Buster greeted me at home with the deep, delighted bark of a creature who believed every return was worth celebrating.

I sat beside him on the floor and spread Walter’s letter across my knees.

The last sentence looked different now.

Get the facts.

Then decide what you can live with.

I decided that I could live with being disliked.

I couldn’t live with letting the truth be buried for another twelve years.

PART 8