‘You didn’t turn us out. You didn’t drive away. You stayed with me and Jackie during that entire ordeal. You kept your nerve. Our group wants to make good on the damages to your car.’

I said nothing. I kept driving. When we got to my corner of the LA sprawl I weaved into some back streets until we reached my little house. It was boarded up for the night. The aluminum shutters that my brother-in-law Witold installed for us as a tenth anniversary wedding gift (after we were broken into for the fourth time) were all rolled down and closed up with padlocks that looked very new to me. I parked the car. I got out, Elise right behind me. On the front door was a large envelope addressed to me.

‘That looks official,’ Elise said.

‘It can stay there,’ I said.

Elise reached for it, putting it under her arm.

‘Is there another door?’ she asked.

‘In the back,’ I said. ‘But I can promise you that the locks have been changed there too.’

We walked around to the back door. The locks had indeed been changed there too.

‘It looks like she’s making a point here,’ I said. Elise held out the envelope to me.

‘Open the letter, Brendan.’

‘I don’t need to. I know it’s a barring order.’

I motioned that we should get back to the car, as I was worried that Agnieska and Teresa might come roaring up with Todor in tow. A confrontation would then follow, with Todor wielding all sorts of weapons of guilt – especially after me standing up to him earlier. An action that both surprised and terrified me.

Once in the vehicle I drove us around half a mile down the road, pulling into a gas station. Elise again tried to hand the letter to me. I told her to read it while I filled the tank.

‘You’re right,’ she said as I got back into the car. ‘It is a barring order. According to this your wife states that you were verbally abusive, that you broke a pot filled with scalding coffee at her feet, that you attacked her friend Teresa on account of her religious views, and that she feels threatened in your presence. I hate to tell you, but your priest friend vouched for her.’

‘That son of a bitch. He knows I never did any of that.’

‘But he certainly knows how to play dirty. I can turn this over to someone I know in my husband’s firm and see if they can get it reversed. It’s absurd, them telling you that you have to stay at least a half-mile away from your house. By the way, though, this is just a copy of the order. They need to have it legally served to you. Put directly in your hand by a process server. But if they don’t know where you are right now …’