“The other Prescott was in here at eight,” the clerk said.

“He wanted to know what was in the box.

I told him his name wasn’t on the card.”

I put the key in my coat pocket, and the pocket felt wrong without the weight of the watch in it, and I handed the empty metal box back across the counter.

She slid it onto the shelf with the others and thanked me for my business.

Frank slid a crumpled hardware store receipt across the scratched plywood counter and tapped the printed total with a thick finger.