The metal clasp wouldn’t close over the new pages.

I laid the letter on top of the folder and pressed the clasp flat.

Then I called Brenda back.

“Have the notices ready by morning.”

She said she already had.

I pushed the drawer shut and turned the small brass key.

The metal click sounded loud in the quiet house.

By eight o’clock the next morning, I sat at the head of the long oak table in my corner office at Abernathy Capital Investments.