Daniel’s thin lawyer asked him two questions and then sat down.

The magistrate took off his glasses and cleaned them with the hem of his sweater.

“I want to hear from the defendant.”

Daniel stood and buttoned his jacket.

He spoke smooth and easy about a busy market, about misunderstandings, about how a man in his line of work signs a hundred papers a month and sometimes the signature line is signed by a staff member.

“Whose staff member?” Brennan said.