The county recorder’s certified restoration envelope lay open on the green blotter.

In it was the formal title restoration ledger the county clerk had sent to close out the legal dispute for good.

I took my black pen out of the drawer and signed my name on the bottom line, putting clear title to the single-family house on Maple Street back on record.

The paperwork put the whole truth into the public record: Lauren had secretly signed away the deed to the family home on Maple Street to cover her ninety-thousand-dollar debt to private lenders, forging my name with Frank’s help while I was away in Columbus.

I locked the restored ledger in the desk drawer and took out the printout of the forged deed.