“The document examiner comes Thursday at nine, out of the state lab.

He will want three examples of your signature from before November, and he will want the original guarantee, not a copy.”

“Will he need me to talk?” Claire asked.

“Two minutes.

He will ask you to sign your name twelve times and he will watch your hand do it.”

Claire read the top page of the middle stack and set it down.

“If the deeds are right, then the mortgage never touched us at all.”