My closest friend from law school — I’d done a joint degree before I chose the quieter life of auditing — was Sarah Lin, and Sarah was now a senior federal prosecutor in Illinois.

I had sat at her wedding.

She had sent Lily a ridiculous stuffed giraffe when she was born.

There was no one on earth I trusted more with something like this, and no one better placed to do something about it.

There is a particular comfort, in the worst hour of your life, in knowing exactly whom to call.

I had not spoken to Sarah in a few months — life does that even to the closest friendships — but friendship like ours does not need to be kept warm to be ready, and I knew that the moment she understood what I was looking at, she would move the earth.

I typed fast, my thumbs sure despite everything: