She reached into her handbag on the side table and took out her blue checkbook.

“How much does Frank need to start digging through the state trust records in Columbus?” Ruth asked.

“He said two thousand dollars would cover the title searches and the court filing fees,” I said.

Ruth unscrewed the cap of her fountain pen and wrote carefully across the blue check, her handwriting neat and straight.

“We’re going to find out whose name is on that Canton account,” Ruth said, tearing the check neatly from the stub.

Ruth pressed her handwritten check for two thousand dollars into my hand.