I poured it out and made another cup, using less this time.

EPILOGUE — Upstairs, at Home

I filed the legal papers in the small office before going upstairs.

The certified restoration documents went at the top.

Beneath them were the closing records, bank material, subpoena responses, investigation reports, and the old authorization with its expiration clause intact.

I had once kept that original because it seemed sensible.

Then I had kept it because someone had supplied a version that changed what it meant.

Now it went into the permanent file because it belonged there.