Dragging myself out of the office felt like peeling away the layers of a day that clung too tight. The mention of Preston Caldwell had set my thoughts spinning like a top, and they wove a disorienting tapestry against the backdrop of my already tumultuous day.

I shook my head as I entered the sterile calm of the doctor’s office, a welcome break from the buzzing chaos of Mayer Financials. The receptionist, a woman with a perpetually painted-on smile, greeted me by name. "Good ...