A Stranger Left an Envelope Beside My Bed on My Sixty-Second Birthday—Then I Found His Photograph with My Son

She looked from Frank to the bedroom door, then at me.

“Mom, what happened?”

“The money’s gone.

All forty-two thousand dollars.”

She removed her glasses and began polishing them.

“Are you sure you didn’t move it before you left?”

PART 3 — The Explanation They Preferred

Brenda’s question was reasonable in isolation.