“Did you look at the budget numbers?” I asked.

“I looked at every line from September through December,” Richard said, pointing a trimmed finger at the printout of Cole’s handwritten notes.

“Cole recorded a sixteen-thousand-dollar monthly cut to your household allowance.”

“He told me the firm was facing budget cuts,” I said.

“Whitmore Capital had its best quarter ever in November,” Richard said, his voice carrying the cold weight of a court ruling.

“The money wasn’t kept by the firm.”