He called her at nine on Wednesday evening.
She was at the kitchen table going over the testimony preparation documents Helen had sent — a review of what Frank was going to say, what he could and couldn’t discuss given the parameters of his cooperation agreement, the specific careful navigation of a witness who was himself implicated in related events and was testifying about something larger than his own history.
She answered on the first ring.
“I’m nervous,” Frank said.
She had not heard him say that before. In fourteen months of watching him rebuild himself she had heard many things — the careful honesty of his weekly check-ins, the specific accounting of meetings attended and days sober and steps taken. She had not heard nervous.
“Tell me,” she said.
“I keep thinking about what I
