A white moving van was already backed up to the front porch with its back ramp stretched out across the muddy lawn.

Two men in heavy canvas coats were carrying Frank’s oak dining table down the porch steps, their boots crunching on wet maple leaves.

I stepped around them and pushed my brass key into the front door deadbolt, but the cylinder met solid steel and wouldn’t turn.

Gene came out onto the porch with a yellow legal pad and a thick manila folder.

He checked his gold wristwatch before he looked down at me.