Paige had a lawyer. Not a Derek. A real one — Sandra Kesler, of Kesler & Ahn, Springfield, whose name was printed at the bottom in a typeface that had never in its life been used to bluff.

Most of it I could follow. Paige had signed the house over to Gavin at a notary’s office on a Wednesday afternoon two years ago.

Paragraph eleven said she had done so because Gavin told her he was receiving a compensation package and shares worth approximately four hundred thousand dollars, and that he needed to demonstrate assets held in his own name in order to release it.

Paragraph twelve was one line long.

*No such compensation package existed.*

I read that line probably six times. Then I put the petition on the counter, and I walked into the bathroom, and I stood in front of the mirror with my hands on the sink.