“I’ve brought what Frank left me,” I said.

I stepped in and put the linen napkin on the mahogany desk.

I unrolled the faded cloth and let the heavy brass trunk key fall onto Howard’s green blotter.

Howard didn’t reach for the key at first.

He picked his unlit briar pipe up out of the ceramic tray and tapped the stem against his palm.

“Where did this come from, Mara?” Howard asked.

“Sarah handed it to me in the hospice parking lot,” I said.