I took out my yellow notepad and copied down the exact metes and bounds from the 1984 entry, line by line.

I shut the heavy book, put it back in its spot on the steel shelf, and left the basement vault.

The autumn sun was dropping behind the municipal building when I unlocked my car in the lot.

I sat behind the wheel and laid Frank’s transfer document on the dashboard beside Keith’s signed receipt.

Frank had pulled forty-five thousand dollars out of our home equity line, sure he’d locked down the title to our house.

He had fourteen days before the county recorder made the deed transfer permanent.