The edges of the thick paper curled up toward the ceiling light.

He pinned the corners down with heavy ceramic coffee mugs.

I pulled the folded square of bills out of my wallet.

I set the two hundred dollars from the store’s petty cash box in the center of the map.

“This is for your time today,” I said.

Howard picked up the twenty-dollar bills and counted them slowly.

He put the cash in a brown envelope and locked it in his desk drawer.

“You paid for formal record searches,” Howard said.