The public, itemized, undeniable recitation of what he had done, in a room he did not control, to people he could not charm.

A guilty plea bought him silence.

It was the last deal he ever made, and he made it, characteristically, to protect his own image rather than to spare anyone else a thing.

I did not go to the hearing where he entered the plea.

People asked me, later, whether I regretted that — whether I wished I had been there to see it.

I did not.