He wanted the foundation protected and my son safe and the danger ended, and all of those things a signed waiver accomplished more surely, and more permanently, than a criminal trial ever could.

He let the law hold the line without ever needing to loose its full weight, and he chose the outcome that protected the living over the one that would merely have punished the guilty.

I have tried to remember that, in the years since.

That the goal is not to make the wicked suffer.

The goal is to make the innocent safe.

Chapter 18 — A Complete Success