Elaine Chen had been keeping a list for twelve years.
This was not unusual for Elaine, who had built her career on lists—lists of questions for hostile witnesses, lists of evidence for corporate fraud cases, lists of the fourteen things she needed to know about anyone before she could determine whether they were trustworthy. But this list was different. This list was personal. This list contained the names, occupations, and detailed character assessments of every significant romantic partner Vivian Chen had ever brought home, starting with her high school boyfriend who had worn a fedora to Thanksgiving dinner and ending with Alexander Kane, who was currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.
