Chapter 23 — For Margaret, If Michael Ever Tries

“Your Honor,” I said.

“There is one more matter.” Michael gave a broken, disbelieving laugh.

“Of course there is,” he said.

But I was no longer speaking to Michael.

I lifted a thin brown envelope from my folder and held it up, and across the front of it, in my late husband’s handwriting, were written the words: For Margaret, if Michael ever tries to take control.

Michael recognized the handwriting instantly, and his face went blank, drained of the confidence that had carried him through the entire proceeding, because that envelope was the one thing in the world he had not accounted for.