The electronic order summary showed the bank tracking number next to a blue ledger reference code that matched our main home equity line of credit.

My screen chimed with an instant reply from Douglas.

“Search started,” Douglas wrote.

“I’m pulling the Franklin County deed registry entries right now.

I’ll have the full lien log ready before your connection touches down in Newark.”

The gate speaker crackled overhead, and an airline agent announced the final boarding call for flight 410 to Frankfurt.

I closed the laptop, packed up my leather bag, and walked down the narrow jet bridge toward the open door of the plane.

By eight in the morning Eastern Standard Time, the Boeing 777 was four hours out over the North Atlantic at thirty-six thousand feet.