Marcus’s post sat on his screen The list he’d made—Fix the filings. Apologize without camera. Stop pretending.—glowed on the second monitor His phone rang with an unfamiliar number. He answered on speaker. “Marcus Levy.”

“Mr. Levy,” a woman said, official calm. “This is Investigator Ruiz with the Department of Revenue.”

“I expected your call,” he said, “You or your counsel sent a preliminary email ten minutes ago,” she said. ...