“I took these from his desk.

I know what taking means.”

“How many?” I said.

“Three.

There was a stack.

I only took three so he wouldn’t notice a gap.”

She opened the envelope with her thumbnail and laid the checks out in a row like playing cards.

The paper had gone brown at the creases, six hundred and fifty dollars printed on each one, all dated in the spring and fall of 2005.