The brass counter grilles were tarnished along the bottom edge, and the air smelled of damp wool, wet pine, and floor wax.

Behind the glass panel, the postal clerk set a thick paper envelope onto the wooden counter between them.

It was the same green certified mail envelope Caroline had sent three weeks earlier to Grant’s real estate office on Westminster Street.

Across the front label, a bright red rubber stamp read “Returned to Sender.”

Right beside the stamp, three words were written in dark blue fountain pen ink: “Refused by Addressee.”

Caroline looked at the tight, slanted curve of the capital letter R.