That is the whole result. He is still a convicted felon. He is still on paper. He is somewhat less on paper than he was.

I had to sit with the fact that this is what winning looks like when you did it wrong: you still win, and it costs you a letter in your file and eight months of your life and a permanent lawyer in the corner of every room, and the man is marginally freer than he would have been.

Nandakumar’s investigation is open. It is not mine. I have not been briefed and I will not be, and I have kept that discipline for fourteen months, and I want to be honest and say that the first four were the hardest professional thing I have ever done, harder than Kandahar, harder than the hearing.

Vanessa Cole relocated in June. I know nothing else and have not asked.

I sent General Mercer a lathe attachment for the equipment in his garage that he does not use. He sent back a photograph of a badly made bowl.

And in November, on a Saturday, my daughter asked to see a picture of her father.