“What is this?” Daniel asked.

“Open it,” I said.

Daniel lifted two fingers to his left eyebrow, rubbing the thin brow line twice before touching the seal of the envelope.

He pulled out the top document and unfolded the heavy cream paper.

It was the certified copy of Eleanor Bennett’s house deed from the Jefferson County recorder’s office, stamped with the sole-owner inheritance clause dated seven years ago.

Underneath the deed lay the sixteen-page financial audit printed by Frank Vance at Community First Bank.