At seven o’clock, the front door opened again.
This time Julian came in wearing his usual gray suit.
He carried a bag of pastries from one of my favorite bakeries.
He smiled when he saw me.
“Morning.”
I forced myself to smile back.
“Long meeting?”
“Terrible.”
He placed the pastries on the counter.
“Why was the electricity off?”
“The breaker tripped,” I said. “I got nervous and stayed with a neighbor for a while.”
He nodded.
For a moment, I wondered whether he believed me.
Then he leaned forward and kissed my forehead like nothing unusual had happened.
I felt a chill run through me.
My phone vibrated again.
Caleb.
“There’s more.”
I stepped away and opened the message.
“The signatures on those documents don’t look like yours.”
I stared at the screen.
He was right.
They weren’t.
And suddenly the strange visit in the middle of the night felt much more serious.
