It was not a lesson in kindness.

It was a lesson in timing.

And I sat across the table and let them have it out, these two men discovering the cost of who they were, and felt cleaner by the second for being about to leave the room and never share a name with either of them again.

The lawyer leaned in and whispered.

Two seconds later Casper picked up the pen with shaking fingers and signed every page.

The $45,000 check stayed untouched in my possession.