He needed to know what his sister had said, because he already knew what she had done, and because he already knew what was in the account, and because the moment anybody looked at any of it properly, both of them were finished.

He did not know about the shaving.

I have never believed he knew about the shaving, and neither did the county, and the assessment cleared him.

But he knew about the bracelet within about nine minutes of it going missing, because Brenda called him on Tuesday afternoon at 4:02 — the phone records are in the file — and he said nothing, for two days, while his mother went through his daughter’s toy box.

Part Twelve: The Mediation

The criminal side and the family side ran on separate tracks for fourteen months and never touched, which is not what people expect.