“Everyone believing I left you penniless,” Lawrence had written, “is the exact shield you need.

A will, read aloud to the family, is the one and only thing Shirley can drag into court and contest.

So I made certain that the will contains nothing of yours for her to fight over.

I gave her a target, Frances — but the target is a decoy, an empty box, and when she attacks it she will be attacking nothing at all.”

He explained it then, in his clear and patient hand, the way he used to explain how the mortgage worked or why we were taking the long way around a storm.