That is all I can say about another customer.”

I folded the carbon and put it in my coat, and the paper was still warm from his desk lamp.

Claire had the mail spread across the oilcloth when I got home at two.

She had her arms wrapped around her middle the way she did now, and she had sorted everything into two piles without being asked.

“County real estate tax,” she said.

“Six hundred and forty-two dollars.