Samuel placed a pen beside the form.

“And if it is not?”

I signed.

He took the authorization and opened the blue folder to the index again.

This time, he wrote the petition’s filing date on a fresh sheet and circled the reference number beside it.

“There’s one more entry I want to check before we send the request,” he said.

He turned the page over, and the name at the bottom was one I knew.

Dinner at the estate that evening was roast chicken, potatoes, and green beans.