“Do you have any idea,” I asked him, “what it’s like to have eighty-three dollars and be offered more money than you’ve ever held?”

He shook his head.

“Then please stop treating the number as the important part.”

He looked at the chipped mug I’d carried from my apartment as a joke, sitting on Leila’s desk filled with pencils.

“I’m learning,” he said quietly.

PART 10

The breakthrough did not come from an intimidating visit, a secret recording, or a brilliant deduction of mine.

It came from a person most of the powerful men involved had barely noticed.