“They paid it within four hours of the original split to buy your silence before the annual corporate succession audits started,” Nora said, capping her pen with a soft click.

“Now they have no audit to hide and no leverage left to use.”

“Is anything pending with the state tax authority?” I asked.

“The tax reserves were settled at the source under the corporate divorce decree,” Mr.

Henderson said.

He gave me a small black electronic key fob and a new ledger card.

“If you sign line four, the transfer to your independent account in San Diego will go through automatically at midnight.”

I took the silver pen from Nora and signed my name across the line without pausing.