“Do that,” Attorney Lin said, closing the folder with deliberate slowness.

“Don’t leave those papers where anyone else can reach them.”

An hour later, I met my niece Chloe in a corner booth inside the Crestview Diner.

Chloe sat across from me with her arms crossed tight over her chest, leaving her iced tea untouched on the Formica table.

“Daniel called me twice while I was at my desk,” Chloe said, her voice quick and clipped.

“He said you disappeared from the mansion before dawn without saying a word.”