“He signed her name right here at the counter while I was getting the receipt stamp out of the drawer.”

I took the certified paper from the counter and folded it twice.

“Thank you for keeping the carbon copy, Clara,” I said.

“You take care of that knee on these cold stone stairs, Evelyn,” she said.

The farmhouse was dark when I got back to Cedar Lane, the radiator pipes clicking in the unheated hallway.

Knox met me at the back door, his head low, pressing his muzzle against my hip before following me into the study.

I switched on the desk lamp and pulled open the bottom drawer of my grandfather’s oak desk.