suppose, a kind of insurance.