The value was that from the following June onward, in that courthouse, in front of that judge, Julian Vance was a man who had been found in contempt of automatic orders, and every single thing he asked for afterward was asked for by that man.

Patricia put it to me in a corridor, and I have repeated it since.

She said: “Family court runs on credibility and there is much less of it available than people think.

He spent his on eighty-one thousand dollars in September and he had none left in April when he needed it.”

Part Twelve: Eleven Weeks

Everybody assumes the hard part was proving that Julian had lied.

The hard part was proving that the money had ever existed.