It irritated me.

Then I understood what she was teaching me.

If we wanted the truth to survive Daniel’s explanations, it had to be strong enough without mine.

The next record was the receipt.

A store purchase.

Same afternoon.

The source record ultimately established the purchase shortly before Evelyn came to our house and, crucially, before the broken-glass incident could plausibly explain why she had gone out to buy the second bottle.

The exact minutes mattered.