“He took his original papers back,” Arthur said.

“But he told me he’d bring his father in to sign the final quitclaim transfer within ninety days.”

“He told you that back in May?” I asked.

“May twelfth, at two fifteen in the afternoon,” Arthur said.

“I jotted a pencil note on the back of the parcel jacket.”

He turned the folder over.

A neat handwritten line in blue lead said: *Son claims father will sign quitclaim upon return from hospital.*

I looked down at the blue pencil writing on the old cardstock.