David had never opened an escrow account at First Virginia Bank.

All his military pay went straight into our joint account in Norfolk, and his defense travel vouchers were settled through a federal treasury ledger.

A forty-two-thousand-dollar deposit was more than half of David’s yearly officer salary.

Why had Julian put forty-two thousand dollars into an escrow account under David’s name?

I tucked the blue deposit receipt deep into the inside pocket of my cardigan.

The paper sat flat against my ribs, stiff and cold.