The officer took the creased envelope from Leo’s small hand and carried it up the three wooden steps to the judge’s desk.

Judge Norris used a silver letter opener to slit the top edge of the brown paper.

She pulled out three white deposit slips stamped in blue ink by First Missouri Bank, dated November fourth at sixteen minutes past two in the afternoon.

“These are the original transaction certificates showing eighty-five thousand dollars transferred directly into a private account ending in four-zero-nine,” Judge Norris read aloud, her eyes scanning the bottom line.

“An unlisted account held solely in the name of Clara Sterling.”