I waited for the old spike of dread, the cold that used to come with his very existence — and felt nothing but a mild, clinical curiosity, like studying an insect under glass.

I slid a letter opener under the flap.

He did not expect me to forgive him, he wrote.

The federal investigation had drained the last of his money on lawyers.

His attorney had dropped him when the retainer ran out.

Regan had been sentenced to three years in federal prison and would not put his name on her visitor list.