That she kept a spiral notebook in the drawer of her room in which she wrote down, every single day, one specific good thing that had happened to each girl, because a woman she had worked for years earlier had taught her that children who lose a parent need someone keeping a record of their life, so that later there is proof that somebody was paying attention.

He did not know about the notebook until it mattered enormously.

Part Three: How She Got In

Sabina Vance was introduced to him at a hospital fundraiser in November, by a man Chadworth trusted, which is how these things almost always happen.

She was thirty-eight and looked it in the good way — no strain, no effort visible anywhere.

She had done something in art consulting and something else in private client work, and she talked about both with a light self-deprecation that made it impossible to ask a follow-up question without seeming rude.

She knew who he was.