It was, I realized, probably the first genuinely fatherless moment of his life.

His own father had just made sure of it.

Chapter 9 — What Elke Left Behind

I did not have Elke Trask arrested at the graveside.

I want to say that plainly, because the version of this story I told myself in my angriest years ended with handcuffs at the funeral, and the real one did not, and the real one is better.

There were no officers waiting behind my car.