The kitchen was worse.

Water had damaged the floor beside the sink, a problem that hadn’t existed during the last inspection.

Upstairs, boxes were stacked beside my grandfather’s old desk.

Some were empty, and others contained documents—photocopies of my insurance statements and tax correspondence.

Allen photographed everything and noted that he could not determine when the damage happened.

Mara had me make a list of missing property without assigning blame.

Then I found the envelope.