I walked down the driveway to the gate and took the envelope out of the box.

It was addressed to me in precise black fountain pen ink, with a red wax seal from Pembroke Real Estate Investments pressed across the back flap.

Before I could break the seal, a man in a dark gray windbreaker stepped out from the gravel shoulder near the stone pillar with a digital camera raised to his face.

He took three quick photographs of the high stone archway, then lowered the camera to write something on a clipboard.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked, holding the leather folder in one hand and Pembroke’s thick envelope in the other.