At the end, Nandakumar took the AUSA off speaker and stepped out, and Kessler went with her, and for about four minutes Vanessa Cole and I were alone in a conference room in Manassas.

Neither of us had planned it. I want to be clear that I did not seek it and would have avoided it.

“Your kids okay?” she said.

“They’re seven.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

I didn’t answer.