The company would preserve financial records, protect employees who reported concerns, and cooperate with investigators through proper channels.

For an hour Kenneth seemed determined to call every person who had ever worked with Martin.

Then he looked across the room at his sons, both sleeping through an afternoon rainstorm, and put his phone away.

“What would Madeline have done?” he asked me.

“I never knew her.”

“She would have sat beside the boys.

She would have said I was trying to solve every problem except the one in front of me.”

“Then you know where to sit.”