“Why would he need a duplicate title search if the taxes were paid?” I asked.

“You’d have to ask Robert,” Clara said.

“He told me he’d lost the original 2012 deed papers.”

“Did he file any other documents that day?” I asked.

“He asked if any old trust papers were kept in the vault,” Clara said.

“I told him vault records require a judicial request.”

I took a photo of her ledger entry with my phone before leaving the lobby.

At six o’clock, Daniel Vance met me at a small wooden corner table in the High Street coffee shop.