“Do what you have to do, Daniel,” I said.

Clara watched me closely, her brow furrowing as she sensed the shift in the room.

“She’s too calm, Daniel,” Clara said.

Daniel ignored her, keeping his eyes locked on mine.

“You think you’re clever,” Daniel said. “But you are still my wife under Illinois law.”

“Not for much longer,” I said.

I slipped the flash drive back into my shoulder bag and zipped it shut.

“Where do you think you’re going with that?” Daniel asked, his hand reaching out to grab my arm.

I stepped back, out of his reach, into the threshold of the hallway.

The bare light bulb overhead flickered once, then stayed bright.

Suddenly, the screen of Daniel’s phone lit up in his breast pocket.

The sharp, buzzed vibration of his ringtone cut through the silence of the studio.

He didn’t answer it.

Then, Clara’s phone began to ring from her purse on the table.

Both of their devices vibrated in a strange, unsynchronized rhythm.

I looked down at my own phone, which remained dark and silent.