Each of them simply did their job honestly, and the sum of those honest small acts was more than enough to bring down something that had been built to be unstoppable.

If there is a hopeful truth buried in all of this, it is that one.

Chapter 23 — Administrative Preparation

Vanessa, of course, could not stay out of it.

She had drifted to the dining room doorway, and now she stepped in.

“That was just administrative preparation,” she said.

“You always leave everything to the last minute, David.

Someone had to get the paperwork moving.