No one who loves you should make you frightened to tell the truth.

In my mind, Elaine’s words reached across decades to a hospital room where Tessa had asked whether she was in trouble for opening a present.

Brian folded his mother’s letter and put it in his wallet, not as an argument against Harold but as a reminder of the kind of parent he still had time to become.

PART 19

The weeks before the preliminary hearing were full of ordinary responsibilities that felt strange beside the criminal case.

Grocery lists.