The deal was not yet finalized.

But the trail of it was already there in black and white, enough to show any reasonable person, and any judge, exactly what his intentions were.

“That is why he had been pushing me so hard the last few weeks,” my mother said slowly, staring at the pages, the understanding arriving on her face.

“He kept putting papers in front of me and telling me to sign, that it was nothing, that it was routine.

He was in a hurry.