for the condo come from?”

The attorney followed the transaction trail.

The answer arrived two weeks later.

The deposit had temporarily come from our account to make Deborah’s offer look stronger.

Then it had been replaced by funds from another account.

An account belonging to someone named Charles Whitmore.

Arthur’s father.

I stared at the name.

“That can’t be right.”

Arthur’s father had died seven years earlier.

Or so I had been told.

Arthur looked as if someone had punched the air from his lungs.

The attorney spoke carefully.

“Charles