One criminal charge and her whole life is ruined. And then my mother’s voice, softer, certain: Kristen will understand.

She always does.

The ballroom went so quiet I could hear the champagne fizzing in two hundred abandoned glasses.

Jessica stared at our parents as though seeing them for the first time.

“You recorded them?” she whispered.

“No,” I said.

“I found the recording.

Years later.