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

On the back, near the bottom edge, a small printed line said: Corporate authorization stamp, Baldwin Logistics.

The porch light hummed.

I held the sheet up until the ink shone.

Edith Mallow squared the folder with the edge of her desk pad before she opened it.

“Maple Street,” I said.

“The original deed history.

All of it, back to the subdivision.”

She ran one fingernail down the index column.