“She didn’t just advocate for you, Michael. She traded her late husband’s estate favors to suppress your sister’s record so you would look like the premier officer of the family.”

Michael shook his head slowly.

“No,” he said. “No, she wouldn’t do that. I earned my gold oak leafs. I did the sea tours.”

“You did the tours,” I said. “But you weren’t top of the list, Michael. I was.”

He looked at me, his eyes wide and wet.

“Emerson, I didn’t know,” he said.

“You didn’t want to know,” I said.

The fluorescent light overhead hummed, a low, irritating vibration.

The smell of floor wax seemed to grow stronger in the silence.

Michael touched the edge of the desk to steady himself.

“She told me you chose to stay in the shadows,” Michael said.

“She said you wanted a quiet career because you couldn’t handle the pressure after Dad died.”

I felt a cold knot tighten in my stomach.

“She told you that?” I asked.

“Yes,” he whispered. “She said you were unstable. That you blamed everyone else for your stalled career.”