That did not establish every thought in his mind, but it made his explanation more difficult to reconcile with the documented timeline.

I watched him study the pages as though he could force the numbers into a new order.

“Colonel Reynolds,” Pierce asked, “is it your position that you did not know four children had been born?”

Daniel shifted in his chair.

“I was never part of their lives.”

“That is not the question.”

Margaret looked down.

She had heard versions of that answer for eight years.