The postal clerk pulled the brass scale toward himself and set the envelope on the black rubber pad.

“Certified mail with return receipt requested?” he asked.

“Yes,” Caroline said. “To the Holloway Holdings office on Westminster Street.”

The clerk licked the back of a green paper slip and smoothed it across the face of the manila envelope.

He ran his thumb down the perforated border before tearing off the top receipt stub.

“Seven dollars and forty cents,” he said.

Caroline laid down a ten-dollar bill from her diner tips.