She stood beside him with her hands locked around her purse, looking at the floor.

I wanted to ask whether she had known about the letters.

I wanted to ask whether she had ever stood up for me when I was away.

Instead I walked with Mara into the elevator.

You can’t solve every question in a hallway, she told me afterward.

I wrote the sentence in my notebook.

PART 12

Two weeks later, a letter arrived from my father’s attorney.