“It is,” Howard said.

He picked up his unlit wooden pipe and tapped it three times on his palm.

“That razor blade in the county ledger wasn’t an accident, Mara.

That payment bought a fake death notice before the custody papers ever hit the sheriff’s wire.”

Claire touched the crescent scar under her chin.

Her breath came out slow and thin through her nose.

“Frank told me he was rescuing me,” I said.