“Derek kept it in the cabinet with the broken lock.

Nobody ever signed it out, because nobody could get it open.”

Liam checked the brass clasp on his briefcase.

Then he checked it a second time.

“Then bring along the key Charles gave you.”

His office library smelled of old paper and lemon polish, with shelves all the way up to the ceiling.

The metal safety box sat on the bottom shelf behind a row of Ohio code books, gray, unlabeled, dust on the lid except where a hand had rubbed it clean near the handle.

I slid the little brass key in and turned it.