Three Weeks After Lucas Was Gone, Charles Claimed the House on Maple Street

Then his name, Lucas, with every t crossed hard.

I put the card beside the wire sheet.

They weren’t the same hand.

Not even close.

The phone rang once and stopped.

I didn’t pick it up.

I carried the wire sheet to the hallway and opened the desk drawer.

Lucas’s desk was an old rolltop he had bought at a garage sale in Marcellus.