Hannah had gone upstairs for a warm bath and to lie down.

The house was silent except for the hum of the refrigerator.

I went over to the wooden desk where Richard sorted the bills for his contracting business.

A pile of envelopes lay beside a brochure for roofing shingles.

I pushed the envelopes to one side and pulled open the top drawer.

It was stuffed with loose receipts, brass screws, business cards and dried-up pens.

I dug through the layers of paper hunting for anything dated October second.