Nobody in this family will ever treat them as a scandal, and I will personally deal with anyone who does.”

Then she turned to Michelle and said, “You and I are going into the house.”

The quartet, who had been standing with their instruments down for eleven minutes, packed up.

The guests began, in that excruciating way, to leave.

And at approximately four fifty in the afternoon, standing on a lawn, Christopher Lawson finally opened his phone.

Part Twelve: Monday Morning

The board met by video at eight o’clock on Monday.