The lawyer slides a worn brass key and a deed across the table. Mara stares. Her father owned a storefront she'd never heard of. Inside, the air is dry and still. Two filing cabinets, both locked. The first opens with the key: forty years of plain, honest invoices. The second won't budge. She bends a hairpin and works the lock until it clicks. One thing sits inside — a single black book. She opens it. Page after page of names, none of them her father's.

Mara doesn't read another word. She shoves the black book into her bag, locks both cabinets, and heads for the door. But a man in a gray coat is already standing on the sidewalk outside, watching the storefront. He smiles and lifts one hand in a small wave, like he's been expecting her.

Mara turns and runs the other way, clutching her bag. Footsteps follow fast behind her. She ducks into an alley, hops a fence, and doesn't stop until the city swallows her. When she finally checks her bag, her stomach drops. The black book is gone. It must have fallen during the chase, lying open in the street for anyone to find.