But the answering was the law’s to do, not mine, and once it was done I found I wanted nothing further to do with her, not even the intimacy of resentment.

I closed the door on her as completely as I could, and I turned toward the people who deserved my attention, which had never, for one moment, been her.

Chapter 26 — On Her Own Terms

The hardest conversation I had in the whole ordeal was not with Vanessa, or with the lawyers, or with the police.

It was with Teresa, a few days later, when she came to the house to collect some of her things and sat across from me at the kitchen table.

“Mr.