I stood in the dim light of the hallway for a long minute, watching the shadow of the pendulum swing on the grandfather clock in the foyer.

I walked back into the main room where Thomas Bell was waiting.

He had already closed the blue folder and was placing it carefully inside his leather briefcase.

“Who was it?” Thomas asked, looking up at me through his reading glasses.

“Juliette,” I said. “Mark abandoned her on the highway.”

Thomas shook his head slowly, his expression remaining perfectly neutral.

“He is running out of options,” Thomas said. “And out of allies.”

“I want it done, Thomas,” I said, sitting down in the high-backed armchair by the cold fireplace. “Everything.”

“The divorce papers are ready for your signature,” he said, opening his briefcase again. “I brought them just in case.”

He pulled out a thick stack of white pages bound by a heavy blue cover.

The words *In the Matter of the Marriage of Claire Hartwell and Mark Vance* were typed in stark black ink at the top.

Thomas set the document on the mahogany table and handed me a heavy gold fountain pen.