‘I won’t be living there,’ I said.

‘That is, of course, your call,’ Dwight Simplon said. ‘After state taxes, the realtor’s commission, transfer taxes and the like – and estimating everything on a price of $800,000 – I would estimate that, once a buyer is found, you will be receiving a net of around $650,000.’

I stared down at the table.

‘I don’t deserve it.’

Stanley Greenbaum came in here:

‘Elise thought otherwise. And just to go off the record for the moment: though clearly we are not contesting that priest’s version of the events that led to her death and that of the unborn child and those other two players in the tragedy … what’s his name again?’

‘Father Todor Kieuchikov,’ I said.

‘He is your priest as well?’ Mr Greenbaum asked.

‘My oldest friend. Not anymore. But he is my wife’s confessor.’

‘That is an interesting detail – because we do know that he had connections to the anti-abortion group that your wife and her late friend belonged to. Nonetheless he has decided to tell a version in public of events that makes Elise the mastermind who got that desperately abused and pregnant woman away from that thuggish security man who worked for the deeply suspect Patrick Kelleher. We know for a fact that Elise never engaged in such derring-do. According to our police contacts, ballistics show that the security guard shot the woman Teresa Hernandez after she shot Amber and Elise. We understand and appreciate why this Father Todor fashioned his story to make it out that a dead woman was responsible for getting Amber away from that brute. It will hopefully protect everyone who was actually involved in this very brave endeavor.’

He looked directly at me as he said this. Was this his way of letting me know ‘we have a shared secret here’? His next question indicated just how much he knew.

‘You have a daughter, don’t you?’

‘A wonderful daughter. Klara.’

‘Yes, we’ve heard all about her.’

A pause. My response was to simply nod an acknowledgment to Mr Greenbaum and his associates at the table – and one which said: I appreciate your absolute discretion here.

‘May I ask,’ Mr Greenbaum said, ‘where Klara might be right now?’

I explained that she flew off to Amsterdam yesterday – and was hoping to set up a life for herself there.

‘I’m very pleased to hear that she has made it there,’ Mr Greenbaum said. ‘It’s a far saner option than our own country right now – and a safer one as well. We work with a law firm over there who know all the buttons to push when it comes to helping someone get work and get settled. So with your permission –’

‘That would be fantastic,’ I said, knowing that Klara would be so pleased to have such help.

‘Consider it done,’ he said.