Samuel Reed Kept an Old Wooden Bat Behind the Pantry Door for Twenty Years

He held it by the corners.

He turned it over.

He laid it under the desk lamp.

“The routing number isn’t a bank,” he said.

Claire leaned forward.

“Is it stolen?”

“It’s an escrow account at First Coastal Trust. Wheeler County Title and Abstract. That outfit closed in August.”

I watched Arthur’s finger move down the check.