She had been the senior clerk at the probate and district court in Clear Creek County for twenty-six years and had retired in 2013, and she came in in a wool coat with a black binder under her arm and looked at my wall of hand planes for a while before she said anything.

“Mr.

Thorne,” she said.

“I spent twenty-six years watching people use a filing to bury something.

Your mother’s name is on half the deed restrictions in the historic district.

Bring me what you signed.”

I said, “She has three firms on retainer in Denver.

I’ve got nine hundred dollars.”