Sterling’s plane touched down in Madison, Wisconsin, at a private airport. When Sterling said to be ready by six in the morning, he meant wheels up at six. I didn’t mind. I’d hardly slept with my thoughts on what we may find. If we didn’t find the evidence that Sterling had alluded to in our talks, we were back to no answers. If we did, I didn’t want to see it. I wanted the rose-colored glasses he described.

It was hard enough to know that beyond the stories things ...