“Over the speakerphone at the hotel.”

“He needed seven days for the recording period to pass with nobody contesting the title,” Douglas said.

“With you out of the country, nobody would check the recorder’s office before the loan funded.”

Walter got up from his chair and went over to the little coffee table by the bookshelves.

He poured black coffee from the glass pot into a paper cup and handed it to me without a word.

“Dad,” I said, looking up into his face.