Over the next three weeks, the local business journals in Richmond and Fredericksburg confirmed her calculations.

First came the official press release from the Virginia Real Estate Board, suspending Thomas’s broker license pending a full evidentiary hearing.

Then came the front-page article in the local paper about the civil suit filed by his former business partners.

They accused him of misappropriating escrow funds to cover his personal debts.

I kept the newspaper on the kitchen table, folded to the business section.

Caroline looked at it every morning over her oatmeal, her expression unreadable.

One hot afternoon, a large yellow moving truck appeared at Thomas’s townhome down the road.

I watched from our front porch as two men loaded his leather sofas and his flat-screen televisions into the back.

Thomas wasn’t there to supervise them.

His lawyer had already issued a statement saying Thomas was cooperating fully with state investigators.

Our front yard was quiet, the ancient oak trees casting long, cool shadows across the grass.

By late September, the trust fund was fully secured under a new independent trustee in Richmond.