I set the ring flat on top of the wet blue ink of my signature.

Spencer stared down at the metal ring lying on his name.

“You’re not going to have Nora look over the final schedules?” Spencer asked, his voice losing its corporate rhythm.

“Nora checked where the bank wire came from four hours ago,” I said.

I got up from the mahogany table and left the papers, the pen and the ring right where they were.

In the high-ceilinged marble foyer, two black leather suitcases stood neatly side by side beside the double front doors, packed and waiting since noon.