He feared that the people implicated would suppress the records and try to pressure anyone who knew where they were.

The note contained one sentence addressed to me personally: Do not let the family’s fear become another excuse to bury the truth.

Raymond read the date twice.

“That cannot be right,” he said.

“Unless Arthur didn’t die when we were told.”

I called my mother’s office and asked for Arthur’s death certificate.

They could not produce one.

A former administrator remembered an announcement, a memorial message, and a statement that Arthur had died overseas.