The meeting in the library with Graham, Alexander’s chief legal counsel, lasted until well past 3:00 AM. Graham was a man who lived by rules and precedents, and the idea of his client being linked to a mob debt via a secret meeting on Fifth Avenue nearly gave him a stroke.

I sat there, tired and cold, repeating the approved, sanitized version of the story: Julien was a former associate who vanished after defrauding Valois and leaving me to carry the primary liability. I presented myself as ...