He had been placed there, deliberately, by a man who called him family and smiled at him across our dinner table.

Chapter 9 — The Shape of the Trap

I sat back on my heels and let myself understand the whole of it, because understanding is the only thing that lets you act instead of flail.

Jim was the name on everything.

In the language of my profession, he was the responsible officer — the signature, the fingerprints, the person a jury would be shown.

If this ever came apart, and these things always come apart eventually, it would be Jim the investigators found first, Jim whose handwriting was on the manifests, Jim who had no offshore wall to hide behind.